Stroking controversy + a call for letters

One of the hardest things about writing a newsletter these days is deciding which all-consuming topic to write about. The welcome (if belated) attempt to hold the ex-president accountable for his failed coup? Antisemitism? Trans rights? The ever-crazier nuclear standoff?

I’ll try to get to all of those as soon as I can — time, travel, toddler illness, and lack of radioactive fallout permitting. I’ve got this platform, though, and I can’t resist using it to weigh in on something in the news that feels very personal to me today: the irresponsible and often malicious feeding frenzy over a certain Senate candidate’s recovery from a stroke.

But before I get to that, I’d like to know what you, dear Racket reader, are thinking about. Next week I’m traveling to Wyoming (!) to give a talk at the university, which makes this a perfect time to host a reader mailbag. That’s right, it’s your chance to send any burning questions you have about any of the above topics, or Haiti, or the book, or movie recommendations (and anti-recommendations) — whatever’s on your mind. Just reply to this email or leave a comment below, and I’ll try to answer all of your questions next week.

Now, for the last few months, Trump-backed Pennsylvania Senate candidate and TV doctor Mehmet Oz has been mocking his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, over his recovery from his life-threatening stroke. The mockery has been as juvenile as it is gross; in August, Oz’s campaign — again, the campaign of someone who claims to still be a doctor — took a jab at Fetterman’s weight. Those attacks have been amplified by Oz’s allies at Fox News, especially Tucker Carlson, who have repeatedly slandered Fetterman, claiming falsely that he “can barely utter a sentence” and that the stroke has rendered the current lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania “a giant walking vegetable.”

The borderline libel and obvious falsity of those attacks had, until now, been enough to keep its effects mainly confined to consumers of right-wing media — in other words, to the minority of Pennsylvanians unlikely to vote for a Democrat. Even one like Fetterman, whose Rust Belt cred and economic populism might have otherwise been able to peel some away, especially against an out-of-state plutocrat like Oz. (This reality, and the constant own goals of the Oz campaign, are in turn no doubt the reason for the mendacious attacks.)

Then, this week, the “respectable” media weighed in. NBC News reporter Dasha Burns sat down with Fetterman. The full interview was 32 minutes long — you can watch it here. In it, the candidate candidly and ably answered questions about energy policy, marijuana decriminalization, crime, abortion, and more.

But when the interview was cut down for the national Nightly News broadcast, Burns dwelled