Midterms 2022: Conspiracy Theories Are Not a Partisan Phenomenon

Some voters may have some crazy beliefs, but all voters have some legitimate concerns — and those are what politicians should be addressing.

John Fetterman in a diner in 2018.

Photographer: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post

Matthew Yglesias

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On a trip to Marietta, Ohio, last week for a speaking engagement, I found myself practicing the lowest form of journalism: interviewing voters in a diner. It was an IHOP, to be precise.

This is not the kind of work I normally do, and I had no intention of interrupting a couple of burly, bearded, older men who were just trying to get their coffee refilled. But they were seated next to me and firing off some incredibly hot takes about how diesel prices have increased five-fold in the past couple of years (not true) and how President Joe Biden's efforts to moderate the price of oil with releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have left the US vulnerable in the coming war with China (not really checkable, but unlikely). They also compared the FBI to the Gestapo (fact check: mostly false).