Kevin flew to Houston, where Yang was preparing for Thursday night’s debate and met the candidate at a nearby studio. Kevin began the conversation with a dose of humility. “It seems like there was something in your message that I didn’t expect to become a sort of a kitchen table issue for America.”

From there, the episode unfolded as a searching conversation about Yang’s ideas, especially his plan to give every American $1,000 a month (a concept called universal basic income, or U.B.I.); the thinking that lay behind the idea; and why it has resonated with so many Democratic voters.

The episode ended where it began, with Kevin articulating what he failed to foresee in his article back in 2018, when he called Yang’s platform a longshot.

“Since then, he’s been able to turn it into a discussion about what it means to be a human — about what we would do if we weren’t so worried about making ends meet,” Kevin explained. “And I think that’s the part that I didn’t see when I first met him was that this argument — this sort of wonky economics argument about automation and U.B.I. and G.D.P. and all these other three-letter acronyms — that he could make it appeal to people on an emotional level by saying this is not just about giving you free money. But instead, he’s saying it’s not about the money. It’s about what the money can allow you to do. And that’s the part that I think I missed.”

Throughout the coming months, we will keep finding new ways to introduce you to the 2020 presidential candidates. We welcome your feedback on the best ways to do that.