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"path": "/the-last-mayor-of-philadelphia",
"publishedAt": "2026-02-05T15:20:32.000Z",
"site": "https://defector.com",
"tags": [
"Podcasts",
"dan mcquade",
"Family Business",
"grief",
"The Distraction",
"the week since he passed",
"a massive team-written remembrance of him"
],
"textContent": "The understanding that we have reached when we've talked about it, to the extent we've talked about it at all, is that _The Distraction_ should try to be a good hang even in bad times. This is dependent, of course, on the extent to which Drew and I are capable of managing that, and also relative to how bad the times in question are. We are, in every facet and on every front, in a real test of how well we can follow through on that goal at this moment.\n\nThe general thrust of The Bad Times, you are no doubt familiar with; we have written about them at the site and talked about them in every episode of 2026, but also presumably you have a phone, or a window. But also, as you read this, much of the Defector staff is in Philadelphia for the funeral of our friend and Defector co-founder Dan McQuade. We have celebrated his life and work on the site in the week since he passed. There is a massive team-written remembrance of him on our front page right now; last night, some of us told stories about him in a bar in Philadelphia while \"November Rain\" played on the jukebox, which was both moving and kind of preposterous in a way I think he might have found funny. A lot of things have felt like that of late. This episode is like that, too.",
"title": "The Last Mayor Of Philadelphia"
}