The larger meaning here is that mainstream journalists simply cannot talk about things that the two parties agree on this is the black hole of American politics.

Pollan is pointing to a structural blind spot in U.S. political coverage: when Democrats and Republicans converge—whether on policy, institutional incentives, or shared assumptions—those areas generate little conflict-driven news and therefore receive less sustained scrutiny. Calling it a “black hole” suggests not merely neglect but an information sink where consequential agreements disappear from public debate. The remark implies that journalism, oriented toward partisan contest and spectacle, can miss bipartisan consensus that may be central to understanding why certain policies persist. It also hints that accountability suffers when the press frames politics primarily as a two-sided fight rather than as a system with shared interests and constraints.