It tripped me up too, but for the (to me more obvious) reason that the "he never got" is repeated. Does that make sense to everyone but me? Or am I just being

It tripped me up too, but for the (to me more obvious) reason that the "he never got" is repeated. Does that make sense to everyone but me? Or am I just being silly/obnoxious for complaining about (what I think is) an editing error in an article with an actual point? Or is meant like "he never understood that he never got a high school degree"? I'm not a native speaker of English, and the missing "that" in the linked-to article makes this interpretation feel unlikely to me. Confusing.