Mediaboss Marketing

Think your roommate problems are bad? Imagine a world where house drama never diesliterally, your roommates are immortal vampires. Fortunately for us, the hit sitcom What We Do in the Shadows lives on for its highly anticipated sixth season.

This mockumentary-style comedy television series, based on the 2014 film of the same name, was co-created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. It follows a group of vampires who share a house in Staten Island, New York, as they navigate the challenges of coexisting in the modern world. Adulting in the 21st century is tough enough, but when your roommates have centuries-old habits, it inevitably leads to some comedic clashes.

With an impressive 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, both critics and audiences have applauded the show's witty writing, dry humor, and its knack for satirizing vampire tropes and everyday life. TV adaptations often struggle to capture the essence of their source material, but What We Do in the Shadows has successfully translated the original film's charm to the TV format, thanks in part to the continued involvement of creators Clement and Waititi.

While the series shows no signs of slowing down with Season 5 recently released to once again favorable reviews, fans will have to wait a bit longer for Season 6. In the meantime, here's everything we know about What We Do in the Shadows Season 6.

The renewal of the show for Seasons 5 and 6 was announced over a year ago, shortly before the premiere of Season 4. While fans are aware that Season 6 is in the works, an official release date has yet to be confirmed.

Season 5 was released on July 13, 2023. Assuming the upcoming season follows previous release patterns, we can expect Season 6 to premiere sometime in mid-2024. However, this pattern could be disrupted by the ongoing writer's strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike, which may delay filming. In this case, the release might be pushed closer to late 2024 or even into 2025, depending on the duration of the studio negotiations.

The show will air on FX and be available for streaming on Hulu the next day. As for fans in the UK and Canada, we can speculate that Season 6 will join the previous seasons and will be available for streaming on Disney+.

RELATED: 10 Best Horror Mockumentaries, Ranked

Unfortunately, there has been no trailer released yet for What We Do in the Shadows Season 6.

The trailer for Season 5 was released shortly before its premiere, so it's safe to say that we'll need to wait a bit longer before we catch our first glimpse of the upcoming season.

What We Do in the Shadows was brought to life by the creative duo of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. Jemaine Clement, a New Zealand comedian, musician, and actor, is well-known for his work as one-half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. His career spans various comedy projects and acting roles in films such as Men in Black 3 and Dinner for Schmucks. Taika Waititi, also hailing from New Zealand, is a filmmaker and actor acclaimed for his talent for blending humor with unconventional storytelling. He directed and starred in films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok.

The two have collaborated since 2007 when Waititi wrote and directed an episode of the TV show Flight of the Conchords.

The film What We Do in the Shadows marked Clement's directorial debut and together Clement and Waititi's creative vision and comedic sensibilities have imbued the TV series with the same charm that endeared the original film to cult audiences.

The cornerstone of any great sitcom lies in its ensemble cast. Assembling a group capable of sustaining a series over multiple seasons is a daunting task, but what makes What We Do in the Shadows stand out in the sea of sitcoms (aside from the whole vampire thing) is the extraordinary synergy of its core cast, a group that has proved itself season after season.

Kayvan Novak stars as Nandor the Relentless, a former Ottoman Empire warrior who now employs his centuries-old leadership skills to assert authority over his roommates, although it often results in more inconvenience than actual control. Kayvan Novak is best known for co-creating and starring in the comedy series Fonejacker, for which he won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy (Programme or Series) in 2008.

He is joined by Matt Berry, another BAFTA winner for Best Male Performance in the series Toast of London who plays Leslie "Laszlo" Cravensworth, a 310-year-old British nobleman with a penchant for causing chaos and indulging in hedonistic pursuits. He was turned into a vampire by his current wife, the seductive and alluring Nadja of Antipaxos, played by Natasia Demetriou.

Harvey Guilln plays the unfortunate human Guillermo de la Cruz, Nandor's long-suffering mortal familiar who has worked for over a decade for his master in the hope of being turned into a vampire, a lifelong dream complicated by the fact that he is the descendant of the infamous vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing.

Rounding out the core group is Colin Robinson, portrayed by Mark Proksch. Unlike traditional vampires who feed on blood, Colin Robinson feeds on the energy of others, specifically by draining people's boredom, frustration, and annoyance. He fittingly works a 9-to-5 office job where he manages to stay quite well-fed.

RELATED: This Was the Best Cameo So Far in What We Do in the Shadows'

While Season 5 had its fair share of comedic drama, the plot line that will have the biggest impact on Season 6 is Guillermos journey to fulfilling his lifes mission to finally becoming a vampire and his transformation back to human once he quickly realized that the whole murdering humans and drinking their blood part of the deal wasnt for him.

The character who experiences the most dramatic turn of fate in Season 5 is Derek, portrayed by Chris Sandiford. He gets to move into the house, gain a close group of friends, and find a place in the world where he is finally wantedall for the small price of having a stake through his heart for the rest of eternity! But, as with any new roommate, there will surely be some growing pains.

With no trailer and no plot details released the plot of Season 6 is only speculation, but it can be assumed that the series will pick back up shortly after the events of Season 5.

Although there was a reconciliation of sorts after Nandor did some soul-searching, ultimately reaching the conclusion to not kill Guillermo, there will inevitably be some tension between the two as we enter Season 6. Can Guillermo truly go back to being a human familiar if he was once a vampire? Has his brief moment of immortality made any impact on his whole genetically gifted-to-kill vampires thing?

Audiences will get to watch this relationship dynamic figure itself out and more in the upcoming Season 6.

Read more:

'What We Do In the Shadows' Season 6: Release Window, Cast, Plot ... - Collider

The Fall of the House of Usher premieres on Netflix October 12. This spoiler-free review is part of our Fantastic Fest 2023 coverage.

The first thing you need to know about Mike Flanagans The Fall of the House of Usher is that its not the story youre expecting. Dont take that to mean that reverence for Edgar Allan Poe isnt front and center, though: Every minute of this series worships Poe. But rather than directly translating the authors tale of a man whose internal rot is symbolized by his crumbling abode, Flanagan uses the short story as what could almost be described as the wraparound segment in an anthology, with each chapter tackling another one of Poes fables while mummified in the wrappings of The Fall of the House of Usher. What comes out of that mummification is some of Flanagans best work.

Which isnt to say that the shows story comes off as disjointed. What Flanagan and his team of writers did wasnt just develop individual odes to The Masque of the Red Death, The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and more they married them together to create what is one of the most impeccable shows in recent memory. What makes this House of Usher decidedly not an anthology is the way that the writers intricately weave the main players stories throughout each episode.

The Usher family is quite big. This is thanks largely to Roderick Ushers (Bruce Greenwood), well, lets just say appetite. Only some of the mothers of his children are seen, but the matriarchs that matter to the story are Rodericks sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell), and much-younger wife Juno (Ruth Codd), who youll hear called child bride quite often. Much of our attention is focused on the children, who fall into one of two camps: Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) and Frederick (Henry Thomas) are the only two direct Usher heirs born in wedlock, while media mogul and sex addict Camille (Kate Siegel), game developer and drug addict Napoleon (Rahul Kohli), surgeon Victorine (TNia Miller), and screwup Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota) are The Bastards. There's also a granddaughter in the mix: Lenore (Kyliegh Curran). Joining the Effed-up Family of the Year in their complicated and messy lives are Mark Hamill as Arthur Pim, Carla Gugino as Verna, and Carl Lumbly as Auguste Dupin.

The point of prattling off all of these names is twofold. First, they offer hints for those with a keen eye for Poes work. And second? Every single performance listed above and even some that are saved for later is perfect. Without an ounce of sarcasm, hyperbole, or figurative speech, they are all just perfect.

Over the years, Flanagan has cultivated a stable of actors the Flanafam, as theyre known to fans many of whom are showcased in The Fall of the House of Usher. Whats kept things from getting stale as the company has moved with the filmmaker through the works of Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Henry James, Christopher Pike, Hasbro, and now Poe is that none of them are ever typecast. Sloyan and Kohli are oceans apart from their Midnight Mass characters here, while The Haunting of Hill Houses Theodora Crain would have smacked Camille into oblivion. The Fall of the House of Usher gives the entire cast a brand new playground, and everyone is having the time of their lives. (Or time of their deaths? You get the idea.)

The Haunting of Hill House set the bar for scares in Flanagans filmography, and The Fall of the Usher meets those expectations with ease thanks to the work of cinematographer Michael Fimognari (Flanagan and Fimognari have enjoyed a long partnership, dating back to 2013s Oculus). Like Hill House before it, House of Usher features a good blend of slow, spooky scares and outright shrieks as Roderick recounts his complicated tale to Auguste in the musty carcass of his childhood home. Both the past and present timelines are filled with the kind of horrors youve come to expect from Flanagan, but he really flexes in the methodology of murder as tragedy barrels its way through the Usher family.

Of course, that tragedy is more for the patriarch than it is for us, and their deaths, while instrumental to the story, arent really what its about. Though their respective demises come in varying degrees and patterns of awful, almost every member of the House of Usher is despicable in their own way. Imagine watching Succession and seeing each of the series miserable players get what they deserve in the most lethal way possible? Thats the type of delicious schadenfreude that The Fall of the House of Usher offers. We watch on as each victim Usher or otherwise makes their proverbial bed despite the grace of the literal warnings offered. After all, hubris, like any of the fine products from the Roderick-run Fortunato, is a hell of a drug.

The Usher empire is propped up by both. In bringing Poes fables to the contemporary world, Flanagans The Fall of the House of Usher centers on some of todays greatest evils. Fortunato the Ushers pharmaceutical company and a name plucked from Poes The Cask of Amontillado is the core driver behind all of Roderick and Madeline Ushers actions. Meanwhile, the latters obsession with immortality is constantly playing on the fringes, only brought to the forefront to appropriately mock AI and any place it has in storytelling or the human experience as a whole.

Theres not a moment where The Fall of the House of Usher doesnt shine, whether its in the gloss of Louboutins or the pools of blood. From Susan Davis costume department to the extensive visual effects team, each crew came together to deliver their absolute A-game. The new entry into the Mike Flanagan pantheon is always firing on all cylinders, and its sure to join many a fans annual rotation of spooky time traditions.

Originally posted here:

The Fall of the House of Usher Review - IGN

Summary

The MCU's Hulk may be an A-list Avenger, but Marvel Studios has barely showed Bruce Banner's backstory and the events that led to the Gamma monster's creation prior to The Incredible Hulk. A founding member of the MCU's Avengers, Hulk has left a mark on the MCU since his debut in 2008's The Incredible Hulk, after which he has remained a supporting character across several movies and his cousin's spinoff series, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. Hulk has learned how to be a team player, controlled his monstrous nature, became a full-fledged hero, and merged the man with the monster before playing a key role in saving the universe.

But as much as the MCU has developed Hulk's journey, some important parts of his comic book lore remain largely unexplored, including his origin story and his time fleeing the authorities right after Bruce Banner's first Hulk transformation. The main reason why Marvel Studios hasn't dived deep into the Hulk's history is because of the studio's shared rights with Universal, which have owned the distribution rights to the character's solo movies for several years. However, The Incredible Hulk and various brief moments throughout the extensive MCU timeline have at least painted a rough picture of the events that led to the Hulk's creation.

Related: Hulk's Movie Rights: Has Marvel Got Them Back From Universal & Is A New MCU Movie On The Way?

In The Incredible Hulk, General Ross reveals that the U.S. Government and the Army had been working on replicating Captain America's Super Soldier serum for decades, to no avail. At some point, Dr. Bruce Banner having obtained several PhDs throughout the years proposes the use of Gamma radiation, though he doesn't know the project's true purpose. Pressured by Ross, Banner uses a special primer and too much Gamma radiation, causing the experiment to fail catastrophically. After transforming into the Hulk for the first time and injuring Betty Ross and her father, Banner transforms back into his human form and escapes.

Related: Incredible Hulk 2: Everything We Know About Ed Norton's Scrapped Plans

Bruce Banner keeps moving through the Midwestern U.S., Canada, and then Alaska, where he tries to shoot himself with a revolver. However, Hulk prevents Banner from hurting himself, so he continues his journey through Russia, Israel, and other countries around the world before ending up in South America. In Brazil, he practices meditation techniques that help control his anger and finds himself a job at a bottling plant. Meanwhile, General Ross reaches out to Stark Industries and SHIELD for help in his search for the Hulk, which leads him to recruit Emil Blonsky.

The Incredible Hulk's plot revolves around Bruce Banner and the Hulk's attempts to defend himself from General Ross while he tries to find a cure with Samuel Sterns, who ends up helping Emil Blonsky turn into Abomination and going through a monstrous transformation himself. During The Incredible Hulk's bittersweet ending, Hulk convinces Ross to let him escape after defeating Abomination, and Bruce Banner finds himself on the run again before Black Widow finds him years later in India. Other MCU scenes and the tie-in comic The Incredible Hulk: The Big Picture add a little more detail to these and other events in Hulk's backstory.

Related: Who Is Mr Blue In The Incredible Hulk & The Marvel Villain He Becomes

Hulk's MCU powers are quite similar to his comic book counterpart's. The Gamma radiation used in Bruce Banner's original experiment awakens something deep in Banner's genes, which has a genetic predisposition to his Hulk transformations similar to how Steve Rogers' genes made the Super Soldier serum so effective. Since then, any kind of extreme stimulus such as anger or pain triggers an automatic response in Bruce Banner's body, which begins an irreversible transformation into an increasingly powerful MCU Hulk. This transformation provides the creature with unlimited strength, speed, and endurance, as well as an extremely efficient regenerative healing factor.

Although Bruce Banner is able to control his transformations through meditation and self-reflection, Hulk is a distinct persona with his own personality and desires. The more Hulk stays out, the more he develops a life of his own and causes Bruce Banner to lose control of the monster. Hulk's massive body and strength only use Bruce Banner as a vessel. Hence, they prevent Banner from dying at any cost. Still, Bruce Banner's intellect allows him to merge his body with Hulk's through a series of experiments before the events of Avengers: Endgame, and Hulk's rebellious mind seems to leave as Banner enjoys Smart Hulk's superhuman physiology.

Related: How Powerful Is The MCU's She-Hulk Compared To Smart Hulk?

Hulk's MCU origin is very faithful to the source material. However, there are a few major changes the movies made to the character's backstory. Either by skipping certain parts of Bruce Banner's past or by modifying some of the events, Hulk's MCU story lost at least three key aspects that shaped his comic book origin.

The experiment that leads to Hulk's off-screen creation in the MCU takes Bruce Banner as its victim because the scientist caves in to General Ross' pressure to complete the procedure. Banner sits on the machine voluntarily and assures Betty Ross that nothing will go wrong before he absorbs all the Gamma radiation and turns into the Hulk for the first time. In Marvel Comics, however, Bruce Banner receives a massive dose of Gamma radiation when he jumps in front of science student Rick Jones, who enters the testing site for a Gamma-infused nuclear weapon designed by Bruce Benner himself.

The MCU's only mention of Bruce Banner's father, Brian, was included in a Thor: Ragnarok deleted scene, where Banner tells Thor that he missed his father's death because he was too busy with his Gamma ray experiments. But in the comics, Brian Banner made a huge impact on Bruce Banner and Hulk's journey. Bruce Banner's father abused him physically and killed his mother in front of him, only to return years later and attack him on his mother's grave. Bruce Banner's painful childhood experiences led him to develop another persona in the form of an imaginary friend, who would later materialize in the form of a Gamma monster.

Related: Wait, Is Hulk A Mutant In The MCU?!

Bruce Banner's imaginary friend was a sign of a fracturing psyche that slowly created different personas. The first one, of course, was the Savage Hulk, who embodied Bruce Banner's repressed rage and disrupted childhood innocence. Banner's exposure to Gamma radiation only fueled the creature that already inhabited his mind, giving it a powerful body to use as a weapon. Other Hulk alters, like Joe Fixit, Devil Hulk, and Guilt Hulk represent different aspects of Bruce Banner's psyche, and he has developed them separately as different situations push him to the limit.

In Marvel Comics, Hulk is one of many Gamma mutates, all of whom are linked through a Gamma gene that makes them predisposed to transformations triggered by Gamma energy. However, they're also linked to the One Below All, a timeless entity that dwells in the depths of the Below-Place, a realm where all Gamma mutates arrive through the Green Door portal after death. Hulk and the rest of Marvel's Gamma mutates owe their alters, their magic invulnerability, and their immortality to The One Below All and the Below-Place. Yet, the MCU completely overlooks these mystical aspects in favor of a completely scientific origin story for its version of the Hulk.

Read this article:

How Hulk Was Created In The MCU - Origin, Powers & Comic Book ... - Screen Rant

Are pro-lifers going to allow themselves to be a cheap date? said Patrick Brown, a fellow with the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Centers Life and Family Initiative. Are they going to sit back and take it when candidates are denigrating the cause they dedicated their life to?

Trumps attempt to have it both ways on the fraught issue calling himself the most pro-life president ever and taking credit for the fall of Roe v. Wade while also shunning the priorities of the anti-abortion groups that helped elect him in 2016 has exposed those groups struggle for relevance in a lopsided primary and highlighted ongoing divisions inside the movement.

Donald Trump has called himself the most pro-life president ever while also shunning the priorities of the anti-abortion groups that helped elect him in 2016. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Some groups say they will give the frontrunner more time to clarify his position and expect he will eventually support a national abortion ban. Other groups, anxious about Trump watering down his abortion stance, are mulling various tactics, including making a primary endorsement, protesting outside his upcoming events, and redirecting their campaign budget to down ballot races.

He wont feel pressure until its applied, and were willing to apply it, said Kristi Hamrick, the chief policy strategist with Students for Life of America. You cannot ignore the human rights issue of our time and still get our vote.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America confirmed to POLITICO that it is moving ahead with plans to spend more than the $78 million it shelled out on the 2022 election cycle to turn out anti-abortion rights voters in 2024. But a leader within the organization acknowledged the posture of the GOPs runaway contender makes their work harder.

Looking at a general, hes going to need all Republicans to come home if hes going to beat Joe Biden, Billy Valentine, SBAs vice president of political affairs, said. Hes going to need the base in order to win ultimately, and hes going to need a clear position. In the absence of a clear position, the Democrats are going to define him.

Other GOP presidential candidates have aligned themselves with SBAs call for a federal ban, but the organization is boxed in by Trumps dominant lead and is unlikely to endorse, several of its leaders told POLITICO.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said he and other anti-abortion leaders have privately spoken with Trump and his campaign and are confident that he will eventually champion their calls for state and national bans.

Yet Trump handily won the Family Research Councils straw poll on Saturday even after he painted the issue as an electoral loser and rejected the groups call for federal abortion limits during a Friday speech to the groups annual conference in Washington D.C.

Politically, its very tough, he told the audience. We had midterms, and this was an issue.

Ahead of the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the DNC launched a billboard in Times Square highlighting Donald Trump's support for a national abortion ban. | Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

His opponents for the GOP nomination, seeing an opening to pry away conservative voters, moved quickly to draw a contrast.

I dont know how you can even make the claim that youre somehow pro-life if youre criticizing states for enacting pro-life protections for babies that have heartbeats, Trump campaign rival Ron DeSantis told a radio host in the early voting state of Iowa on Monday. Its a window into how hes changing as hes running this campaign, and I think hes changing in a way that is not consistent with the values of the people in Iowa.

I think all pro-lifers should know that hes preparing to sell you out, DeSantis, the governor of Florida, added.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and former Vice President Mike Pence also rushed to attack Trump for refusing to back a 15-week national ban, with Pence accusing him of trying to marginalize the cause of life after his own speech to the Family Research Council.

In response to criticisms from DeSantis and others, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung touted Trumps record on abortion.

Nominating pro-life federal judges and Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade, which others have tried for over 50 years, ending taxpayer funded abortions, [reinstating] the Mexico City Policy that protects the life of the unborn abroad, and many other actions that championed the life of the unborn, Cheung said.

Several conservative movement leaders told POLITICO that while Trump remains popular, his post-White House words have forced them to question how much of an ally he would be if elected and how they can pull him back in their direction.

Trumps base is pretty solid, but this is one thing that can really shake his base unless its a pure cult of personality and not one of principle, said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council and author of Legacy of Life: Honoring 50 of the greatest pro-life leaders of the last 50 years.

Its going to be a real test for pro-lifers that support him, added Stemberger, who likes DeSantis but wants him to commit to signing a federal anti-abortion law. Its just stunning to me that hes ignoring the primary issue of social conservatives and Christians.

Many conservatives also took issue with Trumps insistence in a Sunday interview on Meet the Press that he would be able to negotiate a deal on abortion with Democrats and settle the issue once and for all.

One anti-abortion group, the Human Coalition Action, blasted him for seeking compromises on the amount of mass death we find legally acceptable, while Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, poured cold water on the idea even as he praised Trumps anti-abortion record.

Democrats are never going to let voters forget that he overturned Roe, he said. He cant pretend hes going to come out with a plan theyre going to like. They dont like him and never will.

Schilling added that many anti-abortion rights leaders are hesitant to speak up about these concerns well aware that Trump has most likely secured the nomination with or without their support.

I have friends in the movement who are keeping their powder dry because they dont want to ruin their ability to influence him, he said. When you attack someone unfairly, it just burns bridges.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, also sees Trumps pledge to negotiate a compromise as unrealistic, at best, but acknowledges its likely to appeal to a significant number of voters.

I can see why, for people who arent involved in the pro-life movement, that sounds like a really good thing, she said. Theyre thinking, Thank God. Hes going to take away this issue that divides us. I hate the fact that when I turn on my TV, theyre saying the word abortion. I just dont want to talk about this anymore. But he just cant do it, because there are lives at stake.

Some Democrats and abortion rights activists are also worried Trumps calls for compromise and moderation could win people over. They scrambled over the past week to remind voters of Trumps staunch anti-abortion rights record during his first term.

NARAL, which this week changed its name to Reproductive Freedom For All, called Trump a skilled bluffer and said his tack to the center reveals an awareness that support for abortion rights has climbed since Roe fell and the issue has the power to decide elections.

Its clear Republicans are reading the same polls we are and know its a toxic issue for them, said Ryan Stitzlein, the groups vice president of political and government relations. The fact they havent landed on a unified strategy shows they dont know how to handle this. So you have candidates scrubbing their websites or refusing to talk about it, and you have people like Trump trying to portray themselves as a moderate.

Unsure how to bring Trump back into their fold, anti-abortion rights advocates warn that while this tack to the center might win over some voters, it will lose him the support of the ones he needs most.

Pro-lifers are not going to vote for Joe Biden, but we need to give them a reason to vote at all, Perkins said. Donald Trump has a lot of capital with conservatives, but we saw in the last election how narrow it can be. Every vote counts.

CLARIFICATION: The group that criticized Donald Trump for seeking to compromise with Democrats is the Human Coalition Action, a 501(c)4.

Visit link:
Trump steamrolls anti-abortion groups - POLITICO - POLITICO

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

Vivek Ramaswamy sat sipping his decaffeinated green tea in the center of a Capitol Hill hotels restaurant. He was extolling the awesome powers of the federal executive, which he insists would allow a President Ramaswamy to shed 75% of the federal workforce and reorganize the bureaucracy in ways that would make the most senior McKinsey bros giddy. It was obvious this wasnt the first time he was running this deck, even if no laptops, tablets, or projectors were in sight.

But, when I pushed back on his argument, making the case that if presidents are empowered to unilaterally slash and burn entire agencies, then they also can dramatically expand government just as easily, Ramaswamy didnt respond like the typical presidential candidates. Instead of simply repeating his own point or waiving away mine, the 38-year-old paused and gave the matter careful consideration.

If you're coming in from that angle, he told me, I would actually answer the question a little bit differently. Which is what he did, leaning back a little before explaining why he didnt think the executive power he hopes to wield goes in both directions.

It's different if you're actually shutting down agencies that Congress never authorized, he continued. It's a one-way ratchet.

Nuanced. Careful. Reasonable. It also may be complete hogwash that wouldnt pass muster with even the current Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the conversation cut directly against the image of Ramaswamy to this point. On the trail, in ubiquitous media appearances, and on the first debate stage, Ramaswamy often comes off as a brash bully, a privileged prig with a chip on his shoulder and wokeness in his snipers scope, a candidate who seethes with contempt for expertise or experience.

His detractors have assessed that Ramaswamy will say and do whatever is needed to please the audience before him. But that wasnt the guy sitting across from me, by now picking at a plate of spaghetti and snacking on deviled eggs. Here, it was a Socratic seminar on the promise and limits of government, the kind of dialogue that doesnt necessarily do well on a soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Ramaswamys ability to transition so seamlessly between those two aspects of his personality explains, at least in part, why he may be the most interesting and unknowable factor in the unfolding fight for the future of the GOP.

Republicans in 2016 nominated a candidate who also seemed to lack any ideological core but knew how to put on a show, a walking contradiction of a man who could win over the Christian Right and white women voters, despite being a thrice-married philanderer who bragged about sexually assaulting women.

Why wouldnt the modern GOP at least consider someone who openly advertises the same intellectual flexibility, readiness to fight, and disregard for consistency? Especially now that their first foray into nominated nihilism finds himself indicted in four separate criminal cases?

Ramaswamy, for his part, is careful here. Publicly, he is perhaps Donald Trumps most loyalif lonelydefender. From the start of his nascent run, he was careful to stand next to Trump and Trumpism, recognizing its potency. When the FBI raided Trumps Florida club, Ramaswamy had Trumps back. When the charges started to come, Ramaswamy screamed about a weaponized Department of Justice and sounded every bit like a mob boss hinting that it sure would be unfortunate if loyalty mattered for nothing.

Heck, Ramaswamy even chose the office of Trumps unofficial braintrust last week to make a major policy speech about the hows of a Ramaswamy agenda.

And there was a central contradiction of Ramaswamy. While he professes contempt for the power centers of D.C., he really wants them to at least acknowledge him, even if that takes plenty of hyperbole delivered through a smirk.

Ramaswamy is due to deliver his next big speech on Thursday in Ohio. The topic: how the U.S. can win its technology rivalry with China. A week later will come the second GOP debate, where he may once again find himself ganged up on by his rivals, who dont even try to hide how little they think of him.

Still, Ramaswamy holds a talent here. Whether or not Trump sees the 2024 race through, Ramaswamy may well be his heir apparent. Unless he wants to cash in and disappear, he isnt going anywhere any time soon.

Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Write to Philip Elliott at philip.elliott@time.com.

Visit link:
Why Vivek Ramaswamy Is Donald Trumps Most Obvious Heir - TIME