Back in June, amid the breathless coverage of Trump’s first arraignment, I was momentarily distracted by an intriguing push alert on my phone: Vivek Ramaswamy, then a mostly unknown dark horse fringe candidate, was holding a press conference outside the Miami courthouse where the former president had appeared. While the rest of the field agonized over how to respond to the spectacle, Vivek called on every other candidate to pledge to pardon Trump if elected—an extreme position that no other candidate has vowed to take. I hurriedly texted a few sources who were plugged into the currents of the MAGA mood to see what they made of this whippersnapper. “Vivek showing the way,” one wrote back, impressed. 

Over the next three months, long before his national debut in Milwaukee, Vivek continued to make inroads with the Trump wing of the party that comprises a substantial portion of primary voters. As a culture war correspondent and someone who frequently heads into the field, I had never seen anyone get the reception he regularly enjoyed among diehard Trump fans—applause, veep chants, selfie requests. It was all the more unusual since he was ostensibly challenging Trump for president, an action that’s typically perceived by the base as pure treason.