The Cinemaholic

The Surprise Visit (2022): What is the True Story Behind the Film?

Shivangi Sinha of The Surprise Visit (2022): What is the True Story Behind the Film?

As ‘The Surprise Visit’ unfolds, Annabelle and Casey grapple with their drug addiction, realizing the need for a fresh start as they anticipate becoming parents. Faced with financial challenges, the couple decides to overcome their substance abuse, driven by a desperate desire to provide a stable and nurturing environment for their unborn child. In a twist of fate, Casey discovers that Mrs. Dixon, his father’s employer, will be out of town for the weekend.

Faced with financial struggles and a desire for a fresh start, Casey proposes a risky plan to Annabelle—to commit a robbery as their final act of desperation. They intend to secure enough resources to embark on a new life for their unborn child, steering away from the challenges of their current circumstances. Directed by Nick Lyon, the story of the 2022 movie explores the lengths people go to when pushed to the brink and delves into the moral and ethical complexities surrounding their choices.

The Surprise Visit is Inspired by Real Events

The writers of ‘The Surprise Visit,’ Nathan Cowles, Andrew Fein, and Serah Henesey, drew inspiration from a true story connected to Serah Henesey’s husband, Nathan Cowles’ family homestead, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tale reportedly revolves around the previous owner, also named Mrs. Dixon, who, after being widowed, left her property to visit her sister for the weekend. During her absence, the housekeeper, Eric Roberts, unknowingly shared the information with her drug-addicted son and his girlfriend about the vacant house.

surprise visit from family

Learning of their pregnancy, the couple attempted to rob the residence. However, the unexpected arrival of Mrs. Dixon’s daughter and son-in-law on the same night led to their apprehension, mirroring the film’s theme of desperate actions with unexpected consequences. ‘The Surprise Visit’ masterfully captures the raw and unforgiving realities of addiction, providing an unfiltered glimpse into the tumultuous lives of individuals ensnared in the clutches of substance abuse and economic hardship.

With a keen eye for authenticity, the film explores the complex relationship between addiction and poverty, exposing the vulnerabilities that drive individuals to make desperate and often misguided decisions. Annabelle and Casey’s journey becomes a reflection point for the societal challenges surrounding substance abuse, shedding light on the relentless cycle of struggle and the profound consequences it inflicts upon those entangled in its grip. Drug addiction in the country remains a pervasive issue that affects individuals, families, and communities across the nation.

The country grapples with a multifaceted crisis involving a range of substances, from opioids and stimulants to marijuana and alcohol. Contributing factors to the epidemic include the widespread availability of prescription painkillers, socioeconomic disparities, mental health challenges, and a lack of comprehensive addiction treatment resources. One of how the problem of addiction manifests itself is through a rise in criminal activities, and the movie has been able to bring this conversation to the forefront.

The film draws a significant dose of reality from its carefully chosen shooting locations. Much of the filming took place in a secluded area on the outskirts of Virginia, providing the actors and the creative team with an immersive environment. This isolation mirrored the experiences of the characters in the movie, creating not only a captivating cinematographic journey that enhances the horror elements but also an authenticity that resonates with the script and the overall backdrop of the film. The deliberate selection of these locations contributes to the film’s ability to evoke a genuine sense of despair and desperation.

Director Nick Lyon and actor Serah Henesey acknowledge the deliberate Hollywoodization of the true story that served as the inspiration for their film’s universe. While certain elements, such as character names, have been altered, and fictionalized events have been introduced in the latter part of the narrative, the makers proclaim that the movie successfully maintains a sense of believability. Despite these creative liberties, the film remains an entertaining watch, blending reality and fiction to craft a film that entertains the audience.

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‘The Surprise Visit’ Embellishes a True-Life Scary Story

By Eva Trieger

surprise visit from family

SOLANA BEACH, California — While some surprises are good and welcome, others, not so much.  In this horror/thriller based on a real story, The Surprise Visit  relates the story of an unplanned visit gone horribly awry. The story has factual historic roots, but co-producer, and actress, Serah Henessey told me that she and husband, Nathan Cowles, “Hollywoodized” it.  I was very happy to hear that as the film disturbed me very much and I was relieved to know that it was embellished and not a precise re-enactment.

Henessey has a fascinating and varied history in the entertainment business. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and trained in ballet until the age of 16. She also lived in Turkey where she expanded her repertoire by acting in a sitcom for four years that outperformed “Friends” in America!  This dancer/actor/ producer also does her own stunts and indulges in kick-boxing!

In a delightful phone interview, I became acquainted with Serah. She shared that her first theatrical role was in The Epic of Gilgamesh . Since that time she has done film and theater.  Her theater experiences are especially interesting, spanning virtually all genres, from action, sitcom, drama, horror, and comedy.

Recently Henessey has been seen in Saw franchise films, directed by Darren Bousman. These immersive films were done in downtown Los Angeles and were interactive. Audiences and actors fed off each other, creating a “mind-blowing” experience. Henessey has performed in Saw II through Spiral.

The actress told me that she loves doing period pieces and especially enjoys roles that require her to step back into the 17th-century era. She is a devotee of Shakespearean works and also loves performing plays from this time

The Surprise Visit is the embellishment of a break-in that went awry on Henessey’s husband’s family’s homestead. A previous owner, Mrs.Dixon, recently widowed, had decided to visit a sister for the weekend. Her groundskeeper (Erc Roberts) somehow shared this information with his son, a drug addict. The son and his girlfriend, who recently discovered they were pregnant, figured that they would rob the home in the absence of the owner to get some capital. They did not anticipate the surprise visit of Mrs. Dixon’s daughter and son-in-law.

The film depicts the desperation of the young couple of addicts and the fear and desperation of Mrs. Dixon’s daughter. All of the characters are sympathetic and the viewer experiences the fear, desperation, and will to survive on the part of each character.  While Juliet has grown up with means, a loving family, and privilege, she also just lost her father and watched the murder of her husband. The young addicts have no material goods, but a future and a baby on the way. The groundskeeper loves his son, Casey, but cannot condone his actions. The emotional roller coaster is inescapable.

One very interesting thing to note is that this film was made during the pandemic and Serah Henessey told me that they did not want to expose countless people to the virus, so the cast and crew were working overtime. As she observed the first day on the set as a producer, not as an actor, she felt great pride and gratitude to everyone who gave their all. Henessey cried, kvelling and humbled by the efforts of everyone.  She saw the blood, sweat, and tears they put into their efforts and she knew a “joyful kind of exhaustion.” The film is definitely worth seeing and encourages viewer to consider his own moral compass and guideposts.

Click here for the trailer: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGllMLLkDDtDppxGZjgdjPGPlzp?projector=1

The film will be available after January 14, 2022.

* Eva Trieger is a Solana Beach-based freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  She may be contacted via [email protected]

Is The Surprise Visit a true story? The movie’s connection to true crime

  • by Kate Marin
  •  – on Nov 27, 2023
  •  in Film

The Surprise Visit  tells the story of a desperate couple who break into a mansion intending to make away with as much as they can. Aware that the owner has left town, they do not expect any resistance. However, the couple, young drug addicts, are unaware of a visit by the owner’s relatives.

The Surprise Visit  is based on a true break-in attempt on the home of the co-writer’s husband

The Surprise Visit  is loosely based on a true crime. Serah Henesey, one of the film’s writers, based the narrative on a break-in attempt at her husband’s family’s home. However, the movie’s creators embellished the story to make it more entertaining. 

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Tricia Hawn in True Story Robbery Thriller 'The Surprise Visit' Trailer

by Alex Billington January 10, 2022 Source: YouTube

The Surprise Visit Trailer

"We have to do this now!" Vertical Ent. has released an official trailer for The Surprise Visit , a "based on a true story" robbery thriller from filmmaker Nick Lyon. This is arriving on VOD in a few weeks if anyone is curious. A robbery goes wrong, leaving two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision: to give up, or to do the unthinkable and kill. "The film is an American tragedy. I chose to tell The Surprise Visit in a gritty and realistic style that was complemented by deep and intense performances from the talented cast. Beyond the film's thriller veneer, it [also] delivers incredibly dramatic performances, that to this day still send chills through me," the director states. Starring Eric Roberts , Tricia Hawn , Rob Riordan , Jacqi Vene , and Serah Henesey . This looks pretty bad, and the shoddy performances seen here aren't helping much either.

Here's the official trailer (+ new poster) for Nick Lyon's The Surprise Visit , direct from YouTube :

The Surprise Visit Poster

When a young couple makes a surprise visit to Mom, they get an even bigger surprise themselves from an old family friend who plans to steal Mom’s valuable jewelry while she is out of town. But when the "easy peasy" robbery goes wrong, resulting in the accidental death of the daughter’s husband, it forces the two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision; to abandon ship, or do the unthinkable. The Surprise Visit is directed by American indie filmmaker Nick Lyon , director of many films including Fallen Angels , Rise of the Zombies , Bullet , Hercules Reborn , Isle of the Dead , The Boy the Dog and the Clown , and The Rebels of PT-218 . The screenplay is by Stephen Meier, from a story by Serah Henesey and Nathan Cowles. Vertical opens The Surprise Visit in select US theaters + on VOD starting January 14th, 2022 . Who's interested?

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I guess the first bad choice they made is making this film...

shiboleth on Jan 10, 2022

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The surprise visit - movie review.

The Surprise Visit

Sometimes there just isn’t an easy way out of a really bad situation.

Go ahead and get those happy thoughts out of your head.  The Surprise Visit is not based on a happy occasion.  Not at all.  This is a film full of many twists and violent turns as a routine robbery goes tits up and someone is murdered.  The fallout is drastic and unexpected, making this film a bit more interesting than the usual home invasion thriller.

Starring Academy Award Nominee Eric Roberts, Dopestick ’s Tricia Hawn, Rob Riordan, Jacqi Vene and Serah Henesey , director Nick Lyon ’s intense, gritty and suspenseful thriller begins when two strung-out drug addicts find out that they are going to be having a baby.  Uh oh.  

That’s not the SURPRISE at the center of this jewel heist, though. 

Annabelle ( Jaqui Vene ) and Casey ( Rob Riordan ) are trapped in their own personal hell of drug addiction.  They are currently living in a busted up Winnebego under a bridge somewhere near Middleton, Virginia and are struggling to pay their phone bill.  Money has never been much of a concern for them as long as there are drugs to be consumed, it seems.  Somehow, they make it work.  

But, with the sudden revelation that Annabelle is pregnant, they are both going to have to change their ways.  Can Casey do it?

At least that is the hope as he goes out in search of another chance or, depending on your viewpoint of his situation, another sucker to squeeze.  This hope is captured elegantly in the sweeping cinematography from Nate Haban.  Don’t worry, though.  When it is time for the film to go dark and desperate, Haban’s lens is there to ratchet up the tension.  This is edge of your seat entertainment, after all, as attempts to get ahold of some jewelry goes sideways.  

The Surprise Visit

Based on a true story, The Surprise Visit takes a bit of a turn when Juliette ( Serah Henesy ), the rich woman’s daughter, takes her husband along with her to surprise her mother with a visit at the ranch the same weekend Casey plans to rob it.  

Except, as we have learned, Juliette’s mother isn’t there . . . which means the house that Casey and Annabelle want to rob WILL be inhabited.  I think you can see where this home invasion thriller is headed.  Blood will be had and, as accidental as it is, there will be stark consequences raining down in response to the events happening.  They will be swift and they will be final.  

But what will it mean for Casey and the life he had at the opening of the movie?  

Stephen Meier ’s adaptation, based on a story by Nathan Cowles and Serah Henesy , is both shocking and starkly realized due to the talent assembled.  Full of solid performances from the cast, The Surprise Visit is definitely a shocker, keeping us on our toes.  White the film doesn’t do anything new with the sub-genre, it definitely delivers when it comes to SHOCK and AWE as a chase through the woods ends rather unexpectedly and twists the sharp-edged truth like a knife into our own guts.

The Surprise Visit premieres in theaters and on demand January 14 from Vertical Entertainment .

3/5 stars

The Surprise Visit

MPAA Rating: unrated. Runtime: 86 mins Director : Nick Lyon Writer: Stephen Meier Cast: Eric Roberts; Jacqi Vene; Serah Henesey Genre : Thriller Tagline: Based on a True Story. Memorable Movie Quote: Distributor: Vertical Entertainment Official Site: Release Date: January 14, 2022 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : When a young couple makes a surprise visit to Mom, they get an even bigger surprise themselves from an old family friend who plans to steal Mom’s valuable jewelry while she is out of town. But when the“easy peasy” robbery goes wrong, resulting in the accidental death of the daughter’s husband, it forces the two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision; to abandon ship, or do the unthinkable.

The Surprise Visit

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The Surprise Visit

Where to watch

The surprise visit.

2022 Directed by Nick Lyon

When a young couple makes a surprise visit to Mom, they get an even bigger surprise themselves from an old family friend who plans to steal Mom’s valuable jewelry while she is out of town. But when the “easy peasy” robbery goes wrong, resulting in the accidental death of the daughter’s husband, it forces the two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision: to abandon ship, or do the unthinkable.

Rob Riordan Jacqi Vene Didem Erol Eric Roberts Tricia Hawn Johnny Santiago Regan Ferrier

Director Director

Producers producers.

Nick Lyon Andrew Fein

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Nathan Cowles

Writers Writers

Stephen Meier Nathan Cowles Andrew Fein

Cinematography Cinematography

Sound sound.

Sebastian Levy Polat Martin Amodio

Hoodoo Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Spanish

Alternative Titles

목격자를 남기지 마라, Niespodziewana wizyta, 意外访客, Crimen imperfecto, ביקור בהפתעה, Crime Imperfeito

Crime Thriller

Releases by Date

14 jan 2022, releases by country.

86 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

⋆ ˚。 belis ˚。⋆

Review by ⋆ ˚。 belis ˚。⋆ ★ 2

istg!!!!! a man died bc he was hit by a flashlight!!!! please im dying this was so so so bad

my family voted and my dad is not allowed to pick a movie ever again 😮‍💨

Deathy

Review by Deathy ★★

Score : 4.9/10 ✅

A robbery goes wrong movie can either be super fun or super lame, it all depends on the execution, and unfortunately, this movie is probably a bit too amateurish to be taken seriously.

There are a lot of irritating things going on here, we are left with a borderline maniac that got mood swings, an annoying girl that doesn’t make her mind and a character in pyjamas running for her life, which is accompanied by crappy cinematography. I wouldn’t call it the worst movie ever made since I had some fun out of it, it was even worth it since I think the robbery scene was pretty good and the end surprised me a bit, but…

thnwhitdke

Review by thnwhitdke ★

What a complete mess.  Just get to the ending (if you can) and tell yourself that the moral of the story is a great message for meth addicts.

Trash City

Review by Trash City ★★

Full review: filmblitz.org/surprise-visit-2022/

The writers do try and make the obvious villains of the piece at least somewhat sympathetic, contrasting their poverty-stricken existence (they live in a trailer underneath a highway overpass) with the easy life of Juliette. Though I’d not say these efforts are particularly successful. Casey is depicted as being pushed into crime as a last resort, after his efforts to find a job and support his impending family have failed. However, the sum total of said efforts is asking his Dad for a position, so it’s really more of a token gesture than real industry. His reaching for the crack pipe any time things don’t go his way, undoes any positive feelings towards him: put it this way, I wouldn’t employ him either.

rOt

Review by rOt ½

Holy shit this was bad, fucking read a book while watching this snail paced garbage and mind numbingly dumb performances, wasted my fucking time

Sarfaraz Abbasi

Review by Sarfaraz Abbasi ★

A below mediocre movie

takiman

Review by takiman ½

You really feel the 90 minutes

Bane

Review by Bane ★★

Movie is all about running.

Adrian Stampe Hausen

Review by Adrian Stampe Hausen ★½

First movie I watch released this year not a promising start.

Michael

Review by Michael ½

Think of the shittiest hallmark movie but it’s written by legit meth heads

Marlon Royal Reid

Review by Marlon Royal Reid ½

I would rather watch two ants fuck in slow motion than rewatch this poorly made film.

Dustin Baker

Review by Dustin Baker ★★½

Despite its flash-forward opening, always a good sign that a film has no faith in itself at all, the first twenty minutes or so set up some promise. Other than the main junkie characters are of the idealized Hollywood type that doesn't exist in reality, trust me as I see enough of them daily at work, farting about in their own cartoonish ways, the film at least tries to set up some pathos, as well as giving Eric Roberts something that might have some depth, most of which goes away once the main plot's underway and we're pretty much stuck with two morons with hackneyed accents chasing one crying woman around. I think it wants to be some kind of…

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surprise visit from family

The Surprise Visit (2022)

Though The Surprise Visit is hoping it can bank some interest on the fact that it’s “Based on a true story”, the fact that there’s no history attached to such a statement leaves Nick Lyon’s occasional thriller in the company of many other genre flicks that advertise similar sentiments in their best bid to add intrigue to an otherwise standard narrative.

The film centres itself around junkies and expecting parents Casey (Rob Riordan) and Annabelle (Jacqi Vene) who, upon learning of their impending parenthood, decide to give up their drug habits and make a play for the straight and narrow. It all sounds so reasonable, but this duo don’t exactly seem like the types to execute such a cookie cutter plan without resorting to some type of crime – especially Casey – so we are unsurprised when he hatches a plan to rob a neighbouring home in order to make a quick buck.

The neighbouring home being both occupied by residents who knew Casey as a young boy, as well as being the employ of his father (Eric Roberts) means there’s some emotional stakes tied to Casey’s decision, but, sadly, The Surprise Visit not adhering to any type of nuance or subtlety means we ultimately have little care for what happens to either party. Casey is just a terrible person, and no amount of emphasis on his drug habit is going to convince us otherwise. Annabelle is the most shrill of characters, and though she’s clearly heavily under the influence of both Casey and whatever substance she favours, there’s no emotional connection or understanding of her for us to care. And the victims here – Juliette (Serah Henesy) and Daniel (Johnny Santiago) – have little development that the only reason we muster any investment in them is that they simply aren’t Casey and Annabelle.

surprise visit from family

Ultimately, it’s only Roberts’ Hugh that we stand behind. The idea that he would have to choose between his son – and, by extension, his grandson – and the household that has treated him so kindly over the years is one that screenwriter Stephen Meier and story artists Henesy and Nathan Cowles don’t utilise to its full potential. Setting The Surprise Visit in the realms of the home invasion thriller makes sense, but even then it fails to deliver on any thrills or elaborate set-pieces, with so much of the brief 86 minute running time devoted to Casey and Annabelle bickering about how they navigate the situation they’ve found themselves in.

Whilst the film may have its share of unsavoury ingredients, director Lyons at least deserves props for working within such limited budget restraints and for wrapping the story up in a manner that I suspect most studio projects wouldn’t have opted for. Had some of the acting been more fine-tuned and a little more development been afforded to the characters, The Surprise Visit could have done enough to earn itself a welcome reception, but, as it stands, this is a houseguest best turned away.

The Surprise Visit is now screening in select theatres across the United States. An Australian release is yet to be determined.

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Badly written, especially the end

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[Movie Review] THE SURPRISE VISIT

[Movie Review] THE SURPRISE VISIT

  • January 12, 2022 January 12, 2022
  • DarkSkyLady

surprise visit from family

THE SURPRISE VISIT , a thriller/drama with a story by Nathan Cowles, Andrew Fein, and Serah Henesey and directed by Nick Lyon, follows a young, poor couple who commit a robbery that soon spirals downward, and they must decide whether to give up or commit another crime. The film stars Jacqi Vene and Rob Riordan as the robbing couple Annabelle and Casey, with Eric Roberts as Casey’s father, Hugh. Rounding out the cast is Serah Henesey and Johnny Santiago as married couple Juliette and Daniel, who are as shocked to see the robbers as the robbers are that someone’s home. Despite some drag, particularly during all the running scenes, which are annoying, THE SURPRISE VISIT  did hold my attention, and by the end, I had flashes of True Romance , just not as good.

Annabelle and Casey are drug addicts, but when Annabelle realizes she is pregnant, they promise to give up drugs for the sake of their child. So Casey visits his father, Hugh, to ask for money, but of course, this is not Casey’s first time asking for money, so Hugh shuts him down. As most do when pleading does not give them what they want, Casey berates his father as a lowly gardener of a wealthy older woman, Mrs. Dixon, played by Tricia Hawn. Yet, after leaving, Hugh asks his boss to hire his son to earn money, and she agrees.

Unfortunately, Casey does not know this. He decides to rob Mrs. Dixon’s house since he knows she left to care for a friend, but he is clueless that Mrs. Dixon’s daughter, Juliette, arrived for a surprise visit with her husband Daniel in tow. At that point, their simple robbery goes up in smoke. THE SURPRISE VISIT  is based on a true story, and there is a definite class divide among the white cast. The film also looks at how addiction deteriorates the character of a person. Casey keeps making poor decisions driven by his addiction and desperation to provide for his girlfriend and unborn child.

The acting in THE SURPRISE VISIT is not great, but it does the job. Rob Riordan does a great job as a man torn between the need to protect and provide for his family and enslaved by the vise-grip of addiction. The Jekyll/Hyde transformation of an addict is similar to that of an abuser; one moment loving, threatening the next and Rob Riordan demonstrates that. Jacqi Vene’s acting gives Annabelle a sympathetic feel because she wants them both to get clean and do better for their child, and she has faith in Casey. Serah Henesey’s performance did not capture my attention as much, perhaps because she’s running through most of the film.

THE SURPRISE VISIT  may not have a star-studded cast and massive budget, but it works well under its financial constraints. The one part that dragged was all the scenes of running. I get it, this is a chase, but too many of these scenes began pulling the film down. However, I was invested in the story and curious to see how it ended. I also want to know which parts were accurate and artistic license for dramatic flair. The ending surprised me—a rarity these days as too many films are both formulaic and predictable. In that, THE SURPRISE VISIT  outshines some blockbusters.

THE SURPRISE VISIT arrives in theaters and On Demand on January 14, 2022.

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7 thoughts on “ [movie review] the surprise visit ”.

The ending was terrible. Two things here no witness, so the gardener is dead, then how would they know so much about the pass. Which couldn’t make it a true movie.. Or, he lived and the gardener told the police of the pass

I’m still SHOCKED true story. Like 1 viewer said, you were free but decided to go back. No offense, but why, noone was back there to save I always think the same about true movies, who told it, how they know so much when wasn’t there

A very stupid movie, I am truly at a loss of words, I guess the only thing I thought about the movie was how much cassey looked like Ernest T Bass on the Andy griffith show!!!

Horrible story line and poor acting . Even Eric Roberts was bad . I regret wasting my hour and a half watching this garbage

Great movie because this is reality and anyone that doesn’t realize this is out of touch with what’s going on in America.

I guess I’m out of touch, it SUCKED. I read reviews & fast fowarded

Great retort!

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The Surprise Visit

Cast & crew.

Eric Roberts

Serah Henesey

Regan Ferrier

Tricia Hawn

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The Surprise Visit

2022, Mystery & thriller, 1h 26m

Where to watch The Surprise Visit

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The surprise visit videos, the surprise visit   photos.

A robbery goes wrong, leaving two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision: to give up, or to do the unthinkable.

Genre: Mystery & thriller

Original Language: English

Director: Nick Lyon

Producer: Serah Henesey , Nick Lyon

Writer: Stephen Meier

Release Date (Theaters): Jan 14, 2022  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Jan 14, 2022

Runtime: 1h 26m

Distributor: Vertical Entertainment

Production Co: Hoodoo Productions

Cast & Crew

Eric Roberts

Serah Henesey

Regan Ferrier

Tricia Hawn

Rob Riordan

Johnny Santiago

Stephen Meier

Screenwriter

Nathan Cowles

Executive Producer

Cinematographer

Victoria Lowry

Production Design

Wilfree Vasquez

Costume Designer

Daisy Flynn

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surprise visit from family

Meghan Markle makes surprise visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Some of the young patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles had a very special guest for story time.

The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle made a secret visit to the hospital on March 21 as part of CHLA’s Make March Matter Campaign.

On Tuesday, the hospital posted photos on Instagram of her reading to patients for its Literally Healing storytime.

Patients were laughing and singing as the Duchess read her favorites like “Rosie the Riveter,” “Pete the Cat,” and “I Saw a Cat,” according to CHLA.

The fun didn’t end there.

The hospital said the “mom of two also helped kids with activities tied to each book that let kids explore counting, colors, problem-solving and more.”

Literally Healing is the hospital’s reading program “that gifts families at CHLA more than 65,000 books annually and provides a unique opportunity to promote literacy, as well as supports and strengthens our patient families through additional therapeutic literary resources.”

The Duchess’ rare public appearance comes over a week after her sister-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Both Prince Harry and Meghan have said they wished “health and healing” for Kate amid this difficult time. They also called for her and her family to heal “privately and in peace”.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.

Meghan Markle makes surprise visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

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Mammootty's surprise visit to neighbouring family during 'Kaathal - The Core' shoot

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Imagine superstar Mammootty unexpectedly visiting your house. This unique experience recently happened to a family. Shajie Naduvil, the art director of the film 'Kaathal - The Core', shared a video capturing this moment. In the video, Mammootty is seen interacting with the people in a neighbouring house close to the film's shooting location. He tells an elderly woman sitting on the verandah that watching movies is good.

During a scene where Mammootty had to be filmed riding a scooter, while the crew was setting up, he and some crew members decided to make a spontaneous visit to a nearby house. The family was initially shocked to see Mammootty, but as time passed, the atmosphere became more relaxed and friendly.

Mammootty first engaged in a conversation with an elderly lady sitting in front of the house. When she mentioned that she doesn't watch movies these days due to her age, Mammootty encouraged her, saying that watching movies is good and even offered to arrange a screening for her. After a casual chat with the other family members, Mammootty returned to the film set to continue shooting.

Mammootty's 'Kannur Squad' clears a family debt from 1989 classic 'Mahayanam'

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Meghan Markle Recycles Dress from U.K. Visit for Surprise Storytime at Children's Hospital Los Angeles

  • Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

The Duchess of Sussex previously wore the dress in a family picture with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet that appeared in the Netflix docuseries 'Harry & Meghan'

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Meghan Markle 's latest outfit looks familiar!

On March 21, the Duchess of Sussex, 42, visited the Children's Hospital Los Angeles , where she led a Literally Healing session. Meghan wore a silk chiffon white shirt dress with a cascading floral pattern, which fan blogs identified as an Oscar de la Renta ensemble that was already in her closet. She previously wore the white dress during her visit to the U.K. with her husband, Prince Harry , and their kids, Prince Archie , 4, and Princess Lilibet , 2, in the summer of 2022.

That June, the family of four traveled to the U.K. from their California home for Queen Elizabeth ’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which doubled as the first time Queen Elizabeth and the future King Charles met Lilibet. Prince Harry and Meghan's daughter, known as "Lili," was born in California in 2021, and the little princess also celebrated her first birthday with a " casual, intimate backyard picnic " at her parents’ (now former) Frogmore Cottage home during the trip to England.

Related: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Bios Receive Major Update on Official Royal Website

Fans got a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the family’s trip — and Meghan’s first outing in the Oscar de la Renta shirt dress — in the intimate docuseries Harry & Meghan , which debuted on Netflix in December 2022. The Duchess of Sussex was photographed from the back wearing the dress in a sweet family photo , which showed her holding Prince Archie and glancing over at Prince Harry as he carried Princess Lilibet on his shoulders during a walk near Frogmore Cottage.

Another image shared in the six-part docuseries appeared to have been taken on the same day, showing Meghan sitting on the kitchen counter across from Prince Harry. The kitchen snap may have been taken in Frogmore Cottage, where Prince Harry and Meghan lived from 2019 to 2020 before stepping back from their working royal roles and relocating to her home state in the U.S.

Related: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Host African American Art Event — and Meghan's Mom Poses with Tina Knowles!

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were most recently in the U.K. together in September 2022 during a trip to Europe for a series of events with longstanding charities when Queen Elizabeth died at age 96. The couple extended their stay for the funerary events that followed and used Frogmore Cottage as a base to stay in England until last year. In March 2023, a spokesperson for the couple's Archewell Foundation told PEOPLE , "We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage."

While Meghan was photographed barefoot in the de la Renta shirt dress in Harry & Meghan , she slipped on black ankle-strap flats for the visit to Children's Hospital Los Angeles almost two weeks ago. The Duchess of Sussex's stop was part of Make March Matter, an annual fundraiser at the hospital that "unites celebrities, business and the greater community in support of its mission of creating hope and building healthier futures." Since 2016, the campaign has raised over $10 million for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

"Children were laughing and singing as The Duchess turned into character with every page as she read patient favorite books like Rosie the Riveter , Pete the Cat and I Saw a Cat, " a statement said — tapping into her acting background! Meghan also helped children with STEAM activities connected to each book.

In a video of the visit, the Duchess of Sussex greeted kids as they gathered for the story session, excitedly showing the cover of Rosie Revere, Engineer and telling the group, "This is one of my favorites."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People .

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Prince Harry and Meghan May Surprise Everyone By Reuniting With The Royal Family

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Prince Harry and Meghan May Surprise Everyone By Reuniting With The Royal Family

At the moment, Meghan’s attendance is yet to be confirmed, with the Invictus event list tabling her in as TBC.

While some believe Prince William means to keep Harry far from his home and family, others believe the King and the Princess of Wales’ “very serious illnesses” may be the opening for healing the rift.

Prince William And Prince Harry May Bury The Hatchet During These Trying Times

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams believes the days of the royal feud may be counting down to an end due to the cancer diagnosis of two of the most senior members of the Royal Family.

While rumors suggest Harry and Meghan means to return to the UK with their children Archie and Lilibet, Fitzwilliams said it’s yet unconfirmed.

He added that the time is nearing for these rumors to either be agreed or denied, although he did say that “surprising” things could start to happen as early as next week.

Mr Fitzwilliams told The Sun Online: “Harry will be here at some point in May, and maybe before then to see King Charles.

The problem is the King and Princess of Wales have their diagnosis’ and no one knows the state of what precisely William and Harry have said to each other when they spoke briefly. The rumours have been that it wasn’t an in-depth talk.”

For the depth of the emotional rift existing between both brothers, Fitzwilliams believes it hangs on how Meghan reacts to it.

“The problem is it’s a very deep rift,” he continued. “The third problem is Meghan isn’t obviously keen on visiting Britain because she is not popular here. Nor is Harry, but it’s different for him.”

“If she comes there will be a huge amount of adverse publicity because of the way she has acted for the past four years.”

He also said the backlash may well affect their children, and Harry would be forced to put them into consideration since he lost his bid for police protection.

He opined: “On top of that you have the issue of Archie and Lilibet who are completely blameless.”

Be sure to catch up on everything happening with The Royal Family right now. Come back here often for all The Royal Family spoilers, news, and updates.

 Photo by thenews2.com – Deposit Photo

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Nmesoma Okechukwu

Nmesoma Okechukwu is an avid reader/writer who loves good music in all its different forms and wonders. Due to her love and concern about nature, she has written for magazines that address the issue of climate change. She is also working on music and is looking forward to releasing all the songs she can’t help but write. Her debut book is titled Cybernetics Within Us.

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The Accidental Tax Cutter in Chief

President biden says he wants to rake in more money from corporations and high earners. but so far, he has cut more taxes than he’s raised..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.”

[THEME MUSIC]

Today, in his campaign for re-election, President Biden says that raising taxes is at the heart of his agenda. But as it turns out so far, he’s done the opposite as president. My colleague Jim Tankersley explains.

It’s Wednesday, April 3.

Jim, welcome back. We haven’t seen you since the State of the Union. Always a pleasure.

So, so great to be here. And yeah, I finally recovered from staying up all night with you guys.

Yeah, you don’t even know all night. You stopped and we kept going.

That’s true. I did. I got a robust three hours that night. You’re right.

[LAUGHS]:: So Jim, in your capacity as really the chief economic thinker covering this president, you recently came across something very surprising.

Yeah, it started with a pretty basic question for me. I like to do this crazy thing, Michael, where I like to take candidates’ promises and see if they’ve come true.

It’s a little bit wild, but it’s what I do for fun. And in this case, I wanted to look at a very central promise of President Biden’s campaign in 2020, which he has repeated while in office.

I promise you, I guarantee you we can build back, and build back better with an economy that rewards work, not wealth.

The promise was he was going to raise taxes.

But I tell you what I’m going to do, and I make no apologies for it. I’m going to ask the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations of the Fortune 500 companies, 91 making a collective billions of dollars, didn’t pay a single solitary penny in federal tax!

Not taxes on the middle class, not taxes on low income workers, but he was going to raise taxes on corporations and the rich.

But I’m going to make sure they pay their fair share!

He was going to make them pay their fair share. And he leaned into it.

Guess what? You’re going to start paying your fair share. I’m going to ask them to finally begin to pay the fair share. It’s not a punishment. Pay your fair share.

He said it over and over.

Fair share? Translation — it’s back to the failed policies of the 1970s.

Republicans loved this. They repeated it too. They told voters that the president was going to raise taxes.

Joe Biden bragging about raising taxes on corporations. That means less money for those very employers to hire people back.

They talked about all the ways in which corporate tax increases could rebound on workers.

Joe Biden will shut down your economy, raise taxes, wants a $4 trillion tax increase. He’s the only politician I’ve ever seen who said, we will raise your taxes. You’re supposed —

It was a very big part of the economic debate for the campaign.

And I wanted to know, is that true? Has that actually played out in the policy agenda the president has had?

So I asked some economists at the Tax Policy Center in Washington to run an analysis and just say, let’s look at all of the ways Biden has changed the tax code in all of those laws he’s signed, and ask, has he raised taxes as president? And it turns out the answer is he has not raised taxes.

On net, he has cut more taxes than he’s raised.

How much more has he cut taxes than raised them?

So by the math that economists use when they look at budgets, the traditional way of scoring tax changes, he has cut taxes by $600 billion on net.

Hmm. A lot of money, a lot of tax cuts.

It’s a lot of tax cuts. The president has been a net tax cutter.

So Jim, why and how did Biden end up cutting taxes, especially if his stated intent was to raise taxes?

Well, there’s two sides of this equation and two complementary explanations for what’s happened here. The first side is the tax increases that Biden ran on, he’s only done a couple of them. He has trillions of dollars of ideas for how to raise taxes on rich people and corporations. The Treasury Department publishes an entire book full of them every year called “The Green Book.”

But in the actual legislation he signed, there’s only been a couple, really. There was a tax on stock buybacks that companies do and then a new minimum tax for certain multinational corporations that have very low tax rates. Those add up to real money, but they are not, in the grand scheme of Biden’s tax increases, a really large amount of the agenda he’s proposed.

So explanation number one, he just hasn’t been that successful in passing tax increases, and there’s a lot of reasons for that. The biggest one is just the simplest one is that he’s just had a really hard time persuading members of Congress, including Democrats, to back some of his favorite tax increases. He wants to raise the corporate income tax rate, which President Trump cut in his 2017 tax bill. Biden wants to raise it to 28 percent from 21 percent. Congress has not had any appetite to go along with that.

He wanted to get rid of what’s called the carried interest loophole, a long-time white whale of Democratic policy making. But he could not get even 50 Democrats to go along with that. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was opposed to it, and so it didn’t get included.

And he did some pieces of legislation on a bipartisan basis. And in those cases, Republicans were just not going to pay for anything by raising taxes, and so he had to take those off the table there. So it’s all added up to just not very much activity in Congress to raise taxes on what Biden wants to do.

Got it. So that’s the side of a ledger where Biden simply fails to increase taxes because he can’t get Congress to increase taxes.

Right. But there’s another side, which is also that Biden has signed into law a decent number of tax cuts.

And that starts from the very beginning. Just a couple of months into his presidency, if you’ll recall, we’re still in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy is wobbling after it had started to rebound. Biden proposes what is essentially a stimulus bill.

And he includes some tax cuts in there, a tax cut for families, a child tax credit. And it also includes — you remember those direct checks that people got as part of that bill?

Yes, $1,400. I remember them.

Yes, those were technically tax cuts.

So the stimulus bill starts with that. The next year, he passes this bill that is trying to accelerate manufacturing of things like semiconductors in the United States. That’s the CHIPS Act. And that includes some corporate tax cuts for companies that invest in the kind of manufacturing that Biden wants. This is industrial policy via carrots for corporations. And Biden is handing them out as part of this bill.

So tax cuts there. And then finally the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the largest climate effort in American history is a bunch of corporate tax cuts at its core, tax cuts for manufacturing of solar panels, tax cuts for people to buy electric vehicles, tax cuts for all sorts of things tied to the transition from fossil fuels to lower emission sources of energy. And those tax cuts add up. They add up for corporations. They add up for individuals. And in the end, that full suite of tax cuts that he’s passed across all of this legislation outweighs the modest tax increases that were also included in the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce its cost.

Got it. So a very big reason why Biden ends up cutting taxes, beyond the fact that he’s not able to raise them through Congress, is that that’s what it took, according to those in his administration, to get American industry and American consumers to change their behavior in line with policy goals such as getting more domestic computer chip manufacturing and getting more people to buy electric vehicles they decided the way to do that was to give people tax breaks, which means he cut their taxes.

Right, people and companies. The president certainly has talked throughout the campaign about wanting to give middle class families a break. But he has also, in the process of crafting policy, really come to rely on tax cuts for people and for corporations as a way of achieving these policy goals. And in many cases, again, this is what he had to do to pass these bills through even Democrats in Congress.

Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia didn’t want to just send money to companies that were making solar panels. He wanted there to be tax incentives for it. And so that is part of the reason why these were created as tax incentives. And so all of this adds up to more of a tax cutting record than you might have imagined when Biden was on the campaign trail.

I’m curious who really ended up benefiting from these tax cuts. You said they went to people and to corporations, but on the whole, did they end up reaching lower income Americans, middle income Americans, or the rich?

Well, we don’t have a full distributional analysis, which is what you’re asking for, of the entirety of Biden’s tax changes. But what we can say this — particularly the ones that were in that early stimulus bill, the recovery plan, those were very much targeted toward lower income and middle income Americans.

There were income limits on who could get things like the Child Tax Credit. Obviously, the direct payments went to people who were middle class or less. So the analysis of that would suggest that these were tax cuts for lower income people, for middle class people. And on the flip side, what I think we are likely to see with the electric vehicle credit through the Inflation Reduction Act is that while there are some income limits on who can qualify for that credit, that the people who end up claiming that credit tend to be the higher earners among the people who qualify.

Right. Who buys a Tesla, after all? Somebody with a fair amount of money.

Right, exactly. And of course, the corporate tax cuts go to companies, flow through to their shareholders. There’s a huge debate in the academic literature among politicians about how much of that benefit actually ends up going to their workers versus stays with shareholders. But we can broadly say that Joe Biden has done a lot for certain corporations who are trying to advance his manufacturing goals in particular to reduce their tax bills. And that is certainly not in line with the rhetoric you hear him talking about most of the time about making corporations pay their fair share. And the White House acknowledges this. I asked them about it. And they basically said, we think there’s a difference between just cutting the corporate tax rate in a way that helps anybody no matter what they’re doing and what we’re trying to do, which is basically reward corporations for accelerating the energy transition.

Understood. But where does this ultimately leave Biden’s campaign promise to make the tax code fairer and to make sure that the well-off in particular and corporations are paying their, what he calls, fair share?

Well, I think by Biden’s own measurements, by his own ambitions, he would have to agree that he is nowhere close to what he believes would be a fair share for corporations. Because Biden is still running on this. As he enters his re-election campaign, as it really heats up, a rematch with Donald Trump, the president is really leaning into this message of we need to do more. We need to raise more taxes on corporate America. It is time for these companies and for high earners to pay their fair share.

Right. I didn’t get it done in the first term. But if you elect me, I’ll get it done in the second.

Give me another shot, and this time, I promise, will be different.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We’ll be right back.

So Jim, let’s talk about Biden’s tax raising plans for a theoretical second term and why anyone should have any faith that he could get it done, if there’s a second term, given the experience so far of his first term.

Yeah, well, man, there’s a lot of plans to talk about. I don’t think we can get through all of them, but we can certainly hit the highlights here. So we can start with the couple of things that Biden has been able to do to raise taxes on corporations. He wants to take those and then plus them up.

He’s put this new minimum tax on corporations. It’s a 15 percent minimum tax on certain multinationals. He now wants to raise that to 21 percent.

He wants to take that corporate stock buyback tax which is 1 percent right now, and he’d like to quadruple it to 4 percent. And then he goes after some things large and small. He wants to do new taxes that hit the use of corporate and private jets. He wants to do new taxes on companies that pay large amounts of compensation to their executives.

And then we get to some really big taxes on high earning individuals. So the president has said over and over again, he won’t raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. But he’s got a bunch of taxes for the people above that. So he wants to raise the top marginal income tax rate. He wants to take it from 37 percent, which is the level set by President Trump’s 2017 tax law, and bring it back to 39.6 percent, which is what it was before. He also wants to impose what he calls a billionaires tax.

OK. It’s a 25 percent tax on the total value of all of the assets of anyone worth more than $100 million.

OK, wait. I have several questions about this.

First being a fact check, if it’s a billionaires tax, it’s interesting that it’s going after people who have just 100 million.

Yeah, I think most billionaires would be offended at the inclusion of 100 millionaires in that. Yes, totally agree. That is factually inaccurate, the name.

Right. But beyond that, this sounds very much like a wealth tax, which we don’t really have in our system.

Yeah, it’s a sort of wealth tax. The Biden people don’t call it a wealth tax, but it is a tax on something other than income that you report every year to the IRS as having been earned. It goes beyond just, oh, I got interest from my stock holdings or I made money from my job. It’s, oh, the value of my art collection increased last year, and now Biden’s going to tax me on that increase, even if I didn’t sell the art.

That’s a real change, and that reflects the president’s view that people with enough money to buy enormous art collections that appreciate enormously in value should be paying more in taxes.

Right. And of course, a tax like this is extremely perhaps maddeningly hard to actually pull off. It’s hard to get someone to describe their art collection’s value so that you can apply a 25 tax to it. So this might end up being more of a political statement than a practical tax.

Yeah, there’s also questions about whether it’s constitutional. So there’s all sorts of drama around this proposal, but it is certainly, if nothing else, a statement of the president’s intent to make people worth a lot of money pay a lot more in taxes.

OK, so that’s a lot of proposed tax increases, almost all of them focused on those who are rich and corporations. Overall, Jim, what stands out to you about this Biden term two tax increase plan?

I think we could very fairly say that it’s the largest tax increasing plan by a sitting president or a presidential nominee for a party in American history.

He wants to get a lot of money from corporations and people who earn or are worth a lot of money.

But the rub, of course, is it’s hard to see the Congressional math that lets Biden accomplish these tax increases, some of which, like you said, he couldn’t get done the first time. Why would we think he would get them done the second time even if he wins this fall?

Yeah, it would be really difficult. Biden would have to win in November. Democrats would have to take the House of Representatives back from Republicans, which is certainly possible. It’s very closely divided right now. And they’d need to hold at least 50 seats in the Senate. And then those 50 Democrats in the Senate would have to be willing to go along with far more in tax increases than Democrats were last time around.

So if there is a second term, it feels like we should assume it will be very difficult perhaps even quite unlikely he’s going to get to push through a lot of these taxes. Which makes me wonder, Jim, why is Biden running on a tax program that he knows has so little chance of becoming reality and when it’s pretty clear that he’s gotten a lot of stuff done without raising taxes? It turns out that’s not been all that essential to getting infrastructure or climate bills done. So why is he making this so central?

Several reasons. One of them is it’s very important to him rhetorically to talk about fiscal responsibility. Big parts of the Biden agenda, the CHIPS bill, the infrastructure bill, some other legislation, were not actually paid for. The spending and tax cuts were not offset by tax increases.

So they’re going to add to the debt.

Right. So they’re going to add to the debt. Same is true of the stimulus bill. But moving forward, the president has said that he’s going to pay for his agenda and he’s actually going to have some extra tax dollars coming in left over to help pay down future budget deficits. And on paper, it’s the way to pay for Biden’s other big, expansive plans that he hasn’t been able to do but wants to — universal child care, federal paid leave, investing in elder care, just a whole bunch of things that he still wants to do more — housing initiatives.

The president needs money to make a case that he’s being fiscally responsible, and this is the money that would do that.

So that’s one reason. Another reason is the calendar. Biden and his team are looking ahead to the end of 2025, and they know that if he wins another term, he will be in office at a rare moment in Washington, when basically tax policy has to be on the Congressional agenda.

Well, Republicans, when they passed their tax cuts in 2017, set a bunch of them to expire at the end of 2025 in order to lower the cost of the bill.

These are the Trump tax cuts.

The Trump tax cuts. And that includes all the tax cuts for individuals. So now that those are coming due, there’s going to be a fight in Washington over whether to extend them or make them permanent or change them in some way or just let them expire, and Democrats know there’s going to be a huge fight that will reach almost certainly the floor of the House and the Senate. And so Biden wants to be ready.

He wants to be ready with a suite of policy proposals that Democrats can basically pull off the shelf and try to use to put Republicans in a box. Basically say, we would like to keep taxes low or cut them further for low income workers, middle class workers. But we want to pay for that by raising taxes on the rich. You Republicans also want to do nice things for low and middle class workers, but you want to cut taxes for corporations and the rich, and we think that’s a political loser for you.

So Biden is ready with what they think will be a political winner for Democrats in this almost certain floor tax fight at the end of 2025.

And that brings us to the last reason why Biden is doing this, and maybe the most important, which is it’s really good politics.

Just explain that. Why is talking about tax increases, net tax increases, such good politics?

If you talk to Democratic pollsters, if you talk to people inside the White House, outside the White House, political strategists anywhere in Biden’s orbit, they all agree that the public loves the idea of forcing rich people and corporations to pay their, quote, “fair share.” It’s just become a winning and central political argument in Democratic campaigns, the idea that corporations avoid taxes, that rich people avoid taxes, and that Joe Biden is trying to position himself as a champion of the idea that they need to pay more. Those corporations and those rich people need to pay more, and he’s going to make it happen.

You’re describing this as something that is kind of a new political reality. Is that right?

Yeah, it’s evolved over the last decade or so I think. For a long time in Washington, the conventional wisdom was just couldn’t talk about tax increases of any kind. They were poison. There was a whole anti-tax movement that did a really good job of messaging that, and Democratic candidates got very scared of talking about raising taxes even on the very, very rich.

That started to turn over time. But it’s really changed. I think we saw in the 2020 election that the Democratic primary had just enormous amounts of taxes on corporations and the rich funding all sorts of policy proposals — Medicare for all and universal child care and trillions and trillions of dollars — and Democratic candidates like Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders competing to see who could tax corporations and the rich the most.

Biden is a product of that primary. He was one of the most moderate people in that group, but his proposals are really outside of the historical norm for Democratic candidates up until then. And that reflects the fact that pollsters have been doing all this research, finding that the American people, including independents and increasingly numbers of Republicans, just don’t think corporations pay their fair share and are open to the idea they should pay more.

This is really interesting, and it makes me think that what you’re really saying is that there might have been a time when a Democratic nominee like Joe Biden might have reveled in his image as an overall tax cutter. But that is not this moment, and that is not this candidate. He wants to be a tax increaser. He thinks that is where the politics are.

I think that’s exactly right when you think about tax increaser as tax increaser on the rich and on corporations. There’s two ways to be a successful populist politician. One of them is to be like Trump and run around saying you’re going to do enormous tax cuts for everybody, which is a Republican version of populism. Trump, my biggest tax cut in history, I’m going to do another huge, enormous tax cut. It’s going to be so big you won’t believe it.

There might have been a time when Democrats tried to follow that playbook. But Biden’s not doing that. He’s leaning into the other side of populism. He’s telling workers, hey, I’m on your side with these big companies. They’re trying to screw you, and I’m not going to stand for it. And so I’m going to raise their taxes. I’m going to make them pay more so that there’s more money for you, whether that’s more tax cuts or more programs or whatever.

And that is the Democratic version of populism right now, and that’s the one that Joe Biden is running on. And that’s why he’s so happy to talk about raising corporate taxes because it’s a way to tell workers, hey, I’m on your side.

Right. Even if that’s not what he’s done or ever may be able to do.

Yeah. Part of the problem with populism is that you make a lot of promises you can’t keep, and this certainly, in his first term, has been an area where the president has talked a much bigger game than he’s been able to execute. The second term might be different, but that doesn’t really matter for the campaign. What matters is the rhetoric.

Well, Jim, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Thank you. Always a pleasure.

Here’s what else you need to know today. On Tuesday, Israel confirmed that it had carried out the airstrike that killed seven aid workers delivering food to civilians in Gaza. The attack, which occurred on Monday, struck a convoy run by the World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit group. At the time of the attack, the aid workers were traveling in clearly marked cars that designated them as non-combatants.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack as unintentional and said that his government deeply regretted the deaths. In its own statement, World Central Kitchen called the strike unforgivable and said that as a result, it would suspend its aid work in Gaza, where millions of people are in dire need of both food and medicine.

Today’s episode was produced by Stella Tan and Mary Wilson with help from Michael Simon Johnson. It was edited by Lisa Chow, contains original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

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  • April 4, 2024   •   32:37 Israel’s Deadly Airstrike on the World Central Kitchen
  • April 3, 2024   •   27:42 The Accidental Tax Cutter in Chief
  • April 2, 2024   •   29:32 Kids Are Missing School at an Alarming Rate
  • April 1, 2024   •   36:14 Ronna McDaniel, TV News and the Trump Problem
  • March 29, 2024   •   48:42 Hamas Took Her, and Still Has Her Husband
  • March 28, 2024   •   33:40 The Newest Tech Start-Up Billionaire? Donald Trump.
  • March 27, 2024   •   28:06 Democrats’ Plan to Save the Republican House Speaker
  • March 26, 2024   •   29:13 The United States vs. the iPhone
  • March 25, 2024   •   25:59 A Terrorist Attack in Russia
  • March 24, 2024   •   21:39 The Sunday Read: ‘My Goldendoodle Spent a Week at Some Luxury Dog ‘Hotels.’ I Tagged Along.’
  • March 22, 2024   •   35:30 Chuck Schumer on His Campaign to Oust Israel’s Leader
  • March 21, 2024   •   27:18 The Caitlin Clark Phenomenon

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Jim Tankersley

Produced by Stella Tan and Mary Wilson

With Michael Simon Johnson

Edited by Lisa Chow

Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Chris Wood

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In his campaign for re-election, President Biden has said that raising taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations is at the heart of his agenda. But under his watch, overall net taxes have decreased.

Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains.

On today’s episode

surprise visit from family

Jim Tankersley , who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.

President Biden, wearing a blue sweater, speaks into a microphone. In the room behind him, rows of American flags hang from the ceiling.

Background reading

An analysis prepared for The New York Times estimates that the tax changes President Biden has ushered into law will amount to a net cut of about $600 billion over four years.

“Does anybody here think the tax code’s fair?” For Mr. Biden, tax policy has been at the center of his efforts to make the economy more equitable.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Jim Tankersley writes about economic policy at the White House and how it affects the country and the world. He has covered the topic for more than a dozen years in Washington, with a focus on the middle class. More about Jim Tankersley

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