President Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed a controversial attack ad produced by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign, which featured his Democratic opponent’s estranged mother calling her a liar.
Lawmakers and political personalities on both sides of the aisle have come out against the spot because of the way it uses the family history of Amy Acton, who is running against Ramaswamy.
Acton has accused her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, of sexually abusing her as a child, and he was arrested on rape charges in the 1970s. Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, subsequently lost custody of her but stayed with her husband for years after the accusations.
Trump didn’t see a problem with the use of Acton’s mother as a character witness against her daughter, writing in a Truth Social post that he thought the ad was “so good!”
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“Who wouldn’t use such an Ad?” Trump continued. “I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’”
The president accused the press of conspiring in a “concerted and well-coordinated attack” in an attempt to get Ramaswamy to back away from the ad, which has been denounced by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
On Thursday, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling” and urged Ramaswamy’s campaign to take it down.
“It’s wrong to run this ad,” he said.
Trump called those remarks “disloyal to the Republican Party” and suggested Ramaswamy continue running the commercial so voters can “listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!”
He also referred to Acton as “Lyin’ Amy Acton.”
In the ad, Donna Arthur says her daughter “has a serious problem” before telling Ohioans not to vote for her. “She is a liar. She lies about her past.”
The president commended Acton’s mother for coming forward.
“That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice!” he wrote.
Acton’s campaign released an ad Tuesday in which her brother, Phil Stearns, recounted their alleged childhood abuse, saying Acton “got the worst of it.”
The Acton commercial’s on-screen text says: “Amy suffered physical and sexual abuse by her stepfather for years. She and Phil have been estranged from their mother ever since.”
Trump isn’t the only high-profile Republican who has endorsed Ramaswamy’s ad. On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance told Republicans to “stop whining” about the commercial as he spoke in Ohio.
“I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” he said.
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