President Donald Trump has continued to defend a hard-hitting campaign advertisement from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that features the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton.
Although Trump insisted he knew little about the spot, he argued that Ramaswamy’s campaign was within its rights to broadcast it.
The president suggested reporters would have shown the same level of interest if his own mother had publicly criticized him.
“I’m defending it because I know that if that ad were about my mother, you would love it,” Trump told reporters, saying the media would have embraced every detail.
Ramaswamy has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over the advertisement, which features Donna Arthur, Acton’s mother. Arthur remained married to Acton’s stepfather even after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton during her childhood.
Acton and her brother were taken out of Arthur’s custody, and Acton has said she has been estranged from her mother since she was 12 years old.
Trump was confronted with those details by reporters during a discussion on the South Lawn.
In the campaign commercial, Arthur labels her daughter a “liar” and accuses her of misrepresenting her background, including claims that she “grew up living in a tent.”
President Donald Trump again defended a controversial advertisement from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during a Thursday afternoon exchange with reporters
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, left, used an ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, right, who stayed married to Acton’s stepfather after he was charged with sexually abusing Acton as a child
Arthur also urged Ohio voters to reject Acton at the ballot box.
Reporters asked Trump why voters should rely on the testimony of a mother who has reportedly had no contact with her daughter for almost five decades.
Trump replied that Arthur had made serious accusations against Acton, who is challenging Ramaswamy for governor, before adding that he considered Vivek “great.” He said a similar attack from his own mother would become a major news story.
He added that voters should consider the allegations significant because they came from Acton’s mother.
DON’T MISS: Tom Skerritt, Star of Alien and Top Gun, Dies at 93
When asked whether political campaigns should observe any boundaries, Trump again referred to his late mother, Mary MacLeod Trump.
“If my mother had said that about me, you would have been very happy about it,” Trump told the reporters, suggesting the story would have generated substantial attention.
Trump said he knew little beyond Arthur’s public criticism of a candidate seeking to lead Ohio. If even part of the claims were accurate, he argued, voters should not elect Acton governor.
He also accused the news media of coordinating with Acton’s campaign, saying that alliance was behind the backlash against Ramaswamy’s advertisement.
Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton has moved ahead of Vivek Ramaswamy in many polls as Democrats seek to return Ohio to the battleground-state column
“The only problem is that the press has decided to unite and portray it as something terrible,” Trump said.
He had made a similar argument in a Truth Social post earlier Thursday afternoon.
There he complained about Ohio’s current Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who had told the Associated Press that he found the spot ‘deeply, deeply troubling.’
‘He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing,’ Trump grumbled about DeWine, who has previously broken with the President on several issues.
Ohio has been firmly in the Republican column since Trump first won in 2016, but Democrats this cycle appear to be getting it closer to bringing it back to swing state status.
The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Acton 3.6 percent ahead of Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump for President in the 2024 primary, before swiftly endorsing him after the Iowa caucuses.
In the Senate race, former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown – who lost his seat 2024 – has pulled ahead of Republican Senator Jon Husted in most polls.
The President will return to the state on Wednesday for another rally in Chillicothe.