I guess some people (by some people I mean, at a minimum, Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance, and Donald J. Trump) need to be told that, yes, it is fair game to use family members in political commercials. But that’s not the issue with the commercials that the Ramaswamy campaign is using that feature Amy Acton’s mother. The issue is the context that deeply affects how to understand what the mother is saying.
Here are the basics if you are otherwise unaware via NPR: Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad features mother of Amy Acton, who alleges childhood abuse.
An attack ad from the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, has thrown that race into turmoil.
[…]
In the ad, the estranged mother of the Democratic candidate, Amy Acton, says her daughter is a liar. Acton has long talked about being sexually abused by her stepfather and how her mother stayed with him after his arrest.
Let’s cut to the chase: Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, lost custody of Acton when she was 12. Acton is now 60, so regardless of anything else, Acton’s mother’s first-hand knowledge of Acton’s truthfulness is 48 years old (Acton has stated the last time she saw her mother was when she was 12). Worse, the issue that clearly motivates Arthur is Acton’s assertions that Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, sexually abused Acton as a 10-year-old and that Arthur was a negligent parent.
Now, let’s note the following:
- Acton’s biological father reported abuse concerns.
- Acton and her brother were removed from the care of Cledith and Donna Arthur.
- Cledith Arthur was indicted on sexual abuse charges.
- Cledith Arthur, along with Donna, fled the state to avoid trial.
While it is technically true that Cledith Arthur was never found guilty, the above is pretty damning. It should be noted that Acton claims at least 11 other children were abused. I could not find corroborating citations on that claim, however.
Here’s how known liberal rag, The National Review, summarizes the situation:
Acton has long maintained — even before becoming a political candidate — that she grew up in an unstable home when she lived with her mother following her parents’ divorce, even spending a winter in a tent in a campground outside of Youngstown and enduring sexual abuse by one of her mother’s male partners. Court records confirm many key parts of Acton’s account of her life.
[…]
While Donna Arthur was married to Cledith Arthur in 1978 when Acton was 12 years old, Cledith Arthur was charged with having sexual contact with her, documents show. Evidence against him included a sworn statement from Acton’s biological father, and Acton herself was called to testify as a witness. Following his indictment by a grand jury, Cledith Arthur skipped town.
[…]
From the time Acton was nine until she turned 12, a boyfriend who would eventually marry Donna Arthur lived with the family, according to the profile, which does not name the man. During that time, he abused Acton, which led to criminal charges. By that time, the family had fallen into poverty and was living in a tent in a campground outside Youngstown. That was enough for her mother to lose custody of Acton, who would move in with her father.
[…]
Acton said in 2019 that the last time she saw Donna Arthur was when authorities brought charges against her and Acton’s stepfather. “In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away,” she told The Vindicator at the time. “That was the last time I ever saw her.”
The above is the context for claims by Donna Arthur that Amy Acton is lying (from the ad).
“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent — and it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past,” Arthur says to the camera. “She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life. My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself. People can change, but first they have to tell the truth, and my daughter still isn’t doing that.”
Call me crazy, but fleeing with a man formally indicted for sexual abuse of your 10-year-old daughter so as to become a fugitive from justice is a weird way of “lov[ing]” said daughter. And please note that while Arthur accuses Acton of lying about “her opponent,” the rest of the paragraph is about the past. Arthur is asserting that Acton lied about the sexual abuse and the neglect of her youth.
And Ramaswamy (and Vance, and Trump, and others) are on board with using this as political fodder.
You know, folks from the party who assert that they are singularly focused on protecting young girls from trans athletes and who want to make sure that trans people don’t use their preferred bathroom. I mean, won’t you think of the children?
But if they can exploit the past sexual abuse of Amy Acton in some desperate move to win the Ohio governor’s office, that’s cool.
I will note that some Republicans have come out in opposition to the ad (most notably, incumbent Governor Mike DeWine). But many are defending it.
Trump:
Vance:
Via ABC News: Vance praises Ramaswamy for having ‘audacity’ to run controversial Amy Acton ad.
Also:
Will Sommer at The Bulwark details a lot of right-wing media personalities who are also on board: MAGA Media Learns to Love Vile Vivek Ramaswamy Ad. These include Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, Greg Kelly, and, of course, Megyn Kelly.
It is noteworthy that while there has been some criticism of the ad by co-partisans, the leader of the GOP (Trump), one of the front-runners to be his successor (Vance), along with a host of influential voices, think all of this is perfectly fine. Not to mention it being an overt strategy of a man who wants to govern one of our larger states.
