“Turning the family history of a sexual-assault victim into a political attack”... Trump embroiled in controversy for defending campaign ad

[Financial News] Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, a Republican attack ad exploiting an opponent’s painful family history in the Ohio gubernatorial race is facing a fierce backlash. President Donald Trump has actively defended the ad, but criticism has erupted even within the Republican Party, threatening to deepen internal divisions.
According to the Associated Press (AP), AFP and other foreign news outlets on the 23rd (local time), the campaign of Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio, recently aired an attack ad targeting Democratic candidate Amy Acton. The ad features Acton’s biological mother, who has been estranged from her for decades, saying, “As a mother, it’s not easy to say this, but my daughter is a liar,” and portrays Acton as if she had mental health problems.
The controversy intensified after the shocking history that led Acton to cut ties with her mother came to light. Acton was sexually assaulted by her stepfather in 1978, when she was 12. Her stepfather was charged with rape but fled before trial and later died. Her biological mother stayed married to him despite allegations of abuse, and Acton eventually became estranged from her mother; the two reportedly had not seen each other since 1978.
Acton’s younger brother, Philip, criticized the ad in a video statement, saying, “My sister was 11 or 12 at the time, and we endured abuse and hunger,” and adding, “I don’t know how something like this can be used as political ammunition. They should be ashamed.”
Despite the widespread condemnation, President Trump defended the ad. Speaking to reporters that day, he called it “a fully justified attack” and said, “I don’t know about what happened in the past [the stepfather’s abuse, etc.], but what matters is that the mother went on TV and said her daughter shouldn’t be governor.” The previous day, Trump also called the ad “very good” on the social media platform Truth Social and urged Ramaswamy to keep running it.
The episode is also fueling divisions within the Republican Party. Ohio’s incumbent Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who had supported Ramaswamy, called the ad “wrong” and urged that it be taken down immediately for targeting a family. Jon Husted, the Republican Senate candidate, and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley also voiced criticism. Trump, meanwhile, blasted DeWine as a “Republican in Name Only (RINO),” while Vice President JD Vance, who is from Ohio, defended Ramaswamy and expressed frustration with fellow Republicans who criticized the ad.
Meanwhile, Trump continued his personal attacks targeting the Islamic faith of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate in the Senate race in another battleground state, Michigan. He has called El-Sayed, an Egyptian American, “a jihadist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood” and pursued attacks based on ideology and religion, including emphasizing El-Sayed’s middle name, “Mohamed.”


[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter