EVEN FOR THEM...

CNN Republican Stars Disown Vivek and His Sick Ad

Ramaswamy’s foul campaign ad went too far for some right-wingers.

Three of CNN’s conservative commentators have disowned a Republican candidate after a sick campaign ad about his Democratic opponent.

Vivek Ramaswamy, backed by Donald Trump to be governor of Ohio, posted a campaign ad that features the estranged mother of Democrat Amy Acton, his rival in the state. The twisted ad sees Donna Arthur call her daughter a “liar” over her claim that she was raped by her own stepfather as a child.

The ad, which has now been confirmed to have been generated by Ramaswamy’s campaign, comes as Acton leads the Republican by 50 percent to 43 percent, according to a Marist Poll.

The ad gained traction online, including being shared by Donald Trump Jr., who said, “Yikes! Ohio watch this and think about what it means.”

Despite the backlash, Ramaswamy doubled down by continuing to air the advertising campaign. Axios reported on Tuesday that sources close to the Republican are sticking with the ad because of how well it performed with “persuadable” voters.

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Acton posted a statement to Facebook on Tuesday, where she accused her birth mother of doing “nothing to protect me” when “between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband.”

The ad was called “one of the strangest things I’ve seen at the end of a campaign” by CNN host Abby Phillip on Tuesday’s NewsNight.

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She then asked conservative panelist Scott Jennings if it was a sign of how bad Ramaswamy’s campaign is going.

“It is extremely risky,” Jennings said, saying he believed the ad was tested “in some sort of focus group and it sort of escaped the lab.”

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Jennings said while Ramaswamy’s team may think it tested well, “What you can’t test in those settings is the rebuttal, and when people actually find out the story. Nobody really knows, or could know, what happened back in 1978.”

Acton, 60, has been estranged from her mother since 1978, after her mother defended her stepfather in a court hearing where Acton testified against him.

Her stepfather was charged with rape and indicted following a police report filed by her biological father, according to a newspaper report cited by The New York Times. Acton’s stepfather fled the state and died in 2004 without being convicted.

Jennings added, “I talked to a lot of people in Ohio tonight, got a lot of people who are unsure that this was the right thing to do.”

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He continued, “To throw out a piece like this at the end of a race, is not a confidence-inspiring item.”

Also a panelist on NewsNight, conservative talk radio host and political commentator Jason Rantz said Ramaswamy’s ad had a major impact on him.

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“Prior to this, I would have voted for him if I lived in Ohio,” Rantz said, saying the “political risk” in the offending ad only works “if no one finds out the backstory.”

Rantz added, “It is so unbelievably disgusting to put this kind of ad out... this is not necessarily new, but I’ve never seen it this low. And I don’t think Vivek should want to be known for that. It’s a shame, I do think he could lead, but this shows that he can’t.”

Earlier in the evening, another Republican commentator on CNN, Shermichael Singleton, said he was “not surprised” that Ramaswamy would make a decision to release the ad toward the end of the electoral campaign.

“It wasn’t a lack of judgement,” Singleton said on The Source. “This was a purposeful thing to try and harm his political opponent.”

Speaking of Acton, Singleton said, “I don’t agree with this woman on much of anything, I’m a Republican for goodness’ sake. But this is not the type of politics that I would endorse as a candidate and I think it’s not the type of politics that many Republicans across the country would endorse.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Ramaswamy’s office for comment.

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