POETIC JUSTICE

MAGA Candidate’s Vile Ad Blows Up in His Face

The MAGA firebrand’s vicious attack ad had unintended consequences.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s despicable attack ad hasn’t struck Republican voters the way he intended.

Internal GOP polling suggests the Ohio gubernatorial candidate’s campaign ad featuring his opponent Amy Acton’s estranged mother could cost him the election, Axios reports.

A private poll commissioned by a Republican group and obtained by the outlet found Acton leading the MAGA candidate by eight points. The same poll found Acton only leading by two points earlier this month, before the ad debuted on October 19.

A memo attached to the poll said the ad “is having a significant effect on the gubernatorial race,” Axios reported.

The memo said that 86 percent of the survey’s 800 respondents were aware of the ad in some way. Of those familiar with the ad, the outlet reported that twice as many said it made them more likely to vote for Acton than for Ramaswamy.

The $4 million ad, which centers on Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a “liar,” drew bipartisan backlash over context the ad left out.

Acton and her brother, Philip Stearns, were removed from their mother’s custody as children. Arthur had sided with her husband, Cledith Arthur, after he was indicted in 1978 for raping Acton when she was 12 years old.

The couple fled the state, and Arthur remained married to Cledith Arthur, Acton’s stepfather, until he died. Acton said she last saw her mother at the courthouse in 1978.

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The ad has drawn widespread condemnation, even from other Ohio Republicans, including the current GOP Gov. Mike DeWine.

“I would not have run that ad,” incumbent Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, a Trump-endorsed Republican, told the Associated Press last week.

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But President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have urged Ramaswamy to keep the ad up, with the latter telling GOP critics of it to “stop whining.”

The ad faced internal resistance after it was shot months ago, Axios reported, but Ramaswamy, 41, ultimately pulled the trigger.

“The candidate is the one pushing for it,” a source close to the campaign told the outlet.

“This was not planned. But Vivek got what he wanted,” the source added. “I probably wouldn’t have run it.”

Ramaswamy has doubled down on the ad despite the response, calling his opponent “crazy,” “unstable,” and “a liar” during a campaign stop this week.

But Acton’s stepsister—Cledith Arthur’s biological daughter—has stepped forward to bolster Acton’s claims, telling the Daily Mail that her account of sexual abuse was true.

The 62-year-old, who lives in Youngstown, Ohio, told the Mail that Cledith Arthur had raped her late sister, Christine, while he was married to their biological mother, Theresa A. Arthur.

“Yes, he raped her, and it was more than once,” the woman, who asked that her name be withheld, told the outlet.

The Mail reported that Cledith Arthur was charged in 1974 for incest over allegations involving Christine.

“After knowing what he did to my sister, I have no doubt he also assaulted Amy,” the stepsister told the Mail.

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Vic VerbalaitisNight Breaking News Reporter

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