MOTHERLODE

Trump Melts Down Over Outrage at Twisted MAGA Attack Ad

The president is complaining that his ally is being treated “very unfairly.”

President Donald Trump has doubled down to defend a vile MAGA ad that preyed on a politician’s childhood trauma.

Trump-endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy received bipartisan criticism for an ad in which the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent in the Ohio gubernatorial contest, Amy Acton, calls her daughter a liar and says she “needs help.”

Acton and her mother, Donna Arthur, have not spoken since the late 1970s, when Acton’s stepfather was accused of sexually abusing her as a child. Her mother stood by her husband as he fled Ohio after being charged with rape.

Trump has already told reporters earlier this month Acton is “fair game” in spite of her childhood sexual abuse being used for political point scoring. He also encouraged Ramaswamy to continue to air the ad, posting on Truth Social it was “hitting pay dirt” given the attention it was receiving.

During a rally in Ohio on Wednesday, the president reframed Ramaswamy as the victim in the controversy, saying he had been treated “very unfairly” by the press after the backlash to the ad.

NOT SORRY

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“He had the mother of his opponent say that her daughter is a liar,” Trump said, even attempting to make a joke of the disturbing situation, adding, “I said ‘Why can’t I have an opponent like that?’ She said...horrible things about her own daughter.”

At his Ohio speech, Trump did not explain the backstory behind Arthur’s comments about her daughter, and even steered the conversation to his own mother, Mary MacLeod Trump, who died in 2000, at age 88.

“If Mary MacLeod ever said ‘My son Donald is a liar and he lied about his opponent and other things’, I would say the press would be getting Pulitzer Prizes if they reported it,” Trump said. “But with Vivek, ‘How dare he put that information..’ what’s to put out? There’s nothing to put out.”

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“The mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar, that she’s no good, that she lied about the opponent. How the hell is that his problem?” Trump told the crowd, who applauded.

“Very unfair,” Trump continued. “And if he were a Democrat, they would have gone the other way. Believe me, it’s a very unfair situation. Hard to believe we win, you know.”

Speaking at the rally, Ramaswamy criticized Acton but carefully avoided mentioning his controversial ad.

“I am running against a woman who has already shown you who she is and what she’s made of,” he said, before claiming she was not fit to be governor.

Trump posted on Truth Social last week to support the ad, saying he had suggested that “Vivek should keep it up, and let everyone listen to the mother of a defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate, explain how the daughter is a DISASTER who, uncontrollably, lies, cheats, and steals!”

‘EXTREMELY RISKY’

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He also repeated the anecdote linking his mother to Acton’s mother in the earlier social media post.

“If my mother, the legendary Mary MacLeod Trump, said anything bad about me, the Fake News would play it up,” Trump posted. “The Dumocrats would be totally supportive, and it would go down as the Ad of the Decade — Maybe the Century! It would win Awards for Excellence in Advertising.”

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He later told reporters he had “no idea” about Acton’s allegation of being raped by her mother’s husband, and questioned when Acton had made that claim.

“If what the mother said about the daughter is half right,” he claimed, “she has no right running for governor.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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