Transcript: Trump Backs Vile Vivek Ad—and It Backfires as GOP Revolts: The following is a lightly edited transcript of the October 23 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.
Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.
This week, Donald Trump and JD Vance expressed support for a disgusting new ad that’s running in the Ohio gubernatorial race. GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy aired a spot featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s mother questioning her truthfulness about her difficult childhood. Then it emerged that Acton’s stepfather appears to have raped her. So now it’s all backfiring on Trump, Vance, and Ramaswamy. Republicans have denounced the ad, and even MAGA is divided, and it probably makes a Democratic victory in Ohio more likely.
We think this captures a lot about the fundamental indecency of MAGA politics and the national reaction we’re seeing against it. So we’re talking to Jim Swift, senior editor at the Bulwark, who has a good piece on this whole fiasco. Jim, good to have you on.
Jim Swift: Greg, pleasure to be on your show.
Sargent: So most people have seen this ad by now, but we’re going to play a snippet. The speaker here is Donna Arthur, who’s the mother of Amy Acton. She’s the Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio. Listen.
Donna Arthur (voiceover): 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. 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.
Sargent: So eventually Vivek Ramaswamy took credit for this ad, but then we learned that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, who’s Donna Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton when she was young. Jim, can you just bring us up to date on this?
Swift: The ad features, direct to camera, Donna Arthur, who is an older woman. Who was not in the ad was Cledith Arthur. Cledith Arthur was the man that Donna Arthur was married… https://newrepublic.com/article/216992/transcript-trump-backs-vile-vivek-ad-and-backfires-gop-revolts