Ramaswamy's Attack Ad Features Opponent’s Estranged Mother — The View

[0:00] but the Ohio governor's race has gotten quite awful. [0:04] After GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy [0:07] released a campaign ad featuring the estranged mother [0:12] of his Democratic rival, Amy Acton. [0:15] In the ad, Amy's mom accuses her daughter [0:18] of making up a claim about being homeless as a child, [0:22] warning voters that she lies about her past. [0:25] But the two have not spoken [0:27] since Amy's mom stayed with her husband [0:30] after he was arrested on charges of raping Amy [0:33] when she was young. [0:35] Acton's brother, who also says he was abused, [0:38] appeared in a counter ad slamming Ramaswamy, [0:43] but he's still standing by his ad. [0:47] I don't know what, you know, [0:52] you can go ask somebody for their, [0:55] you don't like their policies, [0:56] you don't like their clothes maybe, [0:59] but this woman, this is not, [1:01] it didn't just come up recently. [1:03] She has spoken about this rape allegation [1:06] and she has- [1:07] But she was 10 years, she was great when she was 10 years old. [1:09] From 10 to 12. [1:10] And the mother stayed with the father. [1:12] Yes. [1:13] Sided with the stepfather. [1:14] Sided with the stepfather, with the father. [1:15] And this is what Mr. Ramaswamy thought [1:19] would make a good attack ad. [1:21] Yeah. [1:22] So what is going, what is, I mean, [1:24] that you can't get low. [1:25] I mean, I guess you, I thought you couldn't get any lower, [1:27] but I guess he, he's found a way. [1:29] This is absolutely one of the most disgusting [1:33] and abhorrent things I've ever seen. [1:35] It's one of the lowest lows. [1:36] And I didn't think that was possible. [1:37] Yeah. [1:38] But this ad counts on the people viewing it [1:40] to think of their own moms. [1:41] That, oh wow, if, if her mother says that, [1:44] it must be true. [1:45] But that's taking a really comfortable assumption [1:47] that a mother will always protect her children. [1:50] And the bottom line and the truth [1:51] is sometimes children need to be protected [1:54] from their parents. [1:55] Yeah. [1:55] from the ages of nine to 12. [1:57] Uh, this was, uh, she would, he was, uh, indicted [2:00] for raping her from those ages. [2:02] And they were taken out of their mother's custody, [2:04] which is a pretty significant intervention. [2:07] So to pretend, wipe out all that. [2:11] And her mother fled with her stepfather. [2:13] Yes, and he became a fugitive until the day he died [2:15] and she chose him. [2:16] Yeah. [2:16] But to present this ad without that context [2:19] and presenting her as a character, [2:22] like this is a character witness, is the problem. [2:24] It tells you everything you need to know about Ramaswamy. [2:27] It tells me way more about the judgment of him [2:30] than her own character integrity. [2:32] Yeah. [2:32] Clearly in the $4 million ad, no one was assigned to say, [2:36] yeah, we can, but no, we shouldn't do this. [2:38] Yeah. [2:38] Well, and to take it a step further, [2:40] this ad was kind of released on the internet. [2:42] No one was really owning it. [2:43] It didn't say what campaign paid for it. [2:45] Right. [2:46] But then Vivek Ramaswamy was asked about it [2:47] and he defended it and said his campaign was behind it. [2:50] And then after the backlash and the outcry [2:53] from both sides of the aisle, [2:54] they're putting $4 million behind it [2:56] to keep putting it out there. [2:58] Yeah. [2:58] Knowing that this is a mom she hasn't spoken to since 1978 [3:02] and the details and all of these horrible allegations. [3:05] I was racking my brain for a worse political ad [3:08] that I can think of and I genuinely can't think of one. [3:11] I've never seen anything worse than this. [3:11] And Anna and I know this, [3:12] campaigns are constantly approached with oppo research [3:15] and like, hey, you could push this, [3:17] you could push this. [3:18] What campaigns and candidates with character do [3:21] is say, no, that is beyond the pale. [3:23] That is despicable. [3:24] We wouldn't touch it. [3:25] This tells you everything you need to know [3:27] about Vivek Ramaswamy. [3:28] And I'm gonna be honest, [3:29] since he's entered the political stage, [3:31] every time I hear him speak and how he treats people, [3:34] the name calling, the bashing. [3:36] I remember him on the primary stage in 2024. [3:39] It makes me like him less. [3:41] He reveals his character [3:42] and all of his decisions and actions. [3:45] Everything about this ad shocks me. [3:47] And really, I'm at a point in politics [3:50] where very little shocks me. [3:51] But this ad shocks the conscience. [3:54] The fact that they went and searched [3:56] for this woman's mother, who's like 80 years old. [3:59] I don't know what rock they found her under [4:02] and put her in this ad. [4:04] The fact that somebody thought this was a good idea. [4:07] The fact that Ramaswamy, instead of saying, [4:09] you know what, that was staff. [4:11] I didn't see it. [4:12] I don't know anything. [4:13] Owns it, felt like smug about it, [4:16] took credit for it, and then doubled down [4:19] and said he's going to put $4 million behind it. [4:22] I'm just, what I wondered though, [4:24] because when I watched the ad, [4:26] it stirred so many emotions in me. [4:29] And do they not understand [4:30] that one out of five women in America [4:33] have experienced rape or attempted rape? [4:36] Do they not understand that 81% of women in America [4:41] have experienced sexual assault? [4:42] And that those women vote? [4:44] And that some of those women are black, [4:45] some are white, some are Latino, [4:47] some are every color, every creed, every ethnicity, [4:49] every political affiliation. [4:53] So the stupidity, because what I did, [4:56] I felt indignant. [4:57] I went online, I searched for her campaign, [4:59] and I gave a donation. [5:00] And I suspect that a lot of women around the country, [5:04] and the men who love them and stand by them, [5:06] are as appalled and disgusted by this ad as I am, [5:09] and are going to take some sort of action as a result. [5:12] Yeah. [5:13] You know, when we were discussing it in Hot Topics, [5:20] and I went back to my dressing room with my producer, [5:23] I kept on asking, why? [5:25] Why would he double down on this? [5:27] Why would he do that? [5:28] The numbers are striking, those stats [5:33] that you just pointed out to. [5:35] And why is there no one in his campaign [5:38] telling him this is a bad idea? [5:40] And then I saw that his campaign manager, [5:43] Jonathan Ewing, told Axios, told a reporter, [5:46] this is a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton. [5:49] The people who know her best keep warning Ohioans about her. [5:53] Her estranged mom knows her best? [5:55] Yes, yes, and then on top of it, [6:01] the sources told some reporters [6:03] that the ad tested extremely well with persuadable voters, [6:07] which prompted the decision to launch [6:09] the $4 million statewide campaign. [6:12] But I bet they didn't know the backstory. [6:14] If they, because that's the thing- [6:14] No, because they didn't- [6:15] They don't care. [6:16] They didn't have. [6:17] They don't care. [6:18] I wonder though, if when they were tested- [6:19] They don't care. [6:20] They don't know. [6:21] That's what this is telling. [6:22] I found that they knew, and they didn't care. [6:23] And for every woman that lives in this state, [6:28] he is telling you what he thinks of you. [6:32] Yeah, yeah. [6:33] He is telling you, he's making it clear. [6:35] And all those folks that are backing this ad up, [6:38] this is why, because- [6:40] They think it's persuasive. [6:41] Well, they know that they can say something a million times [6:46] and people may start to believe it. [6:48] But what they don't realize is that you, [6:52] you stepped across a line. [6:54] You stepped across a line. [6:56] Again, you can talk about policy. [6:58] You can talk about my clothing. [7:00] You can talk about bad breath if you want to. [7:02] But you don't get to go into my life, [7:07] pull up my personal stuff. [7:09] Not stuff that has anything to do with the people [7:12] I'm going to be serving, but my personal history. [7:14] Trauma and pain. [7:15] Trauma and pain, and use it like a carnival attraction. [7:22] And I think that all those women who are looking at this [7:27] and all these women who are saying, wow, [7:29] if that's what you do to her, [7:32] because you're losing, what do you want to do to us? [7:36] It should be disqualifying. [7:38] It should be disqualifying. [7:39] It is disqualifying because I cannot think of anything worse [7:43] than weaponizing the trauma of a nine-year-old child [7:47] who was getting abused by her mother's husband. [7:50] Remember the Epstein files. [7:53] This tells you everything. [7:55] Yeah, yeah. [7:56] This tells you everything. [7:58] The fact that he feels free enough to do this [8:02] is because he feels nothing's going to happen. [8:06] Yeah. [8:06] Nobody's going to call him out on it. [8:08] Sometimes nothing happens. [8:09] And sometimes nothing does. [8:11] But I have a funny feeling that if this is what you think [8:14] is going to get you elected, you may be wrong. [8:16] But I've been wrong before. [8:19] But I think you may be wrong now. [8:20] Yeah.