The Astounding Campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy

New depths in an already lowly politics

Every time I think I have grown numb to how awful these people are, they find a way to shock me.

Polling for the Ohio governor’s election has shown Democrat Amy Acton consistently a few points ahead of her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy. With variation among polls and polling margin of error, it is far from a slam dunk, but it looks promising for her.

Yesterday, a new attack ad against Acton was released. In it, Acton’s own mother calls her a liar who cannot be trusted. What?

The backstory: Acton was sexually abused by her stepfather, to whom her mother remained married until he died. Charles Hilu of National Review—you read that correctly, this is that National Review—reports:

“While Donna Arthur was married to Cledith Arthur in 1978 when Acton was 12 years old, Cledith Arthur was charged with having sexual contact with her, documents show. Evidence against him included a sworn statement from Acton’s biological father, and Acton herself was called to testify as a witness. Following his indictment by a grand jury, Cledith Arthur skipped town.

“Donna Arthur also has her own criminal history, including pleading guilty to theft by deception while living in Pennsylvania in the 1990s and being accused of animal abuse as recently as 2021.”

Mentioning that she was 12 years old if anything understates how horrifying this story is. As Paul Blumenthal at HuffPost reports in “Ohio Governor’s Race Reaches New Low As Republicans Roll Out Amy Acton’s Pedophile-Protecting Mother”:

“What the video doesn’t mention: Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, married a man, Cledith ‘Bud’ Arthur, who sexually abused Acton from the ages of 9 to 12. She then abandoned her daughter and son to live as a fugitive with her husband.“

He sexually abused her from the ages of 9 to 12.

Republicans are not rising above their reputation on this one.

Now, not every ad that comes out is financed or produced by relevant campaign itself. The George W. Bush campaign in 2004, for example, tried to maintain some plausible deniability about their relationship to the “Swift Vets and POWs for Truth” organization that was smearing John Kerry.

But in 2026, Vivek Ramaswamy—a man of his time—is practically bragging about his role in this attack on Acton. As Jessie Balmert reports for the Columbus Dispatch:

“Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the unaired ad being shared on social media that features the estranged mother of his Democratic challenger Dr. Amy Acton strongly criticizing her daughter is from his campaign. …

“‘Her mother has spoken out for years and I don't know Amy Acton's mother and I've never met Amy Acton either,’ he said. ‘What I do know is that Amy Acton has been repeatedly and serially dishonest during this campaign and for much of her record in public service and I do believe that that record deserves to be scrutinized.’”

And it gets worse still. Alex Isenstadt reports for Axios:

“Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Ohio governor is pouring $4 million into a bombshell ad in which his opponent's estranged mother attacks her daughter—doubling down on the message despite fierce bipartisan backlash, Axios has learned.”

Beneath contempt. The most despicable campaign behavior I have seen in my lifetime, so far, and possibly an all-time record. The Acton campaign has released an ad with her brother, Phil Stearns, setting the record straight. Please watch it.

The mad king show

Listening to Donald Trump talk is dangerous for your mental health, but do try to stand this reel put together by Aaron Rupar from a recent Oval Office meeting with the press.

Some highlights:

• Trump claims “we got Greenland” as if it is now U.S. territory.
• Stephen Miller brazenly lies about Somalis in America.
• Trump says Ilhan Omar could “go to jail” and that Somalia is a “real shit house.”
• Trump promises to hand out cash on a personally approved basis (“a binding arbitration”).
• Trump tops it off by openly threatening one of the reporters.

This is the daily reality of the Trump administration. It doesn’t get a lot of attention from either the press themselves or audiences because they’ve grown numb to it. But you’re not crazy—they are. That’s the reason we keep asking ourselves how the press and audiences would have responded if Joe Biden had said such things: it’s a sanity check.

Speaking of normalization

Brad Lander detained in the West Bank

In my interview with Lander, he talked specifically about standing up for Palestinian rights:

Around Liberal Currents

• Disordered Institutions Make Disordered Publics, by Samantha Hancox-Li: People who believe their choices don’t matter choose poorly.
• Housing Resilience and Financial Stability for All: The Case for National Disaster Insurance, by Moira Birss: Chapter 16 (pp. 125–134) from The Reconstruction Papers.
• A reminder that we have produced an audio version of The Reconstruction Papers. You can redeem our subscriber drive deal to get access to audio for all of the essays right now, or you can subscribe on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and elsewhere via RSS feed to get a new essay a day in your feed for the rest of the month. 

Other news

• “Musk Ordered Starlink Slowdown That Blindsided Ukraine,” by Alexander Ward, Natalie Andrews, and Josh Dawsey in the Wall Street Journal.
• “Manchin to Campaign with Collins in Maine,” by Burgess Everett in Semafor.
• “A Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal.” by Tyler Pager in the New York Times.
• “FEMA Tells States to Handle Disasters on Their Own,” by Thomas Frank in Politico.
• “False Pamphlets Causing Backlash and Confusion, Texas Transgender Rights Group Says,” by Ayden Runnels in the Texas Tribune.