Commentary: What decent people get wrong about the Amy Acton ad

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred The ad was repugnant.You know the one I’m talking about — Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack on opponent Amy Acton using her clearly troubled mother, who failed to protect Acton as a child from her rapist stepfather and instead abandoned her kids to stay with the now-deceased pedophile.Wow.

Even in 2026, that’s a lot.The ad, released last week on the internet and set for a television blitz through the election, has sparked condemnation even from Republicans.

Some anyway.President Trump and Vice President JD Vance (a close friend of Ramaswamy’s) have defended it, much to the chagrin of decent people everywhere who have labeled this a make-it-or-break-it moment for the Grand Old Party.

Trump called getting Acton’s mom on camera “hitting pay dirt.”“Why shouldn’t somebody use that?” Trump said Friday.“To me, that’s something that’s very much fair game.”Trump’s right, in his world anyway.

His faithful may not like the ad, but it’s not a deal-breaker.The appalled, left and right, are wrong on this one — this is not a turning point for the Republican Party or the moment it realized its soul was in the frying pan.

World & Nation Trump also denounced Ohio Republican Gov.Mike DeWine, who criticized the ad as ‘deeply, deeply troubling’ earlier in the day.

Acton previously served in DeWine’s administration as a health official.When Ramaswamy loses — and he’s likely going to lose, if polls are right — it won’t be because Republican voters finally believe the party has sunk too low, lost its way or lacks morals.And when the postmortem happens on the right, it won’t examine whether exploiting victims of sex abuse is a smart move.

(Full disclosure: One of my relatives is an advisor of Ramaswamy.) Instead, the ad will eventually be seen as a great gift to Donald Trump for two reasons.First, it allows Ramaswamy — his endorsed ca...