By James Pogue NEW YORK- Possessing a sense of right and wrong – being ethical and having an emotionally intelligent moral compass, should be requirements for any political candidate in the U.S The recent gubernatorial campaign for Ohio governor highlights this the campaign for governor of Ohio where Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, biotech billionaire, politician and Trump supporter, is defending a $4 million dollar smear campaign against popular Democratic nominee Amy Acton, a physician and researcher. It must be pointed out that Ramaswamy is one of Trump’s billionaire buddies which Acton could easily highlight in her campaign. She could also make a case for the fact that as well-spoken as he sounds and as slick as he looks, Ramaswamy only has his own personal interests at stake. He is definitely not a candidate for the people while Amy Acton having been the victim of rape at 12-years-old at the hands of her stepfather, her mother’s husband (who she never divorced) is being vilified in a $4 million dollar ad blitz featuring Acton’s mother bad-mouthing her daughter, accusing her of lying about her childhood.
Trusted media outlets have proven that Acton has told the truth and that she and her brother Philip Stearn were removed from their mother’s custody and placed in their biological father’s home after the incident. Numerous politicians, the public and observers have criticized Ramaswamy’s ad which capitalizes on her childhood trauma, featuring her biological mother who she hasn’t seen in decades, making false statements. Ramaswamy knows this, he is well aware of it and he is using this tactic to get attention because he knows Acton is extremely popular. It’s a classic Republican tactic to accuse the Democrats of “lying” when in fact, evidence has borne out that 9 times out of 10, we discover it’s actually the Republicans doing the “lying.”
In a recent video with the press, Ramaswamy made a sweeping accusation that Amy Acton has been “dishonest” in her campaign without giving any evidence to prove his statements. He admitted that he has never even met Amy Acton and since she has a clean record, the reason he’s dug up the abusive mother is to hope he can discredit her in the public eye. What’s worse is that JD Vance, a purported ‘Christian,’ actually defended Ramaswamy’s tactics. It is not only an outrage to women and women’s rights and survivors of domestic violence – it is the type of mud-slinging with no basis in fact, that classifies it as emotional abuse and gaslighting. Ramaswamy is banking on the American public to be so ignorant as to believe that ad and take it at face value, without actually hearing from the mainstream media that the ad is based on a false narrative.
American voters have already witnessed Trump’s billionaire cronies botched attempts to run the country, Ramaswamy is just one more of them. They neither identify with the average American because they all have drivers, special privileges and enough money to afford whatever they want, yet still misappropriate taxpayer funds. Amy Acton will work for the people of Ohio, not using her position to curry favor with President Trump as Ramaswamy intends to do. By running that ad against Acton, Ramaswamy is committing slander and he knows it, feels no remorse – because for him – winning at all costs is the name of his game.
There is a reason why Amy Acton is popular with Ohioans. She’s not only a physician she’s the wife of Eric Acton, a middle school teacher and track coach – both are raising six kids. This is a gubernatorial nominee who is not a billionaire and who relates to constituents’ issues. I’m sure if someone searched long and hard enough, they could dig up something on Ramaswamy but Democrats are not known for smearing Republicans if you review past political campaigns.
The billion-dollar question: How much was Amy Acton’s biological mother paid to bad-mouth her in that ad? According to spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign, Connie Luck Acton’s mother was not paid for that one-minute ad. Ramaswamy faces bipartisan rebuke for the ad’s content using a candidate’s childhood trauma to put them down. Democrats told the press that Ramaswamy is desperate and that the ad is a result of that.
A question for voters: How can you trust Ramaswamy to be an honest governor for Ohio when he’s running a clearly dishonest and morally egregious campaign ad. The worst part is that it doesn’t bother him and that’s the point:
America has lost its moral compass. We hope the American voters haven’t.
