Trump goes all in on the Acton mother ad: ‘hitting pay dirt,’ and she’s ‘fair game’

The Republican governor of Ohio wanted the ad pulled. So did a former Republican senator from Ohio. One of its sitting Republican senators said he “would not have run that ad.” Donald Trump watched a mother call her estranged daughter a liar on camera and asked, “Who wouldn’t use such an Ad?”

First, the ad. Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor put Donna Arthur in front of a camera to say her daughter, Democratic nominee Amy Acton, is “a liar” who has “lied her entire life.”

What the ad leaves out: police and court records show Arthur’s husband, Acton’s stepfather, was charged in July 1978 with raping Acton, then 12. A grand jury indicted him that September. He skipped his court date, spent years as a fugitive and died in 2004 without a trial. Acton and her brother were taken out of her custody, and Arthur stayed married to him until he died. Acton says she hasn’t seen her mother since.

By the fact-checkers’ reading, the records back Acton’s account. The ad still calls her a liar.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump went on Truth Social and called it “a very powerful Ad.” He said he’d use it too, because “it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’” He called Acton a “defective, dishonest, and incapable Candidate” and gave her a nickname: “Lyin’ Amy Acton, who I’ve never even heard of before.”

He also ran the hypothetical he’d repeat on the lawn. If his own mother trashed him, the post says, the “Dumocrats” would cheer and it “would go down as the Ad of the Decade — Maybe the Century!”

He also turned on Mike DeWine, the Republican governor who backs Ramaswamy but said the ad is “deeply, deeply troubling.” Trump called him a “RINO” and “disloyal” and said “Vivek should keep it up.”

Then the wish list: “I only wish the mothers of my opponents would be so brave as to come forward.”

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An hour or two later, walking out to Marine One, he was asked about the record. “Well, I know nothing about it,” he said. Then he told them what he did know: “the mother said very bad things about Acton.”

A reporter noted that Ashley Hinson, the Iowa Republican he was heading out to campaign for, had called the ad “absolutely terrible.” His answer was to recast himself as the potential victim: “if that ad were about my mother, you would love it. You would love every inch of it.”

Asked what the daughter had said about her mother: “I don’t know what the daughter said. I don’t know.”

Then a reporter laid out the abuse allegation and the marriage. “When did she make that statement?” Trump asked. Then: “I have no idea. All I know is Amy Acton’s mother said horrible things about Amy Acton ... And I say that she’s fair game.”

He’d posted that he’d “never even heard of” her. On the lawn, he hadn’t heard her side either. Both times, he picked the mother.

The pushback came from his own side, a rare thing. DeWine called the ad “deeply, deeply troubling” and said “It’s wrong to run this ad.” Sen. Jon Husted said, “I would not have run that ad.” Former Sen. Rob Portman said it “crosses the line” and should come down. Rep. Nancy Mace called it “the most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season.”

JD Vance went the other way the day before in Cincinnati, saying he was “a little bit disgusted” by Republicans “whining” about the ad.

Acton called it “a horrible and hideous thing to do” and “exploitative,” and added: “My mother is not well.”

Her brother, Philip Stearns, put it more plainly: their mother “stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”

The president’s ruling stands: the daughter is fair game.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E09UkJq4Jo

Trump gaggles with press on departure, 22 Oct 2026 (official WH)