Trygve Hammer
October 25, 2026 · Newsletter
Rama-Swampy
I will give JD Vance some credit: He hasn’t asked what Amy Acton was wearing around her stepfather as a fifth grader.
At least not in public.
At least not yet.
At a Cincinnati event about combatting fraud—already a surreal situation—a reporter asked the Vice President whether he thought Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mother and child-sexual-abuse enabler was appropriate. Vance replied:
“Well, I’ll be honest with you, whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern.”
Thanks for being honest with us, JD, but we are concerned that the person who is a heartbeat away from the presidency cannot look at the abhorrent and call it inappropriate. Moral ambivalence is not a leadership trait.
Vance continued:
“What is my concern is who’s going to govern the next generation of American government.”
That is a concern we all share, and most of us think that the people who make and administer policy should have a sense of what is or isn’t appropriate and the moral courage to call out bad behavior, even if it hurts them politically. Also, we feel that there are a good many people in Washington, DC who would be in a better position politically if they had displayed some of that moral courage.
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After pondering who would win in Ohio, the Vice President said, “And I’ve got to be honest that when I see Republicans—people in my party—reacting so strongly, especially elected officials, . . . look, have the opinion you want to have on that ad. If you think it was too tough, say it was too tough. If you think it wasn’t tough enough, say that. But I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”
A lot to unpack there. Thank you for alerting us to your need to be honest for this part, Mr. Vice President. It is also reassuring to know that you are capable of disgust, even if you aren’t so good at aiming it at the right target. Epstein files? Not so much. Man who sexually abused his stepdaughter? Meh. Fellow Republicans who think an ad targeting the victim is gross? Well, that gets your goat.
Your reframing of some of your fellow Republicans’ reactions to Ramaswamy’s ad was a bit off the mark. They didn’t think the ad wasn’t tough enough. Tough never entered the conversation. They thought the ad was repugnant. They thought it was exploitative. They thought it was cruel and desperate and sickening. No one thought, “Wow! That was a tough ad.”
I can understand Vance’s confusion, though. Over the past decade, many in the political arena have confused tough with mean-spirited, thin-skinned, and prickly.
The President of the United States was asked about the ad on his way out to Marine One.
Reporter:
“Now that you know the back story about Amy Acton and her stepfather and why she hasn’t talked to her mom for so long—her stepfather was indicted for rape—now that you know all that, sir, do you change your mind about the ad?”
Donald Trump:
“No. It’s a mother speaking badly against Amy Acton, and to me, it’s very easy.”
“But they haven’t talked -- they haven’t talked for 50 years.”
“I don’t care. Those things are . . . if it . . . if it were my mother speaking badly about me, you’d be making it the number one story in the news.”
“But her mother stood by her husband who had raped or had sexually assaulted her.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t know that. You don’t know anything. Her mother stood by, didn’t stand by, her mother went on television and said that the daughter who’s running for governor of Ohio is a liar and a bad person. And that’s all I know.”
“But the stepfather was charged.”
“Nobody knows; nobody knows anything.”
“But he was charged with—”
“Can I be honest? You should be . . . you’re a bad . . .the press is embarrassing themselves. You’re trying to take a horrible situation for a Democrat and make it look better. The mother said really bad things about a person that wants to be the Democrat [sic] governor of Ohio. The mother said terrible things. Anybody seeing that would say, “No way I’m voting for her.’”
“But Mr. President—”
“There’s nothing to it. It’s very simple. The press is trying so hard to nullify. And, you know, they called me up about it. I said, ‘Wait a minute. The mother said these things.’ The mother looks like she’s totally lucid. She looks very smart, actually. And she felt she had an obligation to Ohio voters to tell them that her daughter is a liar.”
“Can I be honest?” was followed by an ad hominem attack and a few statements that ignored the truth about Amy Acton’s mother, who came across in the ad as bitter and contemptible but also as someone being exploited by even more contemptible people. She didn’t look very smart, actually, or all that lucid.
The reporter did know, and we know, that Amy Acton and her brother were abused by their stepfather. Courts keep records, after all. We don’t have to rely on people who tell us that they are going to be oh, so honest, in what they are about to say.
Tough campaign ads are fine. Indecent campaign ads are not. Decency may not be the greatest concern voters express in the polls, but they crave it. The vast majority of Americans think we are better than this. Ramaswamy’s abhorrent ad was an opportunity for politicians to say, “That is not right.” Too many have failed to do so.
Ramaswamy will lose in Ohio. He and his campaign team have shown us who they are. I wouldn’t rule out a Paxton/Ramaswamy presidential ticket in 2028, though.
(Sorry for the jump-scare.)
If you believe we are better than this, I’m asking for your support. I want a return to decency and reliability. I want a Congress that stays in session to protect our rights instead of recessing to protect the Epstein class or incompetent cabinet members. So, please share, follow, comment, subscribe and all of those social media things. We have run a lean campaign. Another $20,000 will guarantee ending in the black. That’s a lot of money to most of us, but not to a federal campaign. You can donate here:
Thank you.