Scott Jennings couldn’t defend Vice President JD Vance’s reaction to a disgusting attack ad from Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy, who is running for governor in Ohio against Democrat Amy Acton, is behind a sick ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother.
In the ad, which is still running, Donna Arthur says her daughter has “lied her entire life” and insinuates Acton has mental health issues she has not addressed.
Important context is left out of the ad. Arthur lost custody of her daughter after Acton’s stepfather, Cledith “Bud” Arthur, was charged with sexually abusing Acton as a child. Acton’s mother abandoned her children and sided with her husband, whom she remained with until his death in 2004. Acton has been open about her experiences with homelessness and abuse as a child.
Vance defended the ad from Ramaswamy’s camp and dismissed concerns from fellow Republican officials and voters.
“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,” Vance said on Wednesday.
Jennings took issue with Vance calling it “whining” and instead said the backlash to the ad was more of a “warning.”
“There’s a heck of a lot of Republicans in Ohio and elsewhere who would love to see a Republican get elected governor of Ohio, who do not believe that this is a defensible ad, nor do they believe it’s a good strategy,” the conservative commentator said on CNN’s “NewsNight” on Wednesday.
“This is not whining,” Jennings said. “From what I’ve heard from my people in Ohio, it’s warning that this may have actually been a backfire. It’s gonna blow up in their face.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) also urged Ramaswamy to take down his TV ad, calling it “deeply, deeply troubling.”
“It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine told reporters on Thursday.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
