In 2023, at a Republican presidential debate, Chris Christie took a shot at Vivek Ramaswamy, calling him “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.” This was a response not just to Ramaswamy’s rude behavior, but also to his constant dismissal of the race’s only female candidate, Nikki Haley. It’s easy to discredit Christie, a showman who once went viral for pouring a bag of M&M’s into a larger bag of M&M’s to enlighten the world as to his extravagant snacking technique. But when it comes to Vivek Ramaswamy, he was spot on.
Ramaswamy is currently campaigning for the Ohio governorship, taking on former Director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Amy Acton. As a child, Acton was abused. In 1978, her stepfather was arrested and later indicted for raping Acton, who was twelve at the time. Acton’s account of the abuse is backed by extensive legal documents and court records, as well as a sworn statement from her biological father. Her campaign has said that her childhood was never the centerpiece of her run.
Despite this, Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, sided with Ramaswamy and against her daughter. After the indictment, Acton’s mother lost custody of her. 48 years later, on Oct. 19, she appeared in an online advertisement. Speaking to the camera, Donna Arthur states, “It’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem … My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself.” She labels her daughter a liar, and thus unfit to govern.
Ramaswamy didn’t initially take credit for the ad, but later claimed it, committing $4 million to air it. His reasoning? The public needed to know that this race was between “someone with a positive vision for the state, and someone who complains about what someone else did to her.”
Not every Republican endorsed this horrific ad. Ohio’s Republican Senator Jon Husted said he would not have run the ad himself. Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine called it “deeply, deeply troubling.” Ohio’s former senator, and current Vice President, JD Vance, said he was disgusted … by politicians who denounced the advertisement. Wait … disgusted by whom?
Vance and Acton both grew up in Ohio in broken homes. In his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance tells stories about addiction, instability, and a mother who couldn’t protect him. When asked about the ad’s appropriateness, all Vance had to say was that it was “not really my concern.” Vance wants us to hold his trauma in high regard, and yet he wants to dismiss Amy Acton’s out of hand. Time and again, he shows us who he truly is.
Vance and Ramaswamy are close friends. At Yale Law School, they bonded over football and their Ohio roots. They both attended a seminar hosted by Peter Thiel and remained in his orbit. Now, they are both pitching themselves as leaders of the new right, at the intersection of nationalist populism and technocracy. They have many of the same political advisors; those in charge of Ramaswamy’s campaign also managed Vance’s Senate run.
Many consider Vance and Ramaswamy to be part of a new guard of Republican politics; Nikki Haley, DeWine, and Husted are the old guard. This old guard denounced the advertisement (although DeWine did not pull his endorsement of Ramaswamy). The new guard, though, will go as low as it takes. The fact that Ramaswamy’s team thought this advertisement would help Vivek shows how little they think of American voters. It also shows how limited their understanding of those voters is. Within days of its release, 72% of 500 Ohio voters surveyed had heard of the advertisement. Only one voter surveyed said the ad worked as Vivek’s campaign intended, leading them to switch their support from Acton to Ramaswamy. Seven voters felt it had the opposite effect, leading them away from Vivek and towards Acton’s campaign.
Another thing Ramaswamy and Vance have in common? They’re both hypocrites. Vance positions himself as a champion of the Rust Belt, fighting for American workers, saying he would support eliminating the H-1B visa program (which allows U.S. companies to temporarily hire high-skilled foreign professionals for specialty jobs). Meanwhile, Ramaswamy’s former company, Roivant Sciences, took 29 H-1B visa applicants between 2018 and 2023. Two of Vance’s main supporters and financiers, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, have defended and utilized H-1B visa workers for years. These self-appointed protectors of American workers don’t practice what they preach.
When Vance announced a crackdown on H-1B fraud at a rally in Alaska earlier this month, he offered this advice to voters: “Never trust a politician by what they say; judge a politician by what they did when they had the chance.” Indeed. Let’s hope Acton’s polling edge over Ramaswamy leads to midterm victory. As for Vance, early polling suggests he is the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Judge him by what he did when he had the chance.
