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Former President Barack Obama on Saturday seized on what he described as cruelty and indecency coming from President Trump and his Republican allies, stepping into one of the nation’s ugliest midterm fights as he worked to rally Democratic voters in battleground Ohio.
Obama took specific aim at Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has doubled down on an advertising campaign featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton. Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also defended the ad, even as Republican leaders across Ohio, including Gov. Mike DeWine, have called for its removal.
“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said of Ramaswamy, noting that Acton has “spoken movingly about her painful childhood and all she’s experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.”
“There’s a decency we should expect out of our public officials,” Obama continued. “And I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”
Obama, 65, remains the Democratic Party’s best motivator nearly a decade after leaving the White House. He campaigned in Michigan later Saturday night, lending the Democratic Party his star power in Midwestern battlegrounds that will help determine the balance of power in American politics next week.
Obama shared the stage with Acton and former three-term Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is looking to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
Although Ohio has become more reliably Republican, it’s been a hotly contested battleground this year. Mr. Trump and Vance have both visited the state in recent weeks to drum up support for Husted and Ramaswamy. And the controversy over Ramaswamy’s ad has ratcheted up the already high temperature.
Ramaswamy has defended his decision to press ahead with the ad as fair game. Mr. Trump aggressively defended the ad, which has emerged as a national flashpoint in the midterms’ final days, as he voted in West Palm Beach on Saturday.
“This is a disgrace,” Mr. Trump said. “The mother said that Amy Acton is a liar and she’s no good. And you know what? I don’t think you can get a better reference on that.” He added that if his own mother had said anything bad about him, it would be front and center.
The Ramaswamy campaign video features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues.
Acton says her mother “was not well” and her stepfather “was not a good person”
Acton, Ohio’s COVID-19-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted on a charge of rape involving Acton.
The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive. Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in 2004.
“I hope that everyone is seeing all the facts,” Acton told CBS News ahead of the rally. “The facts are: I was removed from custody from my mom. She was not well. From even a very young age, my brother and I experienced a lot of abuse and neglect, even before my stepfather. But my stepfather was not a good person, and it got worse then. He was indicted in a grand jury. He was a fugitive, and they left together. And she obviously decided to leave with him. There’s a lot out there of what has happened to her since, but I have not seen her since I was 12 years old in a courthouse. So this is a sad story.”
Acton told CBS News that “we all know that that was a line crossed too far,” adding that “no one running for office should endure something like this.”
She went on: “But I can tell you, my childhood made me who I am. It made me stronger. You know, I’m not the only one who’s gone through a thing or two in my childhood.”
Appearing on stage before Obama, Acton spoke as if addressing Ramaswamy directly.
“My opponent has chosen to exploit, intentionally, my childhood to save his stumbling campaign, but it’s not going to work,” she said. “Decency still matters.” She added: “Mr. Ramaswamy, you are not just out of touch, you are out for yourself and you are a danger to my state. Apparently there is no low to which you won’t stoop.”
Obama blasts White House for “chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence”
In Ohio, Obama also called out Mr. Trump’s inability to lower costs, a key campaign promise, noting that the president has instead focused on building a new White House ballroom and helipad on the South Lawn.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovation,” he quipped. “He should be on HGTV.” He went on: “There’s gold everywhere. He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
The former Democratic president acknowledged that the nation has Mr. Trump for another two years, until his term ends. But voters are not stuck with Mr. Trump’s allies, he said.
“We’re not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who are handling lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference for working people,” Obama said. “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in modern times, you get a chance to say enough is enough.”
After wrapping up in Ohio, Obama headed to a rally in Detroit for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who is working to unite the Democratic base in Michigan after winning a divisive primary by less than a percentage point. El-Sayed is running against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican.
Obama will headline a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Mr. Trump is slated to speak in Georgia Saturday.
