r/politics • u/TimesandSundayTimes ✔ Verified • 9h ago
Possible Paywall Vivek Ramaswamy accused of using child rape as ‘political talking point’
https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/ramaswamy-action-ohio-governor-attack-advert-child-rape-pl0d3rvb7?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit&utm_content=branded314
u/CharliBarliH 9h ago
Donald Trump Jr has already tweeted in support of the ad. Just the worst people being the worst people.
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u/RandyMuscle I voted 8h ago
The ad does appeal greatly to the GOP base of estranged bigoted parents and rapists.
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u/ASmallTownDJ Iowa 6h ago
Oh shit, is this why there's been so much online discourse about kids going no contact with their parents?
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u/RandyMuscle I voted 6h ago
Probably. My wife and I are both no contact with our dads because they’re simply fucking insane.
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u/LordAlvis 6h ago edited 6h ago
And JD has spoken out to say Republicans complaining about the ad are "whiners".
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u/MLJ9999 9h ago
As he well and truly did.
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u/supercyberlurker 9h ago
Yeah. He managed to sink to a new low for Republicans with it too.
It's honestly kind of impressive. That takes serious effort to achieve.
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u/MoreOrLess_iGuess America 8h ago
Child rape and republicans? It’s as American as trump and Epstein, as wholesome as trump walking in on teenagers in their dressing rooms at the Miss Teen USA pageant he purchased, as innocent as trump bragging about grabbing women by the pussy. But yeah, he’s their best candidate for some reason.
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u/SadFeed63 7h ago
All examples that were known quantities in 2016
(I bring this up because I'm annoyed at how much discourse treats voting for him in 2016 as some little national ooopsie, and acts as if only voting for him the second and third time is the real issue)
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u/MoreOrLess_iGuess America 6h ago
Exactly - trump was in the news for decades before he ran for president. He was a well known business failure, philanderer, and best friend of Epstein.
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u/OnlyRealGabby 7h ago
Couldn’t agree more. He completely stepped up and delivered when it mattered.
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u/Canyousourcethatplz 7h ago
And it's strange that for some contingent of right wing voters, there is no low point that will keep them from voting red. Look at Texas and Ken Paxton, a truly horrible person, and lots of Texans will vote for him. Our country will only change when right wing voters decide enough is enough.
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u/Aspergian_Asparagus Georgia 2h ago
There really isn’t.
I’ve done my best to not grow numb to their usual fall-back phrase: “there’s a perfect vision through an imperfect person.”
In other words: “Protect the children, except for the ones that my guy thinks are hot!”
Now lemme just go vomit after typing that depravity out.
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u/drawliphant 8h ago
Another day, another defense of raping children. It's the only policy the GOP is consistent with.
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u/The_Angster_Gangster 7h ago
To clarify he's using the fact that she was sexually abused as a child to tell people that she's not fit to serve as governor, and his spokesperson to shit on her is the woman who enabled the abuse and fled the state with the abuser.
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u/SpeaksSouthern 9h ago
Republicans desire for their candidates to be like themselves? I guess? Gross I need to take several showers. I don't have enough soap.
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u/janethefish 7h ago
That's not how I would put it. He is defending child rape. He is pro pedophiles raping children. From the headline I thought it was something like "My opponent supports pedophile rapists." But no. He is defending a the pedophile who raped his opponent.
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u/Inquisitor_ForHire Tennessee 8h ago
Right? Why are we bothering with "accused" here. Let's call things as they actually are for once.
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u/thethrill_707 Michigan 9h ago
If this ad doesn't end his political aspirations, it absolutely should. It crossed a disgusting line.
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u/DiscombobulatedBid19 7h ago
All you have to do to run as a Republican these days is to be a pedophile
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u/CardiologistMean4664 33m ago
I don't have enough faith in this country anymore to believe that this will sway enough of the voters needed. I hope I'm wrong.
This is solely to attack a daughter she hasn't seen in nearly 50 years. It's not even about self-defense for a legal argument. She's just viciously lashing out, and it sickens me that people believe this sick woman.
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u/Dracoson 9h ago
Worse, he's dishonestly attacking the victim. Using the estranged mother to spread those lies. Apparently, the one thing we can count on is Republicans taking the side of the perpetrators instead of the victims.
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u/MyDogIsACoolCat 7h ago
Her husband, Acton’s stepfather, raped Acton while she was 12. She stayed with Acton’s stepfather after she lost custody of the kids until he died. No depths of depravity to this one.
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u/Over-Pineapple3833 6h ago
Unfortunately this shit happens more than you'd think. My sibling prosecuted a case where a man raped and impregnated his niece when she was 12. Case was irrefutable, they could prove it with just the DNA test of the kid. Family blamed the girl and kicked her out, not the pedophile uncle.
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u/transplanar 1h ago
Abusers and predators seem to get off to seeing how much they can get away with.
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u/mikerowavebdacon New York 7h ago
Worse than that, the estranged elderly* mother. Taking advantage of seniors, in any context, makes me sick.
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u/PortalWombat 2h ago
Once every victim who never supported their kid's rapist is happy and taken care of I'll give a shit about this lady.
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u/mikerowavebdacon New York 34m ago
I stand by it. The old lady's immorality has nothing to do with it. Taking advantage of seniors, in any context, makes me sick. Agree to disagree
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u/randohipponamo 9h ago
He’s not a serious person. He’s a tech bro like Vance and Elon and Thiel and Altman who just sell vaporware from one Ponzi scheme to the next
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u/lilb1190 9h ago
Thiel and Altman are Elon are absolutely serious people. They are full of shit, but they should be taken seriously. Thiel is running a lot of shit behind the scenes and has the ultimate vision of what conservative america will look like after trump. Elon musk has the power to shut down Ukraine's internet in the middle of a war. Altman and AI are trying to take over the world and pass it off as "AI is going to make life better".
These are some of the most powerful people in the world, and they are all shitheads
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u/RadicalRectangle Colorado 9h ago
I mean, he is. He is weaponizing an estranged, abusive relationship against his political opponent. There is no lower you could go.
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u/Pans_Labradoodle 8h ago
In a sick and twisted way it’s the perfect ad to reach with older MAGA zealots that have no clue why their kids have disconnected from them.
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u/samacknojia 9h ago
His career is over after that ad lol
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u/NarcolepticMan Ohio 9h ago
I could only wish. But if you've ever met a Republican, they would literally vote for Satan if he was on the ballot with an (R) by his name.
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u/StarbuckMcGee07 7h ago
We literally have a guy running for senate who hired a known sex offender in NC. People in my neighborhood have signs up for him. They love these kinds of people.
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u/TraditionalWinter890 8h ago
i’d be shocked if the typical Republican you’re describing extended that courtesy to a brown man
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u/financekid 8h ago edited 7h ago
If he was white it wouldn't be over but racism towards Indians is increasing on the right so it's possible that this is it for his political career. He's getting crushed in polling.
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u/samacknojia 8h ago
Maybe if he was white. He fucked up too many times to come back up now, GOP might drop his ass themselves
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u/antelope591 8h ago
Why? R's are pro child abuse now.
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u/RandyMuscle I voted 8h ago
Yea, this ad appeals to the GOP’s base of estranged bigoted parents and rapists.
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u/Three_Froggy_Problem Illinois 8h ago
This level of cruelty is a feature of the right. I doubt he sees any significant fallout from it.
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u/MyDogIsACoolCat 7h ago
Maybe if this was 20 years ago. He’ll be fine. Republicans don’t hold anyone accountable.
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u/GoodShitBrain 6h ago
That’s the thing. Republicans fail upwards. The bigger the fuckup, the bigger the aspiration
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u/PrisonerClass 4h ago
It should be, but Republicans are in an existential battle. They support convicted rapists when it suits them, so I’m afraid they’re likely sticking with their boy.
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u/InnerSilent 3h ago
Trump literally lawded the fact he would go backstage and look at naked teenage girls and he became the President
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u/Runedin3 9h ago
Holy shit, what an absolute demon. I hope there's a special place in hell for this kind of shit.
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u/E_Mohde New York 9h ago
he’s killed his chances in the governor race and might have lost them the Senate in OH too
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u/John271095 9h ago
This hurts the Republicans across all the races in Ohio. They must be all pissed at Vivek.
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u/ArtistdudeCAWs 6h ago edited 6h ago
One can hope so; Vivek went full blast with confuse ray, it seems.
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u/thecamino 8h ago
Logically that should be the result. But I’ve seen MAGA supporters blow right past so many things that should be red lines that I don’t know anymore if it will actually turn away voters who already planned on voting for him.
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u/ChefChopNSlice Ohio 5h ago
Yep, they have no morals and they don’t care. “Trumps name is in the Epstein files 38,000 times, and that’s only in the half that were released”. Their response, “yea, but her laugh”.
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u/Affectionate-Ad7500 9h ago
Vivek Ramasmarmy is the only person that I can think of that would DJT look better. The guy is an absolute sleazeball.
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u/asscracktester7 9h ago edited 7h ago
Not defending him at all, but Trump is like a million times worse. Vivek is def less extreme than Trump, especially since he opposes military/financial aid to Israel, opposes federal abortion ban, supports legalizing marijuana, and is not nearly as anti-immigrant. Plus Trump is an actual rapist/pedo himself.
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u/samueladams6 9h ago
Someone who weaponizes a person’s experience as a victim of pedophilia/rape against them has no principles
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u/asscracktester7 7h ago
Don’t disagree at all. But we’re speaking about him relative to Trump not relative to a principled person. Trump is an actual rapist and pedo himself.
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u/SuspiciousMap9630 8h ago
I think I can confidently say that Vivek has shown himself to be the most vile politician in my living memory. To have the audacity to double down on this despite documented evidence that Amy is not lying about her experience, then claiming she just complains about what someone else did to her - just absolutely grotesque.
The fact not a single person on his team saw this ad and thought “this is pretty fucking low, maybe we shouldn’t do this” is true evidence to the rot that has infested the American Republican Party. Then for other Republicans to try to dogpile and act like it’s unimaginable that an abuser would lie about being an abuser.
If there is any decency left in American politics and society, his political career dies here and he lives the rest of his life on the fringes of modern society where he belongs.
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u/umassmza 9h ago
I can’t believe multiple people did not step in and stop them from making that ad. Did nobody speak up when it was pitched, while it was being filmed, edited, or at any time in post production?
Like even a TV station could have been, “you guys sure you want to run this… OK it’s your dime”
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u/JunahCg 8h ago
Republicans are pro pedophilia. If you're working for a Republican in 2026 you've lost all grip on reality
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u/neph42 Missouri 7h ago
Not just pro-pedophilia, but also anti-women, anti-victim, and - let’s not forget - just cruel in general. This ad wouldn’t lose him votes from the GOP voters I know, if they lived in his state. As long as he has that (R) by his name. And I think his campaign knows that, to some extent. These days a lot of them would rather be openly cruel and callous and court those unhappy voters, than even fake being kind and caring about their constituents’ real issues, it seems.
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u/umassmza 8h ago
I think that everyone is so afraid to speak up that it’s become the culture to not question the boss
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u/LangyMD 9h ago
So Vivek decided that "I defend those accused of child rape" was a good platform to run on? Wild.
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u/Regular-Dust3378 8h ago
Not only that, when confronted he doubled down. He told the reporter that “this was between Acton and her mother.”
Sure Vivek, it’s just between them… after you spent millions of dollars to pump this into every TV in Ohio multiple times a day…
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u/CanIPetThatDawgPls 9h ago
I 100% think Vivek knew this ad would not be received well. I think he assumes he’ll lose the election too. He made this ad and is doubling down because it hurts Dr. Acton. He’s lashing out and trying to break “things on the way out.” The process is the punishment.
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u/Slackluster America 8h ago
The fact that he is using his opponent's rape when she was only 12 as a political argument is so sick and demented, it's shocking that Vivek is not in a mental institution.
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u/Awatts2222 8h ago
I don't understand how it helps him. Doesn't it just showcase empathy for her?
I must be missing something.
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u/Slackluster America 8h ago
i agree, for any decent human watching this is an ad against him, not against her.
what you are missing is that republicans support rapists and pedophiles. i wish that was a just hyperbole but they see it as some kind of power demonstration. like if you can rape someone and get away with it then you must be a very powerful and smart person. i can only imagine that some kind of sick logic like that is going on in their demented minds.
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u/IntelligentDepth8206 8h ago
it doesn't. ramawamy and the rest of them are genuinely incapable of understanding things like empathy. that's why he made and took credit for the ad.
it's a reality that there's a chunk of human beings incapable of understanding things like empathy, love, ethics etc. he is one of them. there's a lot of them in politics.
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u/Sure-Caterpillar-263 8h ago
Vivek has no morals, if what he does and says isn’t repulsive enough just look up how he made his money that’ll tell you all you need to know about this scumbag
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u/Unfair_Web_8275 8h ago
I know that most Democrats aren't the progressive champions that many of us want them to be, but I still can't believe that Republicans have been as competitive and close as they have been this election.
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u/Accomplished_Lab_675 8h ago
Oh what a surprise, the GOP taking the side of the pedophile protectors.
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u/LordAlvis 6h ago
Every organization that has endorsed Vivek needs to revoke that endorsement immediately. This is beyond the pale.
Please consider contacting any of these, especially ones you are affiliated with, to encourage them to do the right thing.
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u/MalevolentTapir 9h ago edited 9h ago
I think its more that he whitewashed the history of, and used character testimony from a woman that enabled it to accuse the victim of being a liar.
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u/skankenstein California 9h ago
Think about 1978, when she lost custody of her kids. Child and domestic abuse were typically considered family matters. So if she lost custody then and he went to jail, you know it was really bad for those kids. For him to platform an abuser who accuses the victim about lying about the adjudicated abuse that occurred in the 1970s is disgusting.
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u/Constant-Skill-7133 8h ago
It had shifted by then, and probably went too far the other way around being too aggressive taking kids from homes without a proper system in place to handle their care.
But you are absolutely correct. Kids lie but not like that. They aren't framing people for crimes, and it's hard to get prosecutions because of how difficult it is to prove. And much harder back then than now with lack of DNA testing and people that think like her estranged mother.
The reason there aren't a lot of falsely convicted rapists is because there aren't a lot of convicted rapists. The standard for taking kids from the home is shockingly low which opens it to abuse and incompetence. The standard for criminal conviction is not, very much the opposite.
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u/pchs26 8h ago
Who exactly is surprised that the party who doesn't want to release the epstein files in full in order to protect child rapists is once again siding with child abusers and rapists. She should turn this on its head and remind people of their weird predilection to protect and mingle with child abusers and pedophiles and refusal to release the epstein files.
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u/malac0da13 Pennsylvania 8h ago
Wait wait wait. He claims that the mother knows her pretty well, but the kids were removed from her custody at like 12 years old and hasn’t been in contact since…
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u/TheAskewOne 9h ago
It’s even worse than that. He’s using excusing child rape as a political talking point.
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u/CMGCookie 7h ago
Oh good Vivek. I'm glad we got that out of the way, huh.
But if you are so concerned about child rape, you ought to check out DOJ.
Yes, it seems they are covering up the factual FBI report on Donald Trump raping a 13 year old girl in the Epstein files.
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u/LooseMidnight8739 2h ago
In June 2025, Elon Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that President Donald Trump's name is in unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files, writing, "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public."
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u/HotSeaworthiness7536 9h ago
I mean, he knows the people of Ohio are super cool with sexual assault. I mean how many times have they elected Gym Jordan?
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u/Trajinous 8h ago
No accusation, he did. Its embarrassing and disgusting, perfect for the modern day GOP
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u/TheDarkHelmet1985 8h ago
This is what the republican party has become over the last decade. The Vice President told his own people to stop whining about the ad. They will do anything and say anything to get people to vote for them. Even if it means directly misleading voters while having knowledge that what they are putting out there is clearly false. I just don't get how anyone of integrity and honor can support anyone like this or that supports this. Its disturbing.
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u/Undorkins 8h ago
Accused? He straight up did that and he doubled down on it immediately.
It's a pretty crowded field, but he somehow managed to be the biggest piece of shit in American politics this year.
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u/Makachai 8h ago
In his defence, he IS a smarmy Republican douche-bag, and clearly knows better, but doesn't give a shit.
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u/TechieSidhe 8h ago
My family is from Youngstown. Him speaking there is interesting, because if he was speaking there in the 1950s, he would gave gotten a different response due to his skin color.
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u/biznizza 8h ago
It should be a political talking point. Let’s talk about those files that have a bunch of that talking point. The ones a certain politician promised to release. The ones his name appears in… a lot?
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u/RandyMuscle I voted 8h ago
Accused? He did. Like transparently, knowingly. It’s the single most heinous political ad I’ve seen in my life. I can’t believe Trump doesn’t hold the title for that frankly.
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u/Global-Statement-113 8h ago
Vance has a daughter, so does Ramaswamy, one would think they would shudder at the thought of this happening to a helpless child.
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u/robotdesignedrobot 8h ago
We can thank Vance for drawing even more attention to this disgusting reality of americant rape culture.
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u/Psephological 7h ago
They have been for years, with the pretence that LGBT people were some kind of top tier threat to children when they've been the pedo party all along
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u/Pour_Me_Another_ 7h ago
I can only imagine how good it felt for him to do this and how good it felt for people who rape children to see themselves lifted up in society by their heroes who support them in those endeavors.
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u/Defiant_Storage_7435 7h ago
Between this guy and Max Miller, the Ohio GOP really know how to pick 'em!
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u/berniesbrother 6h ago
I'm confused by him - he aligned himself with pedophiles to try to win his campaign? So, is he a pedophile, and he's also likely in the Epstein files? Doesn't seem like pro-pedophilia is a great stance to win a campaign, but for Republicans it kind of is?
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u/External-Example-292 6h ago
Accused? He did. They spent millions of dollars on it and no one said it will backfire??? 🧐
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u/ChefChopNSlice Ohio 6h ago
Ramascammy is in the same class of people as rapists. He’s purposely holding power over someone who’s in a helpless position, to hurt them and make them feel vulnerable. He’s an absolute shitbag of a human being. GOP are just fucking bullies who are very lucky to live in private gated communities away from the common people they screw over every day.
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u/Feisty-Driver-1263 3h ago
No doubt the mother considers her to be a liar because over the many years since the court ripped her kids out of the house because they were being raped she convinced herself that it never happened so she could continue living with the rapist with a clear conscience.
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u/CrispyTarantula117 3h ago
The party of child rape is okay with child rape and child rape enablers.
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u/Lysol3435 47m ago
I feel like this title leaves out the most important part. He’s using child rape as a political talking point against the children who were raped
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u/narutoaerowindy 8h ago
So did Trump, he became president twice.
I'm not a supporter of any political party.
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u/AverageLiberalJoe 8h ago
Its quite literally a 4 million dollar ad attempting to vindicate a child rapist.
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u/brokenmessiah 8h ago
Ohio is safely a Red state so IDK why Vivek decided to do this when his competition wasn't likely to win anyway...
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u/MadContrabassoonist 7h ago
I’m struggling to understand why someone so out of touch with the 2026 midterms would be here commenting in the first place. Thankfully, you’re incorrect; Democrats have more than a meaningful chance in Ohio, in fact they’re currently the favorites (albeit not overwhelmingly so).
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u/Temporary-Pirate-522 6h ago
people keep writing ohio off as a guaranteed red state when the political landscape can shift pretty quickly and this race clearly isn't a sure thing
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u/da2Pakaveli 7h ago
Sherrod Brown was only 3.8 pts behind in 2024 and vastly outperformed Harris. He is a populist progressive (most progressive senator behind Bernie iirc) and ran on a pro-labor platform. These states are red partially because of neglect. But that doesn't mean that Dems can't win them.
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u/Dirkdeking 6h ago
I have a theory, and that is that the type of democrat that wins vs republicans actually fepends on the state and the local context.
Some people argue that you need moderate democrats to win primaries to not scare away independent voters. Others say you should double down on socialism and hard left narratives to reach voters that feel left behind and go MAGA.
I think both can be true depending on the place where the race is taking place. If the electorate consists of traditional suburban republicans, then a lot probably just think Trump has gone too far and are willing to vote for you if you moderate your stances on cultural issues and you are somewhat of a Clinton democrat. These people would be spooked by more leftist rhetoric.
But if the competition is in a rust belt state and it's the vote of the disillusioned laid off factory worker you need to get, then a dem socialist will probably perform better than a mainstream dem. Such a person views a slick democrat with a suit as untrustworthy and elitist. And is likely attracted to Trump primarily by his tariff agenda and promise to 'bring back American jobs'. The first kind of voter is primarily attracted to his cultural platform.
Totally different electorates.
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