Editor’s Note: I found the SUN editorial powerful, cogent, and sane. I rarely share an entire post, even under “fair use.” Today, this is a clear, accurate view of the Republican Party now and Trump and Midterms. –DrWeb

EDITORIAL:

Campaign ad weaponizing childhood abuse exposes moral rot in GOP leadership

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026 | 2 a.m.

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There was a time when Republicans proudly proclaimed themselves the party of law and order. They promised accountability, defended the rule of law and insisted that criminals should face consequences regardless of their political connections.

Those days are long gone.

Under President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and the current Republican leadership, a different standard has emerged: accountability for the powerless; protection for the politically useful. And when the victims are inconvenient, attack them instead.

Nowhere is that moral bankruptcy more apparent than in Ohio, where Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has launched one of the most reprehensible political advertisements in American history.

His target is Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton, a pediatrician, former Ohio health director and survivor of childhood sexual abuse.

His chosen spokesperson? The mother who failed to protect her.

Acton has spoken publicly about the sexual abuse she experienced as a child. Court records establish that her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and indicted in 1978 on charges of raping her when she was 12. Rather than face trial, he fled Ohio. Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, accompanied him and remained married to him until his death in 2004.

Acton and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody. She has not seen her mother in nearly half a century.

Now Ramaswamy has handed that same mother a microphone, reportedly committing $4 million to broadcasting her accusations that Acton is dishonest and unfit for office.

Think about that.

A woman whose husband was indicted for raping her child, who left the state with him as he evaded prosecution, is being presented to Ohio voters as a credible authority on her daughter’s character.

And the Republican nominee for governor considers this a winning political strategy.

This is not ordinary negative campaigning. It is the weaponization of childhood trauma, using a survivor’s estranged parent to undermine her credibility decades after the alleged perpetrator escaped justice.

The response from Republican leadership has been even more revealing.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who endorsed Ramaswamy, condemned the advertisement and demanded its removal. But he stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of Ramaswamy. Apparently, exploiting a childhood sexual abuse survivor is wrong enough to warrant a public rebuke, but not wrong enough to disqualify someone from becoming governor.

At least DeWine found the courage to object.

Trump enthusiastically encouraged Ramaswamy to continue airing the advertisement and attacked DeWine for criticizing it. Vance dismissed Republican objections to the ad as whining, declaring that the advertisement’s appropriateness was not his concern.

Not his concern?

Bear in mind that among his responsibilities, Vance chairs a federal fraud taskforce that prosecutes criminal syndicates that groom and abuse children and other vulnerable individuals for the purpose of stealing federal benefits.

For today’s Republican leadership, there is no bottom. There is only the next political advantage.

Consider the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Epstein operated a sexual abuse and trafficking network that victimized girls and young women while maintaining relationships with extraordinarily wealthy and influential people.

Yet the struggle to obtain full transparency about Epstein’s operation has been marked by delays, conflicting explanations, questionable decisions and troubling allegations about how the Justice Department has handled sensitive evidence and informants.

Last month, a whistleblower took his own life after exposing a relationship between Epstein, former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and other powerful investors in a business venture. This continues a disturbing pattern of people with critical information about Epstein and his powerful cohorts taking their lives, and has prompted officials to call for a review of the way confidential informants and whistleblowers are treated by the government agencies they report to.

Separately, an FBI whistleblower recently raised serious concerns about the handling of victims’ identities during the document-review process. Survivors have subsequently alleged that the government’s disclosures exposed their private information, compounding the harm they had already endured.

Meanwhile, almost two years after taking office, the Trump administration has yet to fully release the Epstein files. Unsurprisingly, when a small handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to force the release of some documents earlier this year, the files contained descriptions of Trump’s relationship with “pal” Jeffrey Epstein — a man with whom he shared “certain things in common.”

Now, a federal judge ordered expedited processing of requests for investigative records related to the Epstein files that mention Trump or Mar-a-Lago, along with communications involving senior Justice Department officials.

A government confident in its integrity should welcome that scrutiny. Instead, Americans have repeatedly watched the Trump administration and the vast majority of the GOP leadership resist demands for transparency while its leaders insist that the country should move on.

Where are the Republicans who once claimed to be guardians of institutional integrity? Where is the insistence that anyone who facilitated sexual exploitation face a thorough investigation, regardless of party affiliation?

Where are the voices demanding that Ramaswamy apologize to Acton and every survivor who has watched her childhood suffering become campaign ammunition?

A handful of Republicans have spoken out: DeWine, former Trump Cabinet member Nikki Haley, Meghan McCain and a few other conservative figures condemned the Ohio advertisement. Their objections deserve acknowledgment. But talk is cheap. Condemnation and expressions of “concern” are a tragically weak substitute for meaningful action and accountability.

We do not believe every Republican supports criminality, corruption or child abuse any more than we believe that every Democrat is virtuous. Our recent endorsements demonstrate that we believe that integrity and public service should matter more than party affiliation.

But we do believe that there is something deeply sick and disturbing about the current leaders of the national Republican Party — including the state-level officials who helped them rise in the party ranks and continue to help them hold power through endorsements, public appearances and obstructing accountability.

The Republican Party’s leaders cannot credibly proclaim themselves defenders of children while applauding the political exploitation of a childhood sexual abuse survivor. They cannot claim an uncompromising commitment to justice while leaving serious questions about Epstein’s network unanswered. And ultimately, rank-and-file Republicans must take responsibility and remove their increasingly grotesque leadership.

Voters should recognize the distinction between supporting law enforcement and supporting politicians who use the language of law and order selectively.

When leaders remain silent in the face of cruelty because it helps them win, they reveal their priorities and their true character. When they excuse the politically connected while punishing the vulnerable, they reveal their understanding of justice. These things disqualify them from holding office, as the public cannot trust them.

The American people are running out of excuses for looking the other way. A person’s character — much like a party’s character — is measured not by the easy choices they make or the crimes they condemn when it is convenient, but by the difficult choices they make and the conduct they are willing to tolerate within their own circles of influence.

By that measure, today’s Republican leadership has failed.

There must be a bottom somewhere.

Voters have the power to establish one.

Continue/Read Original Article: Campaign ad weaponizing childhood abuse exposes moral rot in GOP leadership – Las Vegas Sun News