Welcome to the Jim Acosta Morning Memo on a Friday morning after Trump went all in on the revolting ad that’s destroying what little hope Republicans had, then spurted hate and nonsense in a state his party should be winning and got a comically cheap award.
Buckle up, the weekend’s almost here!
‘Pay Dirt’: In case you missed it, Vivek Ramaswamy put out literally the most disgusting political ad in history, an attack against Democratic opponent Amy Acton. You can get caught up on the whole story here and here.
So, having already offered his approval on Wednesday, Trump turned up the heat on his endorsement of the ad with a gushing rant on Truth Social calling the smears by Acton’s mother — who fled with the man who was indicted for raping her daughter — “pay dirt.”
All About Trump: You may have noticed Trump made no mention of the mother’s loss of custody over the physical and sexual abuse of Amy Acton, or the fleeing with the accused rapist.
When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted him about the omissions, Trump — true to form — made it about himself.
Kaitlan Collins: Mr. President, why do you make no mention of the sexual abuse allegations that Amy Acton made against her stepfather, who stayed married to her mother?
Donald Trump: Well, I have no idea. I don’t know the mother. I don’t know her. I never heard of her until just recently as somebody running for governor of Ohio.
I can tell you this. If my mother ever made those statements—I have a mother, I had a mother who’s up there right now looking down, Mary Anne Trump—if she ever made statements like that about me, you and your fake station would have it front row center. You’d love it.
What’s happened is the press has ganged up on a woman making a horrible statement about her daughter, and I don’t know why she should be shielded or the joint should be.
Kaitlan Collins: She accused her stepfather of child rape, Mr. President.
All In: AdImpact notes that Ramaswamy has put out a new version of the ad with his name on the bottom line, now airing on broadcast stations. Here it is, for the record.
For The Record: Also from that gaggle, Collins gave Trump a pretty thorough synopsis of the allegations he’s claiming not to know about. So next time he pretends not to know, I’m sure someone will call him out.
REPORTER: What about what the daughter said about her mother?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know what the daughter said. I don’t know.
REPORTER: Her mother remained married to her stepfather, who sexually abused her when she was 12 years old.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: When did she make that statement? Was it just [unclear]
REPORTER: In the 1970s, sir. [crosstalk]
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know, I have no idea.
Well, you do now.
You Really Ought To Give Iowa A Lie: Then it was on to a rally at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa. There was lots of crazy shit there, but first, let’s do a quick…
MAAP Check: The Senate race in Iowa is as dead a heat as you can get, with a 0.1-pt. difference separating Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek based on 22 polls.
In the House, there’s one R-zone race and three “Tough Call” races, none of which have been polled in the last 90 days.
The governor’s race is firmly in the D-zone, with Democrat Rob Sand leading Republican Zach Lahn by more then 7 points in the average.
Go check out the full MAAP for yourselves and try out the interactive function.
AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR…
And Now A Word From Our Sponsor
It’s all about the video clips these days that’s why we use Snapstream.
Check them out at https://go.snapstream.com/the-jim-acosta-show.
Stunning Super-Humiliating Dear Leader Moment:
