Welcome to the Jim Acosta Morning Memo on a Wednesday morning after Trump resorted to despicable desperation and Vivek Ramaswamy went event dirtier in a move that has shocked every corner of the political world.
Reek of Desperation: We’re going to lead off with a pair of stories that illustrate just how desperate Trump and the Republicans have become in the face of a midterm wipeout.
First, at a rally in North Carolina, Trump explicitly extorted voters by offering a billion dollars in settlements to military families — but only if Republicans win. I’m not kidding.
And if we win the House and the Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible and get it off the books and get it finished.
…So if we don’t win, there’s no money. If we do win, you’re getting it…
“If we don’t win, there’s no money.” To be clear, the Trump Justice Department will have the same power to settle claims no matter how the midterms go.
Hold My Despicable Beer: Then there’s the truly revolting Vivek Ramaswamy saga.
Right-wing influencers like Megyn Kelly and others were leaked an ad featuring Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton’s mother attacking her own daughter.
The ad had no claim of ownership at the end, but it was from Ramaswamy’s campaign, a fact he eventually confirmed to NBC4.
Vivek Ramaswamy: It is an ad from our campaign.
…I’ve never met Amy Acton, which is a regret. I wish I’d met at least my opponent. I’ve also never met her mother. She was not compensated. I asked my team that question because we’ve got the question. She was not compensated.
So what the ad didn’t say is that Amy Acton has been estranged from her mother since 1978, when she and her brother were removed from their mother’s custody over severe physical and sexual abuse.
Here’s Acton’s brother correcting the record in response.
I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it. She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me from that, and if she hadn’t done that, who knows where I would have ended up.
And she’s eleven and twelve years old, and to think that that’s somehow a talking point—shame on Vivek.
The contempt he has for Amy is the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.
Ramaswamy was confronted about the ad by a heckler early on Tuesday.
And here’s Amy Acton responding to Ramaswamy and the ad in an interview with Spectrum News.
The words our leaders use matter, and I think it’s going to take courage right now from all of us to stop normalizing this sort of rhetoric. People need to see that this is a pattern. It was a pattern in the presidential debates. You know, I remember Chris Christie going at it with him. I remember Nikki Haley, because he was such a liar, and he was attacking Nikki Haley’s 14-year-old daughter on air during presidential debates. You know, this is a lifelong pattern with my opponent.
Say What Now: Since then, Axios has reported that the Ramaswamy campaign is pouring $4 million dollars into what the outlet called the quote “bombshell ad” featuring the woman who fled with the man who was indicted for raping her daughter.
Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Ohio governor is pouring $4 million into a bombshell ad in which his opponent's estranged mother attacks her daughter — doubling down on the message despite fierce bipartisan backlash, Axios has learned.
I’m sorry, but “bombshell” is not the word I would have used.
Trump and Ramaswamy are two sides of the same desperate coin, in a campaign season that still hasn’t found the bottom of an extremely foul barrel.
He Is Not OK: But let’s rewind to another sign of Trump’s desperation and instability. During an Oval Office event, he lashed out at correspondent Andrew Feinberg repeatedly, even growling at him and basically threatening him.
As Feinberg later noted, Trump probably didn’t like questions like this one, which exposed the stupidity of the event Trump was holding.
Vance later went after Feinberg on X, and the White House account lashed out by using a slur against disabled people.
Calling All Book Authors: Folks, the wheels came off a long time ago, but now the axles are scraping off, too.
Just this morning, MS NOW’s Mika Brzezinski had this callout for a media that won’t get serious about Trump.
Yeah – SO ARE WE!
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.
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Catching Zs:
