In a move that surprised absolutely no one and yet still managed to lower the bar, Donald Trump told supporters in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday that he personally encouraged Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, to keep running an attack ad featuring the mother of his Democratic rival, Dr. Amy Acton. The ad centers on the fact that Acton lost custody of her daughter at age 12 because her husband was charged with raping the young girl - a detail that Trump seemed to treat as just another Tuesday in politics.
"They did an ad of the mother saying the daughter is incompetent, a liar and disgusting unreliable person," Trump said, adding some claims that were not, in fact, in the ad. Because why let facts get in the way of a good story? "My mom would not say that about me - even if she believed it," the president added, making light of the testimony of a woman who sided with the man charged with raping her own 12-year-old daughter. Classy.
"When I first saw it, I said, 'Wow, that means Vivek easily will win the race,'" Trump recounted. "And then I got a call from Vivek. He said, 'What would you recommend? Because I'm getting killed in the press.' Why? He said, 'Because they think I should immediately take the ad off.'" Trump's advice? "The mother said horrible things about your opponent. I said, 'You've got to ride with it.'"
Notably absent from Trump's remarks was any mention of the fact that the Republican Senate candidate he was there to support, Ashley Hinson, had denounced the ad earlier on Thursday. "I think it's absolutely terrible, and I think they should take the ad down," Hinson told ABC News ahead of Trump's appearance. Hinson, who currently represents Iowa in the House and is running to replace Republican senator Joni Ernst (herself a survivor of sexual assault), also called vice-president JD Vance's comment that he was disgusted by Republican criticism of the ad "ridiculous." "Again, I think it's wrong and should come down," she said.
Trump, for his part, spent 90 minutes saying very little that he hasn't said before, but devoted an extended portion of the speech to defending the ad - to the dismay of many Republicans, including the very candidate he was there to promote. "I'm asking you to pretend that I'm running… pretend I'm on the ballot," Trump told the crowd, as he has at each stop on his "midterm blitz." "Remember, I'm on the ballot," he said later. "Because I am on the ballot. Really, it's our stuff, it's going to be taken away. If we don't win, it's going to be taken away. So I am, really, on the ballot." Of course, if the president really wanted to make the midterms a referendum on himself, he could pledge to resign if Republicans lose Congress - but that would require a level of accountability he has yet to demonstrate.
As he frequently does at rallies, Trump boasted about "acing" what he called "an aptitude test" - which is, in fact, a screening for mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. While the test includes a short math section (serial subtraction by 7 starting at 60), Trump claimed the questions were far more complicated. "The first question easy. The second question is easy. And by the time you get up to number 30, there are many people that can answer those questions," he said. "They'll say like: 'Take a number, any number.' Say, 49, 'triple it,' and they go pretty much in this speed, 'triple it and divide by four; add 2,019; subtract 87; divide by three; multiply by nine. What is the number?'" As supporters shouted numbers, Trump asserted he solved it without providing the answer. "Not a lot of people are going to be able to do that," he said. "Not a lot. I did it. I did it three times." He has made similar claims before, never once giving an answer.
Despite being in Iowa ostensibly to support Republican candidates, Trump quickly pivoted to attacking two candidates in other states: Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Making no effort to conceal his anti-Muslim racism, Trump claimed El-Sayed is a "jihadist" and recited multiple falsehoods about Omar, including the false claim that she married her brother and that she told an interviewer this week she did not, "as far as I know" (she did not).
Trump started speaking about 40 minutes late, boasting about his past performance in Iowa before acknowledging his term is drawing to a close. "You know, we only have a little more than two years left. Can you believe it?" he said, before adding: "But I'm going to have a lot of power when I leave." He then recited a litany of lies about Josh Turek, the Democrat running against Hinson, casting him as a supporter of "taxpayer-funded transgender brutalization surgeries and in favor of men in girls bathrooms."
In other news, Trump found time to berate LeBron James on Truth Social after the NBA star mimed a golf swing and took an imaginary jump shot during the national anthem at Tuesday's 76ers-Knicks game. "LeBron James should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!" Trump wrote, calling James "no good" and a "TOTAL DISGRACE." The feud dates back to 2017 when Trump rescinded a White House invitation to the Golden State Warriors after Stephen Curry declined to attend; James called Trump a "bum." In July, Trump suggested James was a "racist" without explanation. "I only like people that like me," Trump said.
Meanwhile, the US supreme court ruled on Thursday that New Hampshire students cannot use school-issued ID cards as proof of identity to vote, handing a victory to the state's Republicans. The high court cited the principle that "lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election" in keeping intact an April state law that struck high school and college IDs from the list of acceptable voter documents. House Bill 323, signed by Republican governor Kelly Ayotte, requires government-issued IDs such as a passport or driver's license. The Coalition for Open Democracy, a New Hampshire nonprofit, had sued to block the law, arguing it raised unconstitutional barriers for young voters. According to the Brennan Center, "more than 49 million American adults don't possess an unexpired driver's license with their current name and address. Seniors, people of color, people with disabilities, low-income voters, and students are especially likely to lack such documents."
And with that, we conclude our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Tomorrow, presumably, another day, another controversy.