Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci took to social media on Sunday to deliver a blistering critique of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, comparing him to the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm and predicting he will lose to Democrat Amy Acton.
“Vivek Ramaswamy has disgraced himself,” Scaramucci wrote on X. “Ramaswamy started with soaring rhetoric, post-partisan, data-dependent, technology entrepreneur, here to bring good government to the American people.”
He continued, drawing a parallel to the novel's ending: “But like the pigs at the end of 'Animal Farm': they despised the two-legged farmers, by the last chapter they're living in the house, up on their hind legs, little vests on, pocket watches. They became exactly what they abhorred. That's what happened here. In order to win, politicians break their first principles. They abandon their righteous philosophies and sink into a scum position. Ramaswamy did that to himself.”
Scaramucci, who briefly served in the Trump White House before being fired, concluded that Ramaswamy will lose the race and “is finished himself as a future candidate.”
The controversy stems from a $4 million ad Ramaswamy's campaign aired featuring Acton's estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who calls Acton a “liar” and accuses her of a history of deception. Acton was removed from her mother's custody at age 12 after her stepfather was charged with sexually abusing her; Arthur remained with the stepfather until his death. Acton has called the ad “despicable” and “exploitative.”
Ohio Republicans, including Governor Mike DeWine and former Governor John Kasich, have urged Ramaswamy to pull the ad. Conservative commentator Scott Jennings, an ally of President Trump, also slammed it, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper that it was “not good” morally and a political misstep. Ramaswamy has defended the ad, taking credit for it and accusing Acton of “lying about an ad that is about lying.”
His most prominent defenders have been Trump and Vice President Vance. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he trusts Acton's mother and suggested Ramaswamy should “keep it up,” while DeWine's criticism was dismissed as possibly wanting a Democrat to win. Vance expressed disgust with Republicans “whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.”
The ad has deepened a rift within the Ohio GOP, with DeWine urging Ramaswamy to pull the ad and Husted breaking with Ramaswamy over the attack. The controversy has also boosted Acton's fundraising, with Acton raising big after the backlash and Pritzker's wife giving $500K to her campaign.
Orwell's 1945 novella is a satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution, where farm animals overthrow their human masters only to end up under a dictatorial pig regime resembling Stalin's Soviet Union. Scaramucci's comparison suggests Ramaswamy has abandoned the principles he once championed.
As the race heads toward the general election, the ad has become a flashpoint, with Trump and Vance backing Ramaswamy amid the uproar, further splitting the state party. Whether Ramaswamy's gamble pays off remains to be seen, but Scaramucci's prediction adds to the mounting criticism.
