President Donald Trump has complained that Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been treated “very unfairly” over his attack ad on rival Dr Amy Acton featuring her estranged mother.

The TV spot presents Donna Arthur telling Ohioans that her daughter is a “liar”, “needs help” and urging them not to vote for her.

It does not mention that the Democrat, 60, has not spoken to Arthur for 48 years because she refused to believe Acton’s claim that she was raped by her stepfather when she 12 years old, a man with whom Arthur stayed until his death in 2004.

Appearing at a midterms rally in Chillicothe to support Ramaswamy and GOP Sen. Jon Husted, the president launched into a tirade against critics of the promo, which has included many members of his own party.

“He had the mother of his opponent say that her daughter is a liar,” Trump explained to his audience, even joking: “I said ‘Why can’t I have an opponent like that?’ She said… horrible things about her own daughter.”

The president made no mention of Acton’s traumatic back story and instead relating the situation to himself.

“If Mary MacLeod ever said, ‘My son Donald is a liar and he lied about his opponent and other things’, I would say the press would be getting Pulitzer Prizes if they reported it,” Trump hypothesized.

“But with Vivek, ‘How dare he put that information…’ What’s to put out? There’s nothing to put out.

“The mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar, that she’s no good, that she lied about the opponent. How the hell is that his problem?”

As the crowd applauded, the president tutted: “Very unfair. And if he were a Democrat, they would have gone the other way. Believe me, it’s a very unfair situation. Hard to believe we win, you know.”

Ramasawamy also spoke at the rally but did not mention the ad directly, having previously been angrily heckled, had venues cancel on him and even denounced by one of his own former school teachers over the controversy, which he was reportedly advised against starting by his own aides.

However, he did say of Acton: “I am running against a woman who has already shown you who she is and what she’s made of.”

Trump previously mounted the same spirited defense of his one-time rival for the Republican presidential nomination in front of the White House, sparring with reporters when asked his opinion of the ad.

On that occasion, the president repeated his argument that the media would have had a field day with such a story if his own mother had said it about him, alleging a moral double-standard.

“This is a mother saying very bad things about her daughter, and I don’t know why that should be shielded,” he insisted, going on to declare that Acton was “fair game” because she was running for public office and again showing no interest in the history of sexual abuse she has said she suffered as a minor.

The president has also lashed out at the Republicans who have criticised Ramaswamy, most notably Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, whom he called a “RINO” and “disloyal” on Truth Social and lamented having helped win election.

“He probably wants a Dumocrat to win, and certainly doesn’t want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing,” Trump seethed in the post, in which he also admitted to personally advising Ramaswamy to continue running it.

“Who wouldn’t use such an ad?” he wrote. “I would, it’s called ‘hitting pay dirt.’”

Speaking to Jen Psaki on MS NOW Wednesday, Acton herself said the ad was “unacceptable,” that she believed her mother had been “exploited” by Ramaswamy’s team and that Ohioans were “exhausted” by the “hate and chaos and being purposefully pitted against one another.”

She said she took heart from the outpouring of empathy she had received and reminded voters that “decency is on the ballot” next week.