On Monday, a prominent Fox News host warned his fellow Republicans that President Donald Trump has accelerated the “downward political spiral” of the GOP. According to Fox Senior Political Analyst Juan Williams, Trump and his allies’ “scummy” behavior has dragged conservatives into the gutter. Writing for the Hill, Williams laid out what he described as “scummy political advertising” and “despicable lies” being purveyed by MAGA.
“First, right-wing smear merchants, aided by Elon Musk’s X platform, trashed Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D) with wretchedly false claims,” writes Williams. “They said the Democrat left the campaign trail for treatment at an Ohio hospital for the insane. It was a despicable lie. Talarico stopped campaigning while recovering from the flu. The lie was a diversion from the multiple scandals tarring Talarico’s opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).” As Williams elaborates, Republicans should instead be questioning Paxton’s track record. Impeached by the Republican-run Texas House, divorced by his wife on “Biblical grounds,” and offering “no credible explanation” to his rampant corruption scandals, Paxton’s own staff reported him to the FBI, and even members of the Bush family – an outright Republican dynasty – have publicly announced that they’re supporting Talarico over Paxton.
“Second in the race to the bottom is the Muslim hating attacks on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed,” writes Williams. “Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), his Republican opponent, portrays El-Sayed as a terrorist sympathizer and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. Rogers is making an ugly appeal to Islamophobia, trading on the bigoted idea that American Muslims have terrorist sympathies.” To do so, the GOP candidate has released AI-generated ads of a fabricated El Sayed laughing at calls for “Death to America.” According to Williams, these “odious lies about Muslims, so poisonously divisive, still resonate 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.”
However, “the winner for the lowest act in this lineup of slander,” writes Williams, “goes to Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R). His campaign ran an advertisement in which the elderly mother of his gubernatorial opponent, Amy Acton (D), accuses the Democrat of lying about her childhood traumas. Ramaswamy’s political attack has no mention of Acton’s stepfather being charged with abusing a 12-year-old girl. Acton has identified herself as that child. Acton’s mother sided with the man charged with abusing her daughter. Ramaswamy ignored public records showing that Acton’s stepfather was indicted. The mother lost custody of Acton and her brother while remaining married to the accused abuser, who left the state and failed to appear in court.” Acton’s brother deemed the ad a “despicable low,” blasting Ramaswamy’s willingness to score political points from childhood abuse. Even some Republicans deemed it “shameful, disgusting, offensive.”
And instead of retracting the ad, Ramaswamy’s campaign doubled down by putting more money behind it, while Trump advised that he “keep it up” and Vice President JD Vance called anger over it “whining.” According to Williams, “Child abuse has been a dark recurring issue in these midterms. The Ramaswamy episode comes as Republicans in Ohio are spending millions to reelect Rep. Max Miller (R). His former wife has accused him of abusing her and their young daughter. The child’s grandfather, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), has called Miller unfit to serve and demanded his resignation. Yet the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund has booked more than $5 million in television advertising in the race.”
With all this in mind, Williams points to a 1993 essay by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), who famously coined the phrase “defining deviancy downward.” President Trump, writes Williams, “with his infamous claim to grab women by the genitals and involvement with a porn actress has accelerated that downward spiral, lowering the bar for wretched political discourse to new nadirs.” The 2026 Republican midterm campaigns have “sunk” even lower, concludes Williams, warning, “This is the age of get-in-the-gutter politics.”