Help Me Understand with Dr. Rod Berger, solo episode. In one week of campaign news, three campaigns made the same move: point somewhere else. Vivek Ramaswamy answered criticism of his ad about Dr. Amy Acton by blaming the people who caught it. Vice President JD Vance blamed rising prices on “some tinpot dictator” throwing “a tantrum.” And in Michigan, Mike Rogers went after Abdul El-Sayed’s mother. Blame the people who caught you. Blame a foreigner. Blame someone’s family.
Dr. Rod Berger watches the clips, hears a caller to The People’s Hotline name the move out loud, and asks why a bluff we would call anywhere else keeps working in politics. The episode doesn’t let either party off the hook: in Alaska, the New York Times reported that Democrats helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan for the Senate ballot, which Mary Peltola’s campaign denies.
In this episode
0:00 Ramaswamy’s ad, on NBC Nightly News
0:25 “They’re lying about an ad that was about her lying”
0:47 A caller to The People’s Hotline
1:48 What the ad is, and the first move: blame the people who caught you
3:00 The caller who named the move out loud
5:11 Vance, gas prices and Ukraine: blame a foreigner
6:35 Abdul El-Sayed and his mother: blame the family
8:12 Three moves in one week
8:51 The part that lands on Rod
9:48 Questions to sit with
Questions this episode answers
What was Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad about Amy Acton? A 60-second ad in the Ohio governor’s race featuring Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter a liar about her own childhood. Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, asked Ramaswamy to pull it. Ramaswamy said the ad was about a track record of lying and blamed the media.
What did JD Vance say about gas prices? Campaigning in Montana, he blamed price spikes on “some tinpot dictator” throwing “a tantrum.” Diesel prices have hit record highs since the war with Iran began in February, and the President has blamed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 78 percent of Americans say the President’s policies bear at least some of the blame for rising prices.
What did Mike Rogers claim about Abdul El-Sayed’s mother? In a Michigan Senate debate, Rogers said she helped funnel money to terrorist groups through a charity. Michigan Public found she worked as a nurse in a Kenyan orphanage and appears in no indictment. The charity itself pleaded guilty to violating sanctions on Iraq.
Is deflection one party’s habit? No. The episode looks at the Alaska Senate race, where Republicans called a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot a Democratic plant, and the New York Times reported Democrats helped recruit him. Mary Peltola’s campaign denies it.
Sources
NBC Nightly News, October 28, 2026
Ohio Capital Journal, October 25, 2026, on Ramaswamy’s reframing of the ad
KREM, October 27, 2026, and Reuters, October 16, 2026, on diesel prices and Ukraine’s refinery strikes
Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,506 adults, October 2026
CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, October 28, 2026, and Michigan Public, October 24, 2026
The New York Times via the Anchorage Daily News, October 28, 2026
About the host
Dr. Rod Berger has conducted more than 4,000 interviews across five continents. He is Editor-at-Large at Fair Observer and the author of The Narrative Edge: Authentic Storytelling That Meets the Moment (Wiley). Some episodes of Help Me Understand feature his friend Marshall Herskovitz, the Emmy-winning writer, director and producer.
Visit drrodberger.com · Get The Narrative Edge in hardcover
Help Me Understand is part of The Dangerous Ones Network. Have something you’re trying to understand? Call The People’s Hotline and leave a message: 503-212-4600.
