President Donald Trump will not escape the blowback from a widely criticized attack ad in Ohio's gubernatorial race, with his one-time biographer Michael Wolff predicting the controversy could cast doubt on the viability and future of Trump's entire political identity.

Wolff, a longtime author and reporter best known for his extensive coverage of Trump's political career, including several books about the president's chaotic first term, made the remarks on the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head." Speaking with co-host Joanna Coles, he examined the ongoing fallout from a new attack ad by Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad featured the mother of Ramaswamy's opponent, Amy Acton, who previously lost custody of her children after her second husband allegedly abused them; in the ad, she called her daughter a serial liar.

According to Wolff, the response to the ad was overwhelmingly negative across the political spectrum, with only Ramaswamy himself and the White House standing by it. The episode has consequently put both the ad's continued use and the willingness of Trump's allies to defend it under scrutiny, particularly after Ramaswamy's campaign pledged to spend an additional $4 million on the spot in the closing weeks.

"This has backfired in every possible sense of the word," Wolff said. "I mean, disavowed by Republicans, Democrats. All voters seem to be completely appalled by this. You can basically find no one to think this was a good idea except Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump, and JD Vance. I don't know of anybody else who would be on the side of this ad, but that threesome is hanging tight, and the Ramaswamy campaign is pledging to put an additional $4 million behind this ad in the closing weeks."

Coles described the spot as "utterly exploitative" of Acton's childhood abuse and suggested, as many critics have, that Ramaswamy should be "ashamed" of himself. Wolff agreed, but said the more revealing question is why Trump and Vance are choosing to double down on the ad, arguing that "there's an important political point here."

"And the political point here is that they believe, and so much of Donald Trump's career would support this, that the illiberal and the cold-hearted and the 'f—— you' and the owning the libs works," Wolff said. "So this is... this desperation moment for the Republicans, down to the wire, these close races, which should not be close. They are — this is their Hail Mary pass. Let us revert to what has worked for us."

Wolff went on to argue that the fallout could prove a disastrous signal for the future viability of Trump's signature brand of politics. Whether the controversy changes that calculation will depend in part on whether the campaign continues promoting the ad and whether Trump and Vance maintain their public support for it.

"Does this continue to work, or have people suddenly woken up and said—going down the long list of... Trumpian accomplishments, or the reverse of accomplishments... from the war in Iran to the masked men on the streets, whether people have had enough of this," Wolff added.