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Try as they might, Democrats cannot make Republican John James go away.

In 2018, James gave Michigan’s senior Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow a run for her money in a closely-watched Senate race but unfortunately fell short.

But James, a West Point grad and U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, is not someone who gives up easily. He’s back this year taking on Michigan’s junior Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, and polls show this race is surprisingly competitive down the home stretch.

With that in mind and along with the fact that James has a big fundraising advantage over Peters, it wasn’t a shocker to see Democrats and the media trying to smear James over the weekend by sharing a highly misleading video clip from a recent interview.

It started after Michigan Democrats comms person Elena Kuhn posted a 46-second clip of James beginning to answer a question from a local reporter who asked him about healthcare protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Note that the video cuts off just a few seconds after he begins to answer:

WATCH: John James completely fumbles on @Local4News when pressed on how he'd protect Michiganders with pre-existing conditions. (Hint: it's because he has absolutely no plan to do so) #MISen pic.twitter.com/OA48Pvi4iG

— Elena Kuhn (@elenakuhn) October 18, 2020

The deceptively edited video caught the attention of CNN White House correspondent John Harwood, who RT’d the video uncritically and without noting James’s full answer was chopped off:

revealing https://t.co/f0k0Itc1y6

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 18, 2020

In reality, James actually did answer the question, contra to what Kuhn (and Harwood, most likely) wanted people to think, as the longer clip of his response shows:

Hey Elena, maybe you should allow for more than 3 words of his answer… Your video edit is dishonest, to say the least… If you didn't deceptively edit the clip, folks would see James go on to literally outline a plan… WATCH:https://t.co/BUZBnFHdkP

— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) October 18, 2020

Kuhn and Harwood both were blasted by the NRSC for sharing the deceptively edited video:

Here’s Michigan Democrats sharing a doctored video of @JohnJamesMI where they actually cut off his answer.

This piece of disinformation was willingly shared by @GaryPeters (surprise surprise) and consistent purveyor of anti-GOP misinformation @JohnJHarwood. https://t.co/F7azzqGG03

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 18, 2020

And say, doesn’t this violate Twitter’s rules on passing off manipulated video clips as the real deal? Why yes. Yes, it does:

Here’s the full answer they cut off.

I’ve been informed that about 1,000 people have reported @elenakuhn to @Twitter because this fits their standard for labeling as deceptively edited manipulated media.

I’m hopeful they’ll do the right thing here. @TwitterSupport @TwitterDC https://t.co/LAAoXMy0Yq

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 18, 2020

Beyond that, I want you to imagine here what the situation would have been like had Republicans cut off an answer from a black Democratic candidate for office. Harwood and others in the media would likely share it, but instead of putting “revealing” in the tweets, we’d see allegations of racism, etc. CNN’s Daniel Dale would immediately run to “fact check” the tweet, and we’d be having a national conversation about it for days on end.

As usual, the standards in both the mainstream media and social media are always different for the left.

Fortunately, James is not the kind of Republican who sits back and takes it when attacked by the left. As my RS colleague Jeff Charles reported Sunday, James tore into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden Friday after he attacked him for supporting Trump.

And after the edited clip from the interview was shared, James RT’d a tweet from former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley noting what they did.

What does Kuhn sharing the cut-off clip and Harwood amplifying it say about the state of this Senate race? Democrats and the MSM are scared, very scared of James.

As they should be.

Update – 5:20 pm: James posted a video response just a few minutes ago to the deceptive edit done to his interview. Watch below:

I’ve ALWAYS said we need to keep the parts of ACA that work and fix the parts that don’t.

I’ve ALWAYS said we must protect people with pre-existing conditions.

I’ve been attacked with lies & again Gary Peters gaslights Michigan. Honest reporters won’t let him off the hook. pic.twitter.com/vQBZ9xfJVN

— John James (@JohnJamesMI) October 19, 2020