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John James Gets Caught Privately Trashing Trump, Quickly Confirms He Still Supports President “2000%”

After a new report from POLITICO published this weekend caught failed politician John James trashing President Trump for the first time on a private video conference with African American community leaders, the James campaign scrambled to change the candidate’s tune and make clear: James is still with Trump “2000%.”

Trump has “heavily promoted” and endorsed James in his “uphill” campaigns and James has “publicly touted his support from the White House” and said last cycle in a video — which he later tried to delete and scrub from the internet — that he supports the president “2,000%.” Now, as Trump’s approval has “ebbed” in Michigan, and the state is now a “particular trouble spot” for his re-election campaign, James is telling some audiences what he thinks they want to hear. POLITICO reported that Trump aides are “suspicious that James is trying to have it both ways” in his support for Trump, and were “less enthusiastic” and “rankled” when James launched another Senate campaign last year.

The James campaign quickly clarified to The Hill “that James supports the president and that his remarks should not be interpreted as an effort to distance himself from Trump.” Then, after nearly a year of hiding from the Michigan press, James was forced to give an interview to the Detroit News on Saturday to try to clean up the mess and make clear that “his stance” on Trump “hadn’t changed.”

“John James is a phony politician who’s on tape supporting Donald Trump ‘2000%’ and is now privately trashing the president behind closed doors in an election year when it’s politically convenient,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “It’s more proof John James is only ever looking out for himself and his own political self-interest, not what’s best for Michigan, and a reminder for voters why they have no reason to trust anything he says.”

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POLITICO: The one Republican Senate candidate willing to call out Donald Trump

  • During a video conference with black community leaders last week, James was asked whether he disagreed with Trump on anything given the president’s support of his candidacy.
  • “Plenty, plenty of issues,” James responded. “Everything from cutting Great Lakes funding to ‘shithole countries’ to speaking ill of the dead,” apparently referring to Trump’s disparagement of the late Sen. John McCain. “I mean, where do you want to start?”
  • “I haven’t gotten any money from Donald Trump. I haven’t gotten any money from Betsy DeVos. I haven’t gotten any money — that’s political talking points. Very little of that is true,” James said during the appearance, a video of which was obtained by POLITICO. (While James hasn’t received funding from the education secretary, her family has contributed heavily to a super PAC supporting his candidacy.)
  • James faces the hurdle of running in Michigan, a swing state where the president’s popularity has ebbed. A recent Fox News poll showed Trump trailing Joe Biden by 8 percentage points and James lagging behind Democratic Sen. Gary Peters by 10 percentage points.
  • While the president’s poll numbers are sagging across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trump advisers regard Michigan as a particular trouble spot. Of all the states the president won in 2016, they say, Michigan will be the hardest to carry again. Republicans have also struggled to recruit candidates in a pair of Michigan congressional seats that Democrats flipped in the 2018 midterm elections.
  • Trump has heavily promoted James, tweeting last month that James “will be a GREAT Senator for Michigan!” Trump also endorsed James in his unsuccessful 2018 Senate bid. At one point, he tweeted a picture of him with James in the Oval Office.
  • James has publicly touted his support from the White House and recently said that Trump has “done everything that he has thought was best” in his managing of the pandemic.
  • Democrats say they are eager to paint James as a Trump puppet and frequently highlight his comment during the 2018 race that he was “2,000 percent” with the president’s agenda.
  • Trump’s campaign advisers were less enthusiastic about his second bid. Last year, the president’s political team wrote a memo to the Senate GOP campaign arm making the case that a James statewide candidacy would further amp up Democratic energy and involvement and potentially hurt Trump’s prospects in the battleground state. Trump advisers instead pushed for James to run for a House seat.
  • Trump aides, who are constantly on the lookout for signs of Republican dissent, are suspicious that James is trying to have it both ways.

The Hill: Michigan Republican Senate candidate notes places ‘I disagree with’ Trump

  • The comments come as James faces headwinds in his challenge to Peters, with polls showing the incumbent ahead of his challenger and Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in Michigan, a crucial battleground state.
  • A campaign official told The Hill that James supports the president and that his remarks should not be interpreted as an effort to distance himself from Trump.
  • He also said this month that Trump has “done everything that he has thought was best” in his handling of the coronavirus and noted during his failed 2018 campaign against Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) that he was “2,000 percent” behind the president.
  • The Michigan Democratic Party seized on James’s recent remarks, saying they were evidence he was “changing his tone” on the White House.

Detroit News: James says he’s been making same statements on Trump ‘for years’

  • Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James said Saturday that his stance on President Donald Trump hadn’t changed and alleged someone leaked audio of him detailing disagreements with the president to “drive a wedge.”
  • “I’ve been saying the same thing for years,” James said in an interview. “I just think that people are actually paying attention now.”
  • During the 2018 campaign, James said he supported Trump’s agenda “2,000 percent.”
  • He continued, “The fact that this was leaked with the intent to hurt me just shows that there’s some folks in Washington that are so out of touch with a Michigan that’s desperate for experienced leadership and fair representation.”
  • “A failed politician who says one thing in public and another behind closed doors will continue to be failed politician,” said Elena Kuhn, spokeswoman for the Michigan Democratic Party.

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