Time is running out to challenge Donald Trump’s control over the Republican base, but Trump’s foes aren’t giving up.
Over the weekend, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol announced that he’d have a credible alternative to the New York real estate developer. Tuesday night, Kristol revealed that he was considering David French — National Review writer, Constitutional lawyer, and Iraq War veteran — for the third party job.
French, while certainly qualified (or as qualified as anyone needs to be considering the current options), is hardly what most people expected from the extensive vetting process Kristol was reportedly conducting. Earlier, the recruiting team had listed fame, wealth, and elective experience as major qualifiers. French has none of those. But his potential candidacy would provide a solid vehicle to inject a very specific brand of conservative thought into the race.
So here’s what we know so far about David French:
1. He has a very strong legal background. French is a Harvard Law-educated Constitutional attorney with litigation experience who has worked on the front lines of religious freedom and free speech battles (he literally represented the Tea Party). He’s served as the head of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, where he protected students’ speech rights on campus.
2. He’s an expert on ISIS. French was inspired to enlist in the Army after seeing a call for older soldiers with legal experience to serve in Iraq. He served as a Judge Advocate General in Diyala Province in Iraq, where he earned a Bronze Star for his service. When he returned, he wrote a definitive book on the rise of ISIS in the Middle East.
3. He’s no fan of Donald Trump. Just last week, writing for National Review, French declared that he could not, in good conscience, vote for Trump, “the instrument of national crisis.” According to sources, he’s been “trying to get someone to run” against Trump for “a long time,” including pressuring Mitt Romney. Romney, Tuesday evening, sort-of endorsed French.
I know David French to be an honorable, intelligent and patriotic person. I look forward to following what he has to say.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 1, 2016
4. He predicted Jon Snow’s rise from the dead (and he’s spoken out against SJWs in gaming). French is a Game of Thrones geek who regularly writes about the show, and even correctly predicted the Season Six resurrection twist. He’s also an avid World of Warcraft player, a Sci-Fi fan, and a vocal opponent of social-justice-warrior influence on gaming and elsewhere. He even wrote a piece praising the Sad Puppies victory at the Hugo awards.
5. His family is pretty cool. French’s wife Nancy is Bristol Palin’s ghostwriter and spent months with the Palins while doing research for Bristol’s book. She and David French are also outspoken adoption advocates, having welcomed an Ethopian girl named Naomi into their family. David and Nancy were in the process of adopting Naomi when he left for Iraq, and he feared he wouldn’t return to see her. He later revealed that Naomi was born the day he deployed, which the family took as a sign from God that it was all meant to be.
But, most importantly, he’s not actually running. Yet. Although news of French’s Presidential campaign have taken root (reporters even began digging up opposition research on him, before he’d even said he was running), French has yet to formally commit to any sort of effort. His wife Nancy told MSNBC that the family hasn’t yet discussed the prospect of a long campaign.
Nancy French, wife of David French, tells MSNBC "he'd be great" as candidate but "We just don't know if it's the right thing for him to do."
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 1, 2016
Conservatives don’t seem fully sold, either, with many pointing out on social media that French would just be a “not Trump” box for those who oppose the Republican’s presumptive nominee to check on a ballot. French has little name recognition, his experience is in writing about policy, not enacting it, and he’s untested in any election situation.
Worse, he could impair efforts at providing a credible alternative to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as his presence could siphon support from other third party candidates, like Gary Johnson. Pulling the Libertarian Party candidate under 15% — a bar Johnson seems capable of reaching — would keep him from the debate stage, leaving only Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton with the opportunity to speak to voters.
