BREAKING: Kristol Eyes Conservative Lawyer David French for Independent Presidential Run

[ABX]

War hero, strong Conservative credentials, and impressive resume.

Two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts to recruit an independent presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have told Bloomberg Politics that the person Kristol has in mind is David French -- whose name the editor of the Weekly Standard floated in the current issue of the magazine.

French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children....

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-31/kristol-eyes-conservative-lawyer-for-independent-presidential-run?cmpid=wsdemand

[ABX]

His National Review bio.

David French is a staff writer at National Review, an attorney (concentrating his practice in constitutional law and the law of armed conflict), and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is the author or co-author of several books including, most recently, the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is a major in the United States Army Reserve (IRR). In 2007, he deployed to Iraq, serving in Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate for the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He lives and works in Columbia, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy (who is also a New York Times bestselling author), and three children.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/author/david-french

[truth_seeker]

The probability of a previously unknown person winning outright is zero.

The probability of a previously unknown person splitting the conservative vote and insuring a win for the democrats is substantial.

That has to be Kristol's goal. That it can be otherwise is unrealistic.

 

[ABX]

I've seen more vetting of David French in the last 10 minutes than I've seen of Donald Trump in 10 months.

— Kyle Foley (@HypelineKyle)

May 31, 2016

[Sanguine]

Hmmm.   The only problem I have with him so far is his last name.  Other than that he sounds pretty good.

[austingirl]

French is much better than the two NY liberals running.

[Sanguine]

French is much better than the two NY liberals running.

I agree.  Just being flip.

[240B]

Crazy. Kristol really has gone freakin bat-shit crazy if this is true.

Bill has nothing to gain from this and so much to lose. And an unknown nobody like this guy, whoever he is, will have no impact whatsoever on Trump or Hillary. Kristol should stop listening to that new advisor he recently hired. I think his name is Cervantes, or something like that.

Counting down until Trump comes out with a fusillade of jokes/insults about this. Trump has to be laughing his butt off about now.

[INVAR]

The probability of a previously unknown person winning outright is zero.

The probability that this election will be legitimate is absolutely zero.

The probability your vote matters more than spit on a sidewalk is zero.

The probability of a previously unknown person splitting the conservative vote and insuring a win for the democrats is substantial.

The probability that Trump himself has already split the Conservative vote from the GOP to look elsewhere or sit home this November is an absolute guarantee.

[austingirl]

French is a veteran, a constitutional attorney, and a writer who can no doubt use the English language like an intelligent adult. Trump avoided serving our country, knows nothing about the Constitution, and speaks like an obnoxious fifth grader.

Trump will certainly find a lot to mock, ridicule and insult about David French. It's what he does.

[Oceander]

Crazy. Kristol really has gone freakin bat-shit crazy if this is true.

Bill has nothing to gain from this and so much to lose. And an unknown nobody like this guy, whoever he is, will have no impact whatsoever on Trump or Hillary. Kristol should stop listening to that new advisor he recently hired. I think his name is Cervantes, or something like that.

Counting down until Trump comes out with a fusillade of jokes/insults about this. Trump has to be laughing his butt off about now.

When he can take time away from laughing at his followers, who swallow each inconsistency and outright lie as if it were Gods own truth.

[sinkspur]

Anybody here ever read anything French has written?

[sinkspur]

Strange that people are laughing at Kristol for trying to get an actual conservative in the race, but nobody's laughing that Trump might get the nuclear codes.

[TomSea]

French is also in the ACLJ, American Center for Law and Justice; Jay Sekulow's organization, they take up Christian type causes n Courts like the St. Thomas Moore folks, when you hear about a cross on a hill someone wants to take down.

http://aclj.org/?view=donWidB&utm_expid=7567081-17.YnAH2mosTwuDiksEuPbPlg.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com

Has a pro-life record: http://www.lifenews.com/2016/05/31/prominent-pro-life-attorney-david-french-recruited-as-conservative-alternative-to-donald-trump/

I'd seen the name before without knowing exactly who he is.

Surely, he could do as well as the LP; I'm not dissing the possibility, just a little tentative.

[TomSea]

Anybody here ever read anything French has written?

He's written a lot for NRO.

[sinkspur]

I see people on Twitter laughing about his marriage.  His Christian marriage.

Laughing at David French for his marriage when his two opponents might be Trump and Hillary............

[sinkspur]

[Oceander]

Strange that people are laughing at Kristol for trying to get an actual conservative in the race, but nobody's laughing that Trump might get the nuclear codes.

Because they think, rather parochially, that Trump would only use the nukes on American liberals and #NeverTrump. 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Make sure he wasn't a POW guys or Trump will say he's not a war hero.

Did he say yes? Because it'd be nice to have someone I can vote for this time around.

[240B]

Anybody here ever read anything French has written?

He's written a lot for NRO.

All of that adds up to less than zero to the 100 million people out in no man's land who are going to vote for Trump.

French and Kristol may draw off one or two East/West Coast political junkies, and a few beltway friends, but the giant pot of steaming spaghetti in the middle of the table is still Trump. There may be a few people who just want salad, but the vast majority are going to go with Trump. Kristol seems to have no idea who and what Trump's base is, and what they are all about.

Everything done by the political elite so far to damage Trump, has in every case rallied his base and increased his popularity. I expect this will be no different.

[austingirl]

I see people on Twitter laughing about his marriage.  His Christian marriage.

Laughing at David French for his marriage when his two opponents might be Trump and Hillary............

What are they laughing at?  Are they Trumpists or Hitlery fans or both?

[TomSea]

All of that adds up to less than zero to the 100 million people out in no man's land who are going to vote for Trump.

French and Kristol may draw off one or two East/West Coast political junkies, and a few beltway friends, but the giant pot of steaming spaghetti in the middle of the table is still Trump. There may be a few people who just want salad, but the vast majority are going to go with Trump. Kristol seems to have no idea who and what Trump's base is, and what they are all about.

Everything done by the political elite so far to damage Trump, has in every case rallied his base and increased his popularity. I expect this will be no different.

Mainly agree, this could be something that could help David French in the future though. Look at a 1% vote getter like Gary Johnson running.

----

Aside from this, check this out, David French's wife is an author and allegedly,

Nancy French is an American writer. She is known for co-writing or ghostwriting books with a number of public figures, including Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin, Sean Lowe, Bob Fu, Shawn Johnson, and Stacey Dash.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_French

[sinkspur]

Ben Shapiro ‏@benshapiro  2m2 minutes ago

Dammit, what does a Harvard Law grad Iraq War vet think he's doing running against highly qualified people like Trump and Hillary

[sinkspur]

Jonah Goldberg ‏@JonahNRO  4m4 minutes ago

So: Supporting statist billionaire/Dem-crony-donor from NY=populist.
Considering devout Christian veteran from rural Tennessee: Elitist.

[sinkspur]

Ben Shapiro ‏@benshapiro  30s31 seconds ago

I mean, granted, David French served in Iraq instead of in Trump's own personal bedroom Vietnam, but we can't all be heroes.