There are a lot of people who were given platforms by center-right media outlets whose popularity I’ve never understood. That’s not unusual, given the fact that I’m rather arrogant and judgmental.
I’m also right a lot, which helps with the other two things.
New York Times columnist David French has been in my “How in the Hell Did They Ever Get an Audience?” hall of shame for a long time.
I don’t think that conservatives should be unable to change their opinions about issues; I just think that they shouldn’t forever malleable. French strikes me as the kind of guy who can order a meal that he swears is his favorite food, then decide he doesn’t like it anymore after a few bites.
If you’re looking for a clever turn of phrase in political writing, David French is not your guy. His writing is duller than a conversation with a vegan CrossFitter who just got into pickleball.
I was aware of French from the days when National Review and National Review Online were fun and informative, although I didn’t read him much. When “principled” Never Trump fever hit in 2016 and the once vaunted magazine dedicated an entire issue to kneecapping Trump, other Nevers were acting as if French were the present-day incarnation of William F. Buckley Jr.
That crowd also thinks that Bill Kristol can write, so, grain of salt and all that.
French proved to be more adept at grifting than writing and wasted little time in taking advantage of leftist paydays for Republican sellouts. Of course, French doesn’t think he’s a sellout. The tedious tantrum of the Nevers is punctuated by frequent screams of “PRINCIPLES!!!!” Not only does he fancy himself as principled when compared to the MAGA rubes he so distains, but French also insists that the Never crowd represents Reagan Republicans. Never mind the fact that he isn’t old enough to have ever voted for Reagan, he thinks he knows whence he speaks.
That brings us to this week’s TDS folly, which The New York Times offered in the form of an “audio essay.” French’s speaking voice has all the electricity of an NPR Melba toast social. Thankfully, the Times provided a transcript.
As we have learned on this TDS column journey, the headlines and sub-headlines of these Opinion pieces often tell us all we need to know. The headline for this one is “Why Haley Supporters Should Turn to Biden, Not Trump,” followed by, “David French on why ‘MAGA will not tolerate Reagan conservatism.'”
Only in the Never Trump fever dream can voting for Biden and being a Reagan conservative be reconciled.
Once again, I won’t be quoting a lot from this one because the headline and the opening are all we really need to ascertain how unhinged the Op-Ed is. After identifying himself, here is how French begins his essay:
Shortly after Donald Trump clinched the GOP nomination on Super Tuesday, Joe Biden issued an invitation to, about, the 30 percent of Republican primary voters who had voted for Nikki Haley. The message was very simple, “Donald Trump doesn’t want you, but we do.”
Trump, by contrast, had told Haley supporters that anyone who’d made, quote, “a contribution to Haley” would be, quote, “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.” And the reality is that Haley voters need to understand that the Republican Party is sprinting away from them. It’s sprinting away from the Reagan conservative heritage, and from the ideologies and beliefs of Haley Republicans. And it’s doing so in a way that’s often scornful and hateful.
Five of those six sentences are so chock-full of fallacy that French has probably cemented his status as Chief Useful Idiot at the Times for years to come.
It’s been fairly well established that a good chunk of Nikki Haley’s alleged Republican support came from Democrats who switched parties just for the primaries to bolster her numbers. It’s easy to do, Dana Milbank at The Washington Post recently wrote about his “month of living Republicanly” just to support Haley. Of course, none if it has anything to do with genuine support for Haley, it’s all about spiting Orange Man Bad.
Despite it being easy to prove that it’s a house of cards, the leftmedia hacks are still running with the myth that there is a significant chunk of the Republican electorate who really super-duper not kidding wanted her to be the nominee. Also, pink unicorns that deliver money trees.
French jumps off of a high dive into the pool of Never Trump navel gazing credulity when he posits the existence of a “Haley Republicans” demographic so significant that it’s worthy of capitalization.
Note to David French: Nikki Haley lost to Trump in her home state primary by 20 percentage points, despite using her Dem donor slush fund to wildly outspend her rival.
Finally, as I alluded to earlier, the very idea that someone who is advocating voting for the leftist destruction of the Republic is steeped in “Reagan conservative heritage” redefines “nonsensical.”
David French has found his niche: writing and belching far left pablum for his masters at the Times, all the while deluding himself and his audience that he is rooted in Republican principles.
Republican principles that make you vote Democrat.
Sure, Dave.
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