There’s a lot to pick apart in David French’s August 11th New York Times column—headlined, with Trump-like grandiosity, “To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris”—but the most disingenuous is that French, lamenting (unoriginally) that Donald Trump has effectively obliterated “Reagan conservatism,” doesn’t name a single man or woman who might revive the Republican Party, rescuing it from the clutches of MAGA-groupthink. Never mind that not all Americans planning to vote for Trump are MAGA extremists—in reality, they’re a minority—but rather people who are unhappy about inflation, interest rates and the spend-spend-spend Biden administration. Tellingly, French doesn’t mention Joe Biden once in his essay—common among his fellow media Knights for Mystery Woman Kamala Harris, as if the Delaware career politician no longer exists—nor does he acknowledge the struggling economy, as always a key issue in any presidential election.
A rational reader, who may or may not share French’s loathing of Trump, would expect, given the headline, that the columnist, who’s going to “save conservatism from itself”,” would offer a blueprint on how that goal might be achieved. It’s a big “ask,” but as someone who won’t support Harris or Trump, I’d like to read what he thinks about the future of the Republican Party. But that’s not French’s objective: the outspoken pro-life pundit (how he squares that with Harris’ position on abortion isn’t of much concern) simply uses his weekly Times allotment to fulminate against Trump. That’s okay, even if he’s written the same column repeatedly, but to cloak his disgust for the GOP nominee in the lofty principles of integrity and compassion isn’t dissimilar from the Mara-a-Lago golfer’s off-the-wall commentary.
French writes: “I’m often asked by Trump voters if I’m ‘still conservative,’ and I respond that I can’t vote for Trump precisely because I am conservative. I loathe sex abuse, pornography and adultery. Trump has brought those vices into the mainstream of the Republican Party. I want to cultivate a culture that values human life from conception through natural death.
”There’s no reason to doubt that French loathes ‘sex abuse, pornography and adultery,” but he’s crackers in stating that Trump is responsible for “bringing” those vices to the mainstream of the Republican Party. Pre-Trump, was adultery a vice exclusive to Democrats like Kamala Harris (an affair with a married man) and her husband Doug Emhoff (whose first marriage ended when he knocked up his kids’ nanny), as well as Bill Clinton and JFK? For that matter, Dwight Eisenhower (a president one assumes French admires) was an adulterer as well. It’s simply that Trump, who has no filter, has always been gross in boasting about his sexual conquests. I have zero interest in the private lives of politicians, unless they’re exposed as hypocrites (a GOP specialty), but as an intelligent, if deluded, adult French knows he’s just dressing up his contempt for Trump with the above nonsense.
Pornography has been “mainstream” for decades. Republicans and Democrats alike subscribed to Playboy (and scores of accomplished journalists received fat checks by writing for Hugh Hefner), Oui, Playgirl and Penthouse decades ago, and very popular online porno sites gained prominence far before 2015.
And: “If Harris wins, the West will still stand against Vladimir Putin, and conservative Americans will have a chance to build something decent from the ruins of a party that was once a force for genuine good in American life.” As of now, the Russia-Ukraine war is still going on, and while Trump has ridiculously said that he’d end the conflict as president-elect, he’s not pro-Russia, unless you believe that his telling the truth by saying America’s spent billions of dollars on the war, mostly to line the pockets of defense contractors, means he’s a Putin-puppet.
I don’t get red-hot angry that often, and the above double-bird photo doesn’t refer to David French. He’s not worth it. The pic, staged, was taken by my son Nicky in Santa Barbara’s Four Seasons Hotel after Delta screwed up our itinerary and we had to spend another day in California. The road trip that Nicky, Booker and I were on was loads of fun, but it was time to go home. Delta prevented that.
Take a look at the clues to figure out the year: Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread and Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band are published; Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings wins the Man Booker Prize; California bans “revenge porn” (unknown if David French lent his expertise); Chantal Akerman commits suicide; Animal Collective debut their album Painting With over the speaker system at BWI Airport over Thanksgiving weekend; NBC’s Nightly News host Brian Williams is suspended for “embellishment” (today, half the media would receive that punishment); Chuck Hagel (who?) steps down as Secretary of Defense; Eddie Redmayne (in witness protection?) wins Best Actor Oscar; John Boehner announces resignation as Speaker of the House; Rod Taylor and Blaze Starr die; Van Halen performs its last concert; Neutral Milk Hotel calls it quits; and Grey’s Anatomy airs its 250th episode.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023