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David French

@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social

100K followers 430 following 380 posts

NYT Columnist, visiting professor at Lipscomb University, Chautauqua Perry Fellow in Democracy. Married to @nancyfrench.bsky.social. Iraq vet, Grizzlies fan, born in War Eagle Country and raised in Big Blue Nation.

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Reposted by David French

Jeff Strasburg @jeffstrasburg.bsky.social · 6d

@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social and I would likely disagree on many points of theology (I'm a mainline Protestant, he's an Evangelical); I agree with him fully that we've seen some remarkable displays of genuine Christlike behavior in the last couple of weeks.

Opinion | The Grace That Gives Us Hope

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 5d

“Last Sunday, the shadow came for the men, women and children of a church in Michigan. But there is still light and high beauty, and last week the light that flooded America came from people of faith who were determined to demonstrate the character of the Savior they love.”

Opinion | There’s a Path Out of This Divide

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 18d

Countless Americans are enduring Trump’s vengeance. Far too few experience Christian kindness. It is a great tragedy of our time that so many Christians see Trump’s malice as an instrument of God’s divine plan. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

Opinion | How Can You Cheer Love and Hate at the Same Time?

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 20d

If our laws depend on Trump’s voluntary compliance — and Congress won’t lift a finger to defend the laws it has passed — then the president is unleashed. We are left to the whims of a man who cares about only himself, a man who is willing to discard any law or standard to satisfy his lust for power.

Opinion | Crony Capitalism Has Reached a New Low

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 21d

If you want to read the piece, here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...

Opinion | Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel and the Future of Free Speech in America

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 21d

This doesn't happen every day.

Free speech isn't and shouldn't be a matter of left v. right. It's among the most fundamental of American values.

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 23d

We've never seen a comprehensive attack on free speech like this in our lifetimes.

The assassin's attack on Charlie Kirk was also an attack on free speech.

Thea administration's crackdown on speech is egregious.

And more people support political violence. It's all so bad.

Opinion | The Dangers of the Charlie Kirk Aftermath

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 26d

If we accurately understand that America has an immense problem with violent extremism on both sides of the ideological aisle, then the answer lies in reconciliation, not domination. In fact, it’s the will to dominate that magnifies the crisis and radicalizes our opponents.

Opinion | There Are Monsters in Your Midst, Too

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 26d

Thank you, Jeff.

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Sep 11

"What starts as a political difference becomes a blood feud the instant someone is hurt or killed. And so each act of political violence has a double consequence. It shatters families, and — over time — it breaks nations." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...

Opinion | If We Keep This Up, Charlie Kirk Will Not Be the Last to Die

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Sep 10

Political violence is evil. I don't care how angry you are at your opponents. We have a ballot box. We have courts. We have free speech. I'm sick with grief for Charlie and his family. I'm sick with concern for this country.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · Sep 10

Breaking news: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died at the age of 31, President Trump says.

Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.

Live updates: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk dies after being shot at Utah event

Kirk was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative politics at high schools and colleges.

www.washingtonpost.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Sep 7

Every person who pumped his fist at Trump’s news conference should pause and think very hard about letting him — or any president — expand the definition of war until due process dies, blotted out by the flame and smoke of a missile strike. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Opinion | It Doesn’t Seem Wise to Let Trump Decide What War Is

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Sep 4

Guilty! My friends from Michigan couldn't understand my experience. In snowy winters, we'd miss weeks at a time!

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Sep 4

There's lots of nostalgia for Gen X childhoods. I share it!

But there's a disconnect. If our childhoods were that wonderful, why didn’t Generation X replicate our own experiences for our children? Why did so many millions of free-range kids grow up to become helicopter parents?

Opinion | How Did the Latchkey Kids of Gen X Become the Helicopter Parents of Gen Z?

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 31

"Constant outrage is energizing, at least for a while, for partisans and activists. It’s exhausting for everyone else. The more that MAGA tries to bully America, the more resentment it will build. Bullies only win for a while, and when the backlash comes, MAGA will have only itself to blame."

Opinion | The Corporate Logo That Broke the Internet

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 28

We are watching Donald Trump break the Department of Justice right before our eyes. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...

Opinion | Trump Raises the Stakes

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 24

"A decent society should do all it reasonably can to reduce human suffering. It should not, however, do so by extinguishing the lives of those who suffer or the lives of those whom we believe might suffer in the future."

Why we should choose life: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Opinion | What It Really Means to Choose Life

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David French

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · Aug 20

Yet another damaging and dangerous blurring of the line and the law to give this kind of political derision in the presence of troops. Secretary of Defense should be preventing it, instead is encouraging it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 20

Stephen Miller: "All these demonstrators that you've seen out here in recent days, all these elderly white hippies, they're not part of the city and never have been ... we're gonna ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they're all over 90 years old."

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 21

Executive power is out of control. Trump is turning our constitutional order upside down -- empowered by a "vague and inexplicit" sentence in the Constitution that is the source of much mischief.

Should it be changed? I think so: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/o...

Opinion | One Sentence in the Constitution Is Causing America Huge Problems

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David French

Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · Aug 17

"If the president uses the military against his domestic foes, he risks fracturing its bond with the American public and diminishing its ability to recruit young Americans from all of our political factions.” Exactly right, @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 17

Donald Trump "isn’t just deploying America’s military into the streets; he’s deploying it into the American culture war." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Domestic Deployments Are Dangerous. For the Military.

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 17

Donald Trump "isn’t just deploying America’s military into the streets; he’s deploying it into the American culture war." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Domestic Deployments Are Dangerous. For the Military.

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 7

“We’re creating a generation of public servants who can’t feel completely secure when they’re out in public, who wonder if they’re safe in their own homes and who fret constantly about their siblings, spouses and children.”

Opinion | This Is No Way to Run a Country

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David French

Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger.bsky.social · Jul 31

For many years, @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social has countered the spin of Trumpers — and, even more, “anti-anti-Trumpers” — concerning Trump, Russia, and 2016. Whether he makes a dent, I don’t know. People seem immovable. But I appreciate him a great deal. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/o...

Opinion | The Boy Who Cried Hoax

www.nytimes.com

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · Aug 3

"So, yes, I consider myself a friend of Israel. But now its friends need to stage an intervention. The Israeli government has gone too far. It has engineered a staggering humanitarian crisis, and that crisis is both a moral atrocity and a long-term threat to Israel itself."

Opinion | Israel Must Open Its Eyes

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David French

Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · Jul 31

@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social explores the ins and outs of the true "Russia hoax"--the lies of Trump and his minions designed to distract from "Epstein, Epstein, Epstein".

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/o...

Opinion | The Boy Who Cried Hoax

www.nytimes.com