@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social
NYT Columnist, visiting professor at Lipscomb University. Married to @nancyfrench.bsky.social. Iraq vet, Grizzlies fan, born in War Eagle Country and raised in Big Blue Nation.
@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social, a former Army Reserve major who got a Bronze Star for 2007 service as a squadron judge-advocate, is "still haunted by decisions I made in Iraq."
"But I can't imagine the guilt of criminal conduct, of deliberately killing the people I'm supposed to protect."
* Gift link⤵️
"The end of the Trump era is coming into view, and too much attention is focused on what Republicans think of Trump and too little is focused on what Republicans think of one another." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/o...
07.12.2025 16:29 — 👍 102 🔁 24 💬 4 📌 3
It was predicted that Ukraine would collapse in hours or days, but it has stood strong for years, inflicting devastating losses on Russia. It would be an intolerable and catastrophic failure if the Trump administration delivers Putin a victory through diplomacy that he could not achieve in war.
27.11.2025 16:38 — 👍 181 🔁 45 💬 6 📌 0
"Trump has put the military in an impossible situation. He’s making its most senior leaders complicit in his unlawful acts, and he’s burdening the consciences of soldiers who serve under his command. " www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
23.11.2025 16:32 — 👍 215 🔁 65 💬 13 📌 4
"Authoritarians want you to follow their will, not the law; they value personal loyalty over party loyalty ... Competent and conscientious people tend to often shun such an environment, but corrupt opportunists love it. They wallow in it. It is, after, all the best place for them to thrive."
20.11.2025 14:29 — 👍 94 🔁 17 💬 6 📌 0
To quote Pope Leo, “justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life” ought to be the touchstones of our public engagement. There is another spiritual victory to be won — this time over the forces of hatred, division and cruelty in these United States. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
16.11.2025 17:17 — 👍 165 🔁 21 💬 13 📌 3
"I shudder to think of the outright criminality that Trump and his allies could resort to during the 2026 midterms, much less the 2028 presidential election. One doesn’t have to imagine wild fantasies of a Trump third term to imagine systemic abuses of power to suppress or miscount dissenting votes"
13.11.2025 14:00 — 👍 105 🔁 24 💬 8 📌 2
"A movement, especially one that verges on an outright cult of personality, is defined by its leader, not by its rank and file. And when the leader is lawless and depraved, then efforts to contain his influence while preserving his power are doomed to fail." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/o...
09.11.2025 16:19 — 👍 117 🔁 24 💬 6 📌 1
If there is a word that describes the second Trump administration, it’s brazen. While I certainly hold open the possibility that dark deeds are being done in secret, one thing that is remarkable is how open and obvious he is with his self-dealing. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...
02.11.2025 16:13 — 👍 102 🔁 20 💬 10 📌 2
“Who can’t he kill?”
Thanks @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social
youtu.be/2ZhMgO3Bhk4?...
Thank you!
28.10.2025 02:02 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social
David French (on MSNBC just now), in one sentence, reminds us that human beings are not naturally equipped to confront authoritarians, and what is now needed from us all:
"Courage is going to preserve this republic - - and 'only' courage."
The evidence is now in. The explosive growth in sports gambling is bad for sports, and it has proved to be bad for the millions of Americans who gamble past the point of prudence and directly to the point of pain. The sports gambling revolution needs more regulation. It may even need termination.
26.10.2025 13:26 — 👍 147 🔁 21 💬 15 📌 3
“There are villains in every new right story, and in this case the villains are women, and the crime they commit is … being themselves.” @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/o...
23.10.2025 13:35 — 👍 30 🔁 7 💬 3 📌 1
The new right groans under the weight of its nostalgia for a nation that did not exist. And in writing about a false enemy that destroyed a fake past, Andrews and the many other architects of the right-wing gender wars are committing the very sins they attribute to the enemies they detest.
23.10.2025 13:07 — 👍 78 🔁 10 💬 11 📌 1You did! Thank you!
19.10.2025 16:08 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
What happens when the most successful politician of the last decade is cruel, immoral, and corrupt?
It creates a push-pull dynamic that pushes good people out of the party and pulls in new people who share the leader’s ethos. Decency becomes rarer, and decent people feel more isolated.
True revival begins with the people proclaiming, by word and deed, “I have sinned.”
MAGA Christianity has a different message. It looks at American culture and declares, “You have sinned.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/o...
“Earlier this month, a federal judge appointed by President Trump in 2019, did the worst thing you can do to Trump in a court of law: She took him seriously. She read his words, found them disconnected from reality and acted accordingly.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/o...
12.10.2025 16:25 — 👍 153 🔁 28 💬 7 📌 5
@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.
05.10.2025 11:52 — 👍 39 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
“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.”
05.10.2025 16:21 — 👍 58 🔁 11 💬 5 📌 0
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...
23.09.2025 15:44 — 👍 143 🔁 31 💬 13 📌 2
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.
21.09.2025 14:49 — 👍 1107 🔁 253 💬 44 📌 9
If you want to read the piece, here's a gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...
19.09.2025 17:47 — 👍 92 🔁 15 💬 3 📌 2
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.
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.
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.
14.09.2025 18:22 — 👍 102 🔁 15 💬 36 📌 7Thank you, Jeff.
14.09.2025 18:21 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"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...
11.09.2025 14:21 — 👍 110 🔁 12 💬 28 📌 2Political 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.
10.09.2025 20:55 — 👍 295 🔁 28 💬 17 📌 2
