Posted it themselves
“Israel is completely justified in wiping out Hezbollah installations.”
On the record · Updated October 1, 2026
David French quotes
38 things David French said, verbatim, from July 3, 2026 to October 1, 2026, each linked to where it ran. Grouped by the story each one belongs to.
3stories
38statements
Oct 1latest entry
More on the record
David French on The Middle East3
Posted it themselves
“An important piece: "The last thing Palestinians need is more denial from the left. The Palestinian national project has a rare chance to evolve toward nation-building, peace and coexistence alongside a Jewish Israel that is not about to be exterminated. Chants of “from the river to sea” and the like are destructive conceits. Gaza has no future as long as Hamas holds two million Palestinians hostage to its nihilistic agenda."”
In their own words
“I began with the statement that the only thing worse than Trump starting an unconstitutional war is him losing control of that war. And I think it's pretty clear he's lost control”
on the Iran war spiraling beyond Trump's control
David French on Foreign policy & the world2
Posted it themselves
“When does the madman theory of foreign policy become the madman reality of foreign policy?”
Posted it themselves
“It is OBVIOUS that the middle powers approach is suboptimal compared to healthy American leadership. But when America is a faithless and even treacherous ally, then lesser alternatives are still preferable to malicious American dominance.”
on alternatives to American dominance preferable when U.S. proves untrustworthy
David French on National security & surveillance2
Posted it themselves
“It is difficult to fathom the damage President Trump is doing to America’s national security. He is making our nation more vulnerable than it has been at any time since the cloudiest days of the Cold War.”
Posted it themselves
“We're living through a period of self-inflicted vulnerability. Through its incompetence and arrogance the Trump administration has stripped us of our best missile defenses while engaging in a poorly-planned war. And we're potentially facing one of only two militaries in the world that's fully acclimated to drone warfare. We are not prepared. Ukraine's ability to fight Russia to a stalemate is more valuable than ever, and yet our own weakness harms Ukraine as well.”
David French on Immigration & the border1
Posted it themselves
“This is one reason why the attack on empathy is so evil. If we have to wait for person after person to experience the brutality of this administration before we wake up, then we'll inflict an immense amount of pain on our country. But if, instead, we could place ourselves in the shoes of the immigrant in chains, then we can see the injustice more plainly. And no, this does not mean that we can't or shouldn't deport illegal immigrants when appropriate. It doesn't mean we must have open borders. But we can't lose our own humanity and decency in the process, and we must not use brutality as an instrument of enforcement.”
David French on Education & schools3
Posted it themselves
“I agree. I know quite a few parents who made bad educational choices for their kids because they were in the grips of their own ideology, and very very very few will ever admit they made a mistake. We should encourage humility and self-reflection. It's a powerful essay.”
Posted it themselves
“"I’m concerned that ideas like Heritage American arise in part because we’ve created a vacuum. By not instilling a robust sense of what it means to be a citizen of the United States and a patriot in our younger generation, we’ve allowed malignant people and malignant ideas to fill the void. They’ve turned something good — an interest in our roots and pride in our families — into something dark."”
on weak civic education creating space for ideas like Heritage American nationalism
Posted it themselves
“"In reality, the ideological monoculture is more harmful to liberals than conservatives. Paloma is right; given her conservative upbringing, exposure to very liberal students at Harvard would have given her a well-rounded education. Her liberal classmates? Not as much. When you are surrounded by like-minded people, your ideas are less likely to be tested, and — just as dangerous — it becomes easier to believe that disagreement with you is a sign of ignorance or malice."”
on liberal ideological monoculture on campus harming liberal students most
David French on Corruption & scandal1
Posted it themselves
“Please see the community note. This administration lies, relentlessly. It's the Baghdad Bob administration, all day, every day.”
on accusing the administration of habitual dishonesty
David French on Courts & the law5
Posted it themselves
“This is horrific. As I said in a podcast conversation with @janecoaston and @ebruenig several years ago, I do not have a theological or philosophical objection to the death penalty for particularly heinous murders, but I do object to what the death penalty system has become in the United States. This is brutal and utterly inexcusable.”
Posted it themselves
“The right decision and completely expected. The Eighth Circuit decision, on the other hand, was extremely puzzling.”
Posted it themselves
“Good. This outcome shouldn't surprise anyone. But we can't overlook Trump's recklessness. He's destabilizing our country by trying these stunts. Millions of Republicans will be mad at SCOTUS (again) when they should be mad at Trump (again).”
Posted it themselves
“Norm is right. It is unusual to block a rule before it's promulgated, but once it's actually final then it's a legitimate target for challenge.”
on the legal timing for challenging a federal rule in court
As printed
“Justice Barrett is going to catch hell from MAGA.”
on divisions among conservative justices over Trump-related Supreme Court rulings
USA Today In a polarized Supreme Court, even its conservatives are divided on Trump ›
David French on The federal workforce1
Posted it themselves
“Don't make it an executive agency. Make legislative agencies great again.”
David French on The presidency & national symbols1
Posted it themselves
“I'm old enough to remember when neighbor after neighbor told me how much of a financial sacrifice Trump was making to be president. His sacrifice was evidence of his patriotism.”
David French on Extremism & political violence4
Posted it themselves
“Yep. One of the frustrating things about the post 9/11 era was the way people imported *their* grievances against America into the jihadist case against America. But the actual jihadists were saying things like, "We want to rule the world with Islam and hate your constitution."”
on jihadists' own stated grievances against America versus grievances others projected onto them
Posted it themselves
“Haunting. Horrible. I was trying to tell my class about the attacks yesterday, and I had trouble getting through it. There was just so much suffering, confusion, and pain.”
Posted it themselves
“I don't see a dime's worth of difference between him and Nick Fuentes.”
Posted it themselves
“One thing that people learned early in the Trump years is that when reason, logic, and/or morality collided with Trump, then Trump had to win. That was the cult's central command. Do that long enough and reason, logic, and (especially) morality themselves become evidence of disloyalty and are ultimately purged from the movement. It's risky to have ethical lines and standards. And so here we are, with a "generation of rabid, incompetent idiots" dominating so much of the young right.”
David French on Race & civil rights2
Posted it themselves
“It’s becoming very clear that when the new right praises meritocracy, the last thing they are is colorblind. Texas has tried to create a meritocracy that rewards academic achievement regardless of race, ethnicity, sex or religion. It’s far from perfect, but one thing is crystal clear — if you do well enough in school you can go to the best university in the state. That’s a promise. But now the results are in, and white men don’t do well enough for the new right. After spending years and years complaining when the left used admissions statistics to decry disproportionate racial admissions, the new right is now doing the exact same thing.”
on Texas's race-neutral college admissions and new right complaints about outcomes for white men
Posted it themselves
“One thing that I kept thinking about as I read this remarkable piece is the human toll of false accusations of racism. Lives and reputations ruined, zealously, and not just at Bates.”
David French on Religion & faith6
Posted it themselves
“This is important -- theology that doesn't produce good fruit should be questioned, and when theology systematically creates terrible, rotten fruit, then the fruit test should create a presumption of profound error.”
on judging theology by the harmful outcomes it produces
Posted it themselves
“"When I think about America’s future, my hope isn’t in the state’s coercive power. It’s in the church’s preaching of the gospel. My Baptist forefathers gave their lives to preserve this distinction, and I don’t want to give it up. Ever." Very well said.”
on weighing church influence against state power in shaping America's future
Posted it themselves
“A few additional thoughts on @EWErickson 's important piece. 1. The racist infection of evangelicalism has been going on for some time, and the people who called it out earlier were often mocked, harassed, and chased out of churches. 2. Evangelical institutions have done virtually nothing to resist this scourge. In fact, they've often been led by the nose by the racists, yielding to them in the name of "unity" (I know this by personal experience). 3. Lots of people who've been despised for allegedly "deconstructing" didn't deconstruct at all. Instead they were slandered by racists, and other evangelicals didn't lift a finger to defend them (or exhibit the slightest curiosity about the truth). 4. The evangelical church has been so primed to defend itself against "wokism" or "leftism" that, at best, it was willfully blind. At worst, it made common cause with vile people because they feared leftists outside the church more than they feared moral corruption inside its walls. 5. This is not something that happened to the church. It's something that the church often welcomed, facilitated, and refused to resist, even when their cruelty was obvious to everyone, including the "good pastors who aren't like that." 6. Better late than never, but the hour is indeed quite late.”
on evangelical institutions tolerating racism, responding to Erick Erickson's essay on the topic
Posted it themselves
“What Christian nationalists get right -- Christianity was important to the founding. What they rarely say -- their side lost the religious argument. America has a secular government and embraces religious pluralism in part because *Christians* were wary of established religion.”
on Christian nationalists' claims about the founding versus America's secular government
Posted it themselves
“The fear that college will corrupt faith is just massively overblown.”
on fears that college weakens students' religious faith
Posted it themselves
“Actions have consequences. And one of those consequences is that a church that wraps its arms around arguably the most vulgar, most corrupt president in American history will repel good people, especially those people who’ve encountered MAGA’s claws. Or, as Jesus said during his Sermon on the Mount, “By their fruit you will recognize them.””
David French on Free speech & the media3
Posted it themselves
“"The idea that protecting provocative speech by visitors and immigrants renders the Constitution a “suicide pact” might be one of the most absurd examples of snowflakery I’ve ever seen in my life. Millions of Americans share the views that thousands of student immigrants have expressed, and when you view those ideas as dangerous enough for deportation, we are foolish to believe — just as Jefferson warned — that only immigrants will face the administration’s wrath."”
on the administration seeking to deport immigrant students over their speech
Posted it themselves
“Bad call from Whitman College. The Republican Club could change its name to "MAGA Trumpers who MAGA all day and MAGA all night," and the university should still provide viewpoint neutral access to recognition and resources.”
Posted it themselves
“A love of liberty cannot cloud our moral judgment. To refer to one of the most famous First Amendment cases in American history, Nazis may have a right to march through Skokie, Ill., but they are still Nazis. Many in the anti-woke movement, however, changed this calculus. Rather than defend principles, they embraced extremists. Yes, innocent people were canceled, but terrible people lost their jobs as well (sometimes quite appropriately), and when they did, the anti-woke right welcomed them with open arms.”
on the anti-woke movement embracing extremists it once claimed to oppose
David French on Veterans2
Posted it themselves
“This is a remarkable story. There is an incredible amount of courage and excellence in the United States military. It's been very good for a very long time.”
Posted it themselves
“On 9/11, thoughts about the veterans of our longest war: "You fought with honor. You did your best to defend the innocent. Time and again you confronted and defeated an opponent that could be every bit as evil as the Nazis your grandfathers vanquished. And you accomplished the one mission that is core to your identity as a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine — you kept America safe."”
on honoring veterans of the post-9/11 wars for keeping America safe
David French on Sports & culture2
Posted it themselves
“This malicious idiocy has been circulating for years, but it took Bo French desecrating America's high church --- college football --- for it to break out into the mainstream.”
on Bo French's comments about college football sparking wider controversy
Posted it themselves
“"Dolly’s appeal wasn’t just rooted in who she was — a generational musical talent who possessed one of the most charming personalities in show business. It wasn’t just rooted in what she did. It was also rooted in when she lived — in the middle of the most hateful years in modern American history, when red detests blue and blue detests red. But no matter if you are the strictest fundamentalist from the hills and hollers of East Tennessee or a gay couple living in the most progressive city in the world, you knew — you absolutely knew — that Dolly loved you and wished you well."”
Further reading
Books by and about David French
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In their own words
Divided We Fall (opens Bookshop.org)
David French · 2020
Conservative writer and lawyer David French examines American political polarization and argues that the country faces a real risk of fracture unless it changes course.
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