French accuses Trump supporters of “wickedness and intolerance”

By Jon BrownChristian Post Reporter Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Political commentator and columnist David French wrote a review The New York Times on Sunday endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and making the case for why he thinks other so-called conservatives should support her to “save conservatism.”

French, who claims his beat includes “a special focus on the health of the evangelical church,” also said former president Donald Trump is “changing the church” and effectively infusing it with his alleged “cruelty.”

While he acknowledged that he is pro-life and supported the landmark 2022 US Supreme Court Dobbs decision that returned abortion law to the states, French also made it clear that he is unable to throw his support behind Trump because he believes that Trump's “MAGA movement” has caused the Republican Party to drift away from “Reaganite conservatism.”

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“But I will be voting for Kamala Harris in 2024 and — ironically enough — I'm doing it in part to try to save conservatism,” he wrote.

French also claimed that Trump is an unacceptable candidate because of his alleged lying.

“Let's take a statement that should be indisputable, especially to a party that often envisions itself as a home for people of faith: Lying is wrong,” he wrote. “I'm not naive; I know politicians have had a bad reputation for honesty since Athens. But I've never seen a man lay down with the intensity and sheer volume of Donald Trump.”

French's problem with Trump's alleged “contagious” lies stems from his claims about the 2020 presidential election, citing lawsuits against Fox News, Rudolph Giuliani and Salem Media Group.

While he condemned the political violence of the Left that threatened the lives of Trump, US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Republican members of Congress during a baseball practice in 2017, French claimed that the GOP nominated a candidate who is personally responsible for generating. political violence.

French pointed to Trump's use at his rallies of songs sung by prisoners still in prison for the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as evidence that he supports “violent rebels”. He described the version of the national anthem sung by prisoners in the so-called “J6 Prison Choir” as a “bastardized version”.

French also condemned various speakers at last month's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, listing their sins and suggesting that Christians should not support a political party that allows such individuals to speak.

“It's even weirder to claim that Christians can't vote for Democrats when the prime-time lineup at the Republican convention featured OnlyFans stara man who publicly slapped his wifea man who pleaded no contest to an assault chargeand another man who had sex with his friend's wife while the friend watched — and that doesn't even include any reference to Trump himself,” he wrote.

French went on to accuse Trump and his evangelical supporters – whom he called “MAGA Christians” – of infecting the American church with “depravity and intolerance”.

“Not only are Trump's lies contagious, but so is his cruelty, and that cruelty runs deep into one of Trump's most loyal constituencies, conservative evangelicals,” he wrote.

“It is hard to exaggerate the wickedness and intolerance of MAGA Christians against their political enemies. There are many churches and Christian leaders who are now more culturally Trumpian than culturally Christian. Trump is changing the church.”

French also suggested that a Harris administration would take a strong stance against Russia and offer Americans the chance to break out of a Republican Party that has been destroyed.

“If Harris wins, the West will still stand against Vladimir Putin, and conservative Americans will have a chance to build something decent out of the ruins of a party that was once a force for real good in American life,” he said.

French recently appeared in Rob Reiner's documentary “God & Country,” which claimed that “Christian nationalists” in America are a rising force bent on overturning the rights of women, gay people and those who support abortion. The film compared American Christians who support Trump to German Christians who allegedly enabled the rise of Adolf Hitler.