Deconstructing David French

David French is a writer who is well-known as a “Never Trump” conservative. I consider French to be a very committed and thoughtful Christian – although one who is misguided. In recent years, French has been dismayed by the fact that Donald Trump has enjoyed such strong support from white evangelical community. Research indicates that 85% of white evangelicals who attend church frequently supported Donald Trump in the 2020 election. French has on many occasions strenuously objected to this alignment. One of his most recent articles is entitled “deconstructing white evangelical politics.” Although French’s arguments have not gotten much traction in the evangelical community, I still think they deserve a fair hearing. So here is my response to French and others who may sympathize with his viewpoint.

The fundamental argument French advances is that evangelical Christians are casting their ballots based upon “culture, tradition and history” rather than sound theological convictions. French begins with a scathing critique of Donald Trump’s character. Trump has been married three times. He was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their genitals. He’s been accused of sexual harassment and assault.

Now I would heartily agree with David French in this regard: in politics, character matters. When we step into the voting booth, Christians ought to carefully consider the character of the those who seek office. It’s bad enough when private citizens engage in corruption, lying, and sexual immortality. However, when these flaws find their way into high office, the consequences are magnified. And by this measure, yes, Donald Trump has shortcomings which should cause great concern.

However, French fails to acknowledge two important factors.

First, like all Americans, evangelicals are faced with the reality of the two party system. Virtually every political race of any importance involves a choice between two candidates – a Republican and a Democrat. Decisions regarding character are not made in a hermetically sealed vacuum. Christians absolutely should scrutinize Donald Trump’s character. Yet it should be clear that the same standard of scrutiny must be applied to both candidates. For most Christian voters, this dynamic is so obvious that it does not need to be stated.

Yet David French bizarrely saves every ounce of his denunciation for Donald Trump. True, Donald Trump disgracefully and crudely joked about grabbing women by their privates. Somehow, French fails to mention Joe Biden’s own disturbing history of sexual misbehavior. Most notably, a woman named Tara Reade, who worked on Joe Biden’s own Senate staff, alleged that in 1993 Joe Biden “pushed her against a wall, kissed her, put his hand under her skirt, penetrated her with his fingers” and propositioned her for sex. When she refused his advances, Biden told Reade “your nothing to me, nothing.” Reade’s accusations have been reliably corroborated. So there is very good reason to believe that what Trump inappropriately joked about, Biden actually did. Additionally, at least 8 other women have accused Joe Biden of inappropriate conduct including his notorious hair sniffing.

Much more could be said about Joe Biden’s character. Just before the 2020 election, a great deal of evidence came to light exposing the corruption and influence peddling of Joe Biden and his family. This evidence included photos and emails on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop computer. Some of this material was publicly authenticated by Tony Bobulinski – one of the Biden family’s key business partners. Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media did everything possible to suppress these damaging revelations. Twitter even blocked the account of the New York Post, the newspaper which had broken the story.

Space prevents us from documenting here the myriad occasions when Joe Biden has lied. Suffice it to say, Donald Trump has not cornered the market on lying. Yet David French seems to believe that Trump is the only politician who struggles with his relationship with the truth.

So by all means, when Christians prepare to cast our votes, let’s put our political candidates character under the microscope. But consistency matters. David French has fallen into the trap of being wholly captivated by Donald Trump’s shortcomings. More thoughtful Christians must look at the big picture. The character of both candidates must be weighed on the same scale.

This brings us to David French’s second error. Yes, Presidential character matters. But policy matters much, much more. Virtually every American can agree that our politicians are not perfect people. Yet despite their flaws, we hope that our leaders are committed to wise policy – policy which will promote justice, peace and flourishing for our nation. French takes issue with the evangelical community over several areas of policy, each time arguing that Christians have departed from faithful obedience and have instead submitted themselves to misguided elements of culture or tradition.

Sadly, on issue after issue, David French’s commentary on the evangelical Christian community is badly mistaken. He cites issues such as race relations and immigration, each time reaching erroneous conclusions. I shall directly address these issues in the future. But for the remainder of this blog, I’m going to focus on French’s discussion of abortion.

French’s analysis of abortion assumes an Alice in Wonderland quality. Up is down and down is up. Far is near and near is far. He is clearly disturbed that a strong majority of evangelical Christians voted in favor of Donald Trump. Yet he then proceeds to accuse the evangelical community of lacking commitment to the pro-life cause. Here French’s argument really founders on the rocks. As we noted in last week’s blog, Donald Trump has been the most pro-life president in history. No other president or politician has spoken more courageously and acted with more conviction on behalf of unborn children. If David French truly wanted to exhort Christians to greater Biblical fidelity on this issue, he would be zealously encouraging support for Trump.

Let’s dive into some specifics. French claims “There’s powerful statistical evidence that white evangelicals aren’t really that committed to the legal pro-life cause.” The “evidence” French links to comes from a pollster named Ryan Burge. Burge says, “For white evangelicals, there’s this perception that they want to make abortion illegal and that motivates their vote. The date says something else entirely.”

Burge asked white evangelicals how abortion might affect their vote. 25.1% indicated that a politician absolutely must share their views on abortion. Another 52.7% indicated abortion would be “one among many important factors.” Only 22.2% said that abortion was “not a major issue.” So nearly 80% of white evangelicals made a strong anti-abortion position either essential or a major factor in gaining their support. Reviewing this data, I’m not at all sure how Burge (or French) could possibly claim that abortion is not a huge factor motivating white evangelicals. Burge’s data undermines his own bizarre conclusion. The obvious take away is that white evangelicals care deeply about the ongoing slaughter of unborn children.

Additionally, Burge asked white evangelicals “how difficult should it be to obtain an abortion?” 19.4% said abortion should be completely illegal. 34.6% said it should be “very” difficult, 29.5% said “somewhat” difficult, 9.2% said “not too” difficult, and 7.2% said “not at all” difficult.” Burge rightly observes that “only” about 1/5 evangelicals believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. Yet on the other hand, the poll also tells us that over 83% of white evangelicals support making abortion completely illegal or at least significantly more difficult to obtain.

Finally, Burge asked evangelicals which issues should the government prioritize. Evangelicals indicated that their top priorities would include: “reducing healthcare costs” (39.3%), reducing budget deficit (39.1%), stopping opioid epidemic (32.7%), immigration reform (31.9%), and enacting anti-abortion laws (29.7%). Remember, French has strangely cited these results as “powerful evidence that white evangelicals aren’t really that committed to the legal pro-life cause.”

Again, I find this claim puzzling. What this data show is that anti-abortion legislation is indeed among the top priorities of white evangelicals. Burge and French suggest the false dichotomy that if abortion is not at the very top of the list, that somehow its “not important” to Christians. This is nonsense. You don’t need to be a student of logic in order to recognize the fallacy at work here. It should surprise no one that Christians care deeply about more than just the issue of abortion.

Of course Christians care deeply about containing irresponsible government spending! The astonishingly reckless spending of the Democratic Party has made a major contribution to the runaway inflation we’re now suffering – inflation which disproportionately affects the poor.

Of course Christians care deeply about the opioid epidemic. Evangelicals understand that drug addiction has been driven to new extremes by excessive COVID lockdowns causing social isolation, depression and despair. We’ve also watched helplessly as President Biden’s refusal to enforce our southern border has allowed oceans of deadly fentanyl to pour into our country.

Of course Christians are rightfully angry as the Biden administration does everything possible to avoid enforcing our borders, thereby driving massive amounts of human and drug trafficking as well as the violence which accompanies these dark trades.

Now I will be the first to agree with French that it is more than a little troubling that 22.2% of evangelicals do not think abortion is a major issue for them. It’s also troubling that any evangelical Christian would believe that it should be “not at all” difficult to obtain an abortion. However, I would also be quite confident that those on this end of the abortion spectrum would also be among the small minority of evangelicals who supported Joe Biden. In other words, the very people French is criticizing for abandoning sound Biblical convictions are the ones who have heeded his call to withdraw their political support for Donald Trump. If David French desires to encourage the Christian community to greater Biblical faithfulness, shouldn’t be advocating greater political support for Donald Trump?

In the last election, millions of evangelical Christians – including myself – enthusiastically voted for Donald Trump. This does not mean that we’ve idolized Trump, or deluded ourselves into making Trump into some sort of cult figure. It is simply an acknowledgement that despite his flaws, Donald Trump’s policies coincided remarkably well with kingdom values. If another politician comes along who is willing to fight for the same policy outcomes, yet possesses superior character, they would have my vote in a heartbeat. So rest assured, David French, the Lord Jesus has my ultimate allegiance. He is the standard by which all politicians should be measured.