Bill Kristol's Independent Pick To Take On "Roaring Jackass" Donald Trump Revealed

As reported earlier, over the weekend Weekly Standard editor and prominent neocon, Bill Kristol, one of Trump's most vocal detractors, announced that he would challenge Trump's presidential candidacy by unveiling  an independent candidate, "asn impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance." This led to another heated exchange between Trump and Kristol, with Trump calling the conservative voice a "loser" and a "dummy"

If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an Independent, say good bye to the Supreme Court!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

This is turn led to another response by Kristol who said on Twitter that "I gather Donald Trump said I'm a loser", adding that "I've won some and I've lost some, but one thing I've always tried not to be is a roaring jackass."

I gather Donald Trump said I'm a loser. I've won some and I've lost some, but one thing I've always tried not to be is a roaring jackass.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 31, 2016

The feud between the Trump and Kristol aside, the political world has been engaged in a fevered guessing game over whom that person might be. 

Shortly after Kristol's Sunday tweet, he left for Israel and has been avoiding the press, speaking only through a series of tweets taunting Trump for responding to Kristol’s Sunday tweet. Speculation had centered on 2012 Republican nominee Romney, freshman Nebraska senator Ben Sasse, and other current and former state and federal office-holders.

The answer was revealed by Bloomberg late this afternoon, which reported that according to two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts to recruit an independent presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump that the person Kristol has in mind is David French - whose name the editor of the Weekly Standard floated in the current issue of the magazine.

Who is David French? Bloomberg has the details?

French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children.

 

Reached in Israel late Tuesday afternoon, Kristol declined to comment on his efforts to induce French to run. The two Republicans confirmed that French is open to launching a bid, but that he has not made a final decision. One of the Republicans added that French has not lined up a vice-presidential running mate or significant financial support. However, according to this person, some conservative donors look favorably on the prospect of French entering the fray.

In Kristol’s piece in the Standard’s June 6 issue, he argued that “the fact of Trump's and Clinton's unfitness for the Oval Office has become so self-evident that it's no longer clear one needs a famous figure to provide an alternative.” Bloomberg adds that after mentioning Mitt Romney and other possibilities such as Judd Gregg and Mel Martinez, Kristol invoked French’s name and résumé, writing, "To say that he would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him."

Bloomberg concludes that according to one person deeply involved in the efforts to recruit an independent challenger, the search has focused on individuals who have one or more of the following three traits seen as vital for credibly launching such a bid: fame, vast wealth, and elective experience.

We fail to see precisely which of the three traits French possesses. And now we await the imminent response from Trump.