On a recent X post, French gushed over a new writer hired by Trump-hating political website The Dispatch. That writer is Manhattan Institute economist Brian Riedl, who is transgender and now identifies as a woman named “Jessica.”
“This is great news for The Dispatch. Nobody is better on fiscal policy than Jessica,” French wrote in a post with 1.1 million views.
French’s X post has also generated nearly 1,000 comments so far, many of them critical. That is because French, who endorsed Kamala Harris last year, is accused by many of being a paycheck-chasing fraud and opportunist.
Case in point: French was critical of trans ideology, or claimed he was, just a few years ago.
“I won’t call Chelsea Manning ‘she’ for a very simple reason. He’s a man,” French wrote in The Corner, the National Review blog, in 2018.
That blog post was referring to Army Private Bradley Manning, the Wikileaks whistleblower, who came out as a female named “Chelsea.” French conceded he would consider using a person’s legal name if it’s legally changed, but he drew the line on substituting “she” for “he” under pressure to do so.
“We’re on a dangerous road,” French warned NRO readers, “if we imply that treating a person with ‘basic human dignity’ requires acquiescing to claims we know to be false.”
Now just, seven years later, French appeared to break his own rule back in March. That is when he welcomed Riedl on “The Opinions,” a New York Times podcast, to discuss Elon Musk and DOGE.
“She has taught me an enormous amount about those issues,” French gushes in the opening minutes. “So I am delighted that Jessica is joining us for this conversation.”
French 'moving the goal posts'
French’s flip-flop didn’t surprise Michael D. Perkins, a writer, filmmaker and culture researcher for American Family Studios. After researching how the LGBT movement has invaded churches, Perkins isn’t surprised by French’s embrace of the other side.
“David French just doesn't seem like someone that we can trust because he doesn't seem principled,” Perkins observes. “He's just always moving the goal posts on what he seems to believe.”
Back in 2016, when a billionaire real estate developer and reality TV star named Donald Trump announced he was running for president, French said he was taking a principled stand for political conservatism when he opposed Trump’s populist campaign for the Republican nomination.
Last year, not only did French refuse to endorse Trump’s second run for the White House, his New York Times op-ed condemned “MAGA Christians" who supported Trump. He also used his column to reveal he was supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. election.
In a related X post, seminary professor Robert Gagnon described French as a "shapeshifter" for supporting Harris for president. Going back farther, Gagnon points out French has also publicly supported homosexual marriage and the "drag queen story hours" at public libraries.
"Trump Derangement Syndrome is real," Gagnon wrote, "and it has caused French to reconfigure his Christian values to promote a great deal of evil."
French 'has his reward'
Looking back at when French first condemned Trump, Perkins says he had to compromise his own beliefs to please the other side. His reward for doing that, Perkins adds, was a New York Times job where that sellout continues to this day.
“He’s got himself a position within a very large secular institution and he wants to maintain that,” Perkins says. “And so all of the stuff that he does just kind of tends to reaffirm that message.”
Megan Basham, the Daily Wire religion reporter, had a similar reaction to French's fawning praise for Riedl.
"A lot of brave Christians with much less ability to find another job sacrificed their careers because they were unwilling to lie. Coaches, teachers, nurses. But David French has his reward," she wrote on X.
