[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"archetype-name-map":3,"thinker-david-french":100},[4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55,58,61,64,67,70,73,76,79,82,85,88,91,94,97],{"slug":5,"name":6},"anarcho-capitalist","Anarcho-Capitalist",{"slug":8,"name":9},"establishment-progressive","Establishment Progressive",{"slug":11,"name":12},"progressive-activist","Progressive Activist",{"slug":14,"name":15},"techno-progressive","Techno-Progressive",{"slug":17,"name":18},"patriotic-progressive","Patriotic Progressive",{"slug":20,"name":21},"conservative-democrat","Conservative Democrat",{"slug":23,"name":24},"moderate-conservative","Moderate Conservative",{"slug":26,"name":27},"reform-conservative","Reform Conservative",{"slug":29,"name":30},"religious-conservative","Religious Conservative",{"slug":32,"name":33},"traditionalist","Traditionalist",{"slug":35,"name":36},"national-populist","National Populist",{"slug":38,"name":39},"left-nationalist","Left Nationalist",{"slug":41,"name":42},"welfare-nationalist","Welfare Nationalist",{"slug":44,"name":45},"moderate-liberal","Moderate Liberal",{"slug":47,"name":48},"pragmatic-centrist","Pragmatic Centrist",{"slug":50,"name":51},"authoritarian-left","Authoritarian Left",{"slug":53,"name":54},"authoritarian-right","Authoritarian Right",{"slug":56,"name":57},"democratic-socialist","Democratic Socialist",{"slug":59,"name":60},"christian-socialist","Christian Socialist",{"slug":62,"name":63},"market-socialist","Market Socialist",{"slug":65,"name":66},"trad-socialist","Trad Socialist",{"slug":68,"name":69},"civil-libertarian","Civil Libertarian",{"slug":71,"name":72},"compassionate-libertarian","Compassionate Libertarian",{"slug":74,"name":75},"left-libertarian","Left Libertarian",{"slug":77,"name":78},"traditional-libertarian","Traditional Libertarian",{"slug":80,"name":81},"classical-liberal","Classical Liberal",{"slug":83,"name":84},"social-liberal","Social Liberal",{"slug":86,"name":87},"national-conservative","National Conservative",{"slug":89,"name":90},"neoconservative","Neoconservative",{"slug":92,"name":93},"techno-authoritarian","Techno-Authoritarian",{"slug":95,"name":96},"independent-thinker","Independent Thinker",{"slug":98,"name":99},"market-liberal","Market Liberal",{"thinker":101,"archetypes":122,"traditions":126},{"id":102,"slug":103,"name":104,"sort_name":105,"birth_year":106,"death_year":107,"nationality":107,"era":107,"one_line":108,"bio":109,"portrait_url":107,"has_portrait":110,"sort_priority":111,"is_living":112,"created_at":113,"updated_at":114,"search_vector":115,"primary_role":116,"secondary_roles":117,"notable_quotes":118,"historical_tensions":119,"plcf_score":107,"mesr_score":107,"dipg_score":107,"cult_score":107,"figure_descriptor":120,"figure_class":121,"editorial_review":112},801,"david-french","David French","French, David",1969,null,"David French is a conservative writer and evangelical who champions classical liberalism, religious liberty, and constitutional norms while breaking with Trump-era populism","David French is an American writer, lawyer, and commentator whose work sits at the intersection of religious conservatism and a defense of classical liberal, constitutional order. Trained as a lawyer and having spent years in constitutional litigation—particularly cases involving free speech and religious liberty on college campuses—French built his public identity around the argument that a robust framework of individual rights, neutral procedures, and First Amendment protections is the best guarantor of a pluralistic society. An Iraq War veteran and an evangelical Christian, he has consistently argued that religious believers should defend the same civil-libertarian principles for others that they claim for themselves, framing viewpoint neutrality and free exercise as mutually reinforcing.\n\nFrench became one of the most visible conservative critics of Donald Trump, associating himself with the \"Never Trump\" wing of the American right. His critique centered less on specific policies than on character, institutional norms, and what he saw as the moral and civic costs of a politics driven by grievance, tribal loyalty, and the erosion of democratic guardrails. This stance made him a polarizing figure among conservatives: admired by those who prize principle and constitutionalism over partisanship, and sharply criticized by populist and nationalist voices who viewed his approach as naive about the stakes of cultural conflict.\n\nMuch of French's later thought has focused on the problem of American polarization and the possibility of coexistence in a deeply divided nation. He has argued for a renewed commitment to pluralism—the idea that people of profoundly different values can share a country under a common set of liberal, rights-respecting rules—as an alternative to the win-at-all-costs mentality he associates with both the illiberal right and the illiberal left. He engaged prominently in debates within conservatism over whether classical liberalism remains adequate to the moment, defending it against critics who favor a more explicitly moralistic or state-directed politics.\n\nWriting for outlets including National Review, The Dispatch (which he helped found), The Atlantic, and later as a New York Times columnist, French has become a leading voice of a chastened, institutionalist conservatism. His influence lies in modeling a form of right-of-center thought that ties faith to civility, defends procedural liberalism as a moral good, and insists that democratic norms matter as much as policy outcomes.",false,5,true,"2026-05-04T20:40:51.368746+00:00","2026-07-09T03:53:21.356222+00:00","'adequ':330C 'admir':211C 'altern':298C 'amend':94C 'american':31C,164C,253C 'among':209C 'approach':232C 'argu':115C,267C 'argument':82C 'around':80C 'associ':155C,308C 'atlant':362C 'becam':144C 'becom':373C 'believ':118C 'best':98C 'break':21B 'built':76C 'campus':74C 'case':65C 'center':168C,393C 'champion':12B 'charact':175C 'chasten':379C 'christian':111C 'civic':186C 'civil':124C,399C 'civil-libertarian':123C 'claim':131C 'classic':13B,49C,327C 'coexist':259C 'colleg':73C 'columnist':370C 'comment':35C 'commit':271C 'common':288C 'conflict':240C 'conserv':7B,150C,210C 'conservat':44C,324C,381C 'consist':114C 'constitut':18B,51C,62C,218C 'cost':187C,305C 'countri':285C 'critic':151C,223C,337C 'critiqu':167C 'cultur':239C 'david':1A,3B,27C 'debat':322C 'deepli':262C 'defend':120C,334C,400C 'defens':47C 'democrat':200C,410C 'differ':280C 'direct':347C 'dispatch':356C 'divid':263C 'donald':153C 'driven':191C 'engag':319C 'era':25B 'eros':198C 'evangel':10B,110C 'exercis':139C 'explicit':342C 'faith':397C 'favor':339C 'figur':208C 'first':93C 'focus':248C 'form':388C 'found':360C 'frame':134C 'framework':86C 'free':67C,138C 'french':2A,4B,28C,75C,143C,243C,371C 'good':406C 'grievanc':193C 'guarantor':99C 'guardrail':201C 'help':359C 'idea':275C 'ident':79C 'illiber':312C,316C 'includ':352C 'individu':88C 'influenc':383C 'insist':408C 'institut':176C 'institutionalist':380C 'intersect':41C 'involv':66C 'iraq':105C 'later':245C,364C 'lawyer':33C,56C 'lead':375C 'left':317C 'less':169C 'liber':14B,50C,291C,328C,402C 'libertarian':125C 'liberti':16B,71C 'lie':384C 'litig':63C 'loyalti':195C 'made':204C 'matter':412C 'mental':306C 'model':386C 'moment':333C 'moral':184C,405C 'moralist':343C 'much':241C,414C 'mutual':141C 'naiv':234C 'nation':264C,353C 'nationalist':227C 'neutral':90C,136C 'never':159C 'new':367C 'norm':19B,177C,411C 'one':145C 'order':52C 'other':128C 'outcom':417C 'outlet':351C 'particular':64C 'partisanship':220C 'peopl':277C 'plural':273C 'pluralist':102C 'polar':207C,254C 'polici':172C,416C 'polit':190C,348C 'popul':26B 'populist':225C 'possibl':257C 'principl':126C,216C 'prize':215C 'problem':251C 'procedur':91C,401C 'profound':279C 'promin':320C 'protect':95C 'public':78C 'reinforc':142C 'religi':15B,43C,70C,117C 'remain':329C 'renew':270C 'respect':294C 'review':354C 'right':89C,165C,293C,313C,391C 'right-of-cent':390C 'rights-respect':292C 'robust':85C 'rule':295C 'saw':181C 'set':289C 'share':283C 'sharpli':222C 'sit':38C 'societi':103C 'specif':171C 'speech':68C 'spent':59C 'stake':237C 'stanc':203C 'state':346C 'state-direct':345C 'thought':246C,394C 'tie':396C 'time':369C 'train':53C 'tribal':194C 'trump':24B,154C,160C 'trump-era':23B 'valu':281C 'veteran':107C 'view':230C 'viewpoint':135C 'visibl':149C 'voic':228C,376C 'war':106C 'whether':326C 'whose':36C 'win':302C 'win-at-all-cost':301C 'wing':161C 'within':323C 'work':37C 'write':349C 'writer':8B,32C 'year':60C 'york':368C","writer",[],[],[],"Columnist, The New York Times","media-figure",[123],{"archetype_slug":23,"strength":124,"description":125},7,"An evangelical who defends religious liberty and constitutional norms in one breath — French holds that the rules shelter the faithful and the secular alike, a conviction at the heart of your moderate conservatism.",[]]