Never Trump Republicans are not the friends of liberals

David French is a Never Trump Republican and journalist He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic, a mostly left wing outfit that seems compelled to include conservatives even though right wing outfits never feel compelled to include liberals. French regularly offers analysis on the news of the day, and since conservatives do so many horrible things, many of those news stories are about horrible conservatives.

Except French always has to get in a line about how conservatives also do good things or how liberals do bad things or how this isn't really a conservative power grab at all, you really think about it. His general takes on news stories can be insightful. However, this need to balance the scales by also getting in a dig at the left frequently misses the mark. Here are some examples.

The hysteria about critical race theory and a gunman targeting blacks in Buffalo are not separate news stories. America needs to understand that these two things are connected. However, French also needs you to remember all that dangerous rhetoric on the left. "False claims that a police officer gunned down an unarmed Black man who had his hands up contributed to nights of riots in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014."

Yes, initial reports that Michael Brown had his hands up, were incorrect. But that he was unarmed and that the police shot and killed him is not a 'false claim,' that happened. French also skipped past the part about the broader conditions that caused the unrest. In March 2015, the DOJ announced that they had determined that the Ferguson Police Department had engaged in misconduct against the citizenry of Ferguson by, among other things, discriminating against African Americans and applying racial stereotypes in a "pattern or practice of unlawful conduct." Lets also not forget about the six Ferguson activists that died mysteriously after the protests.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a pompous bully trying to silence speech he doesn't like. French is right to condemn him. However, French also included this insane passage of "wins" for free speech.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protects corporate political speech. In Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, the Court recognized the religious free-exercise rights of an immense chain of arts-and-crafts stores. And in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Court held that the state had discriminated against a small bakery when it sanctioned the bakery for refusing to make a custom cake for a gay-marriage celebration.

Goddamn man.

These were all absolutely terrible court decisions. Let's break it down:

Citizens United: How can you see a ruling that a corporation should be allowed to openly buy a politician and think "HoRaRy mOrE fReeDom!" It is just an immensity naïve way of seeing the world.

Hobby Lobby: I'm sorry, do you believe that Hobby Lobby has a soul? That Hobby Lobby will ascend into heaven upon judgement day? It's a freaking immense corporation, it shouldn't have "religious free-exercise rights." They just doesn't want to pay for contraceptives.

Masterpiece Cakeshop: Business have the right to refuse service to individuals, if say they are being disruptive. Businesses are not supposed to be able to refuse service to an entire class of people. This is why a business can't put up a sign saying "No blacks allowed." Keep an eye out, the theme of the Supreme Court declining to protect homosexuals may come up again later in this article.

OK, no, he's just wrong on this one. French argues that a coach named Joseph Kennedy should be allowed to pray on the field after football games because he was doing so clearly as a private citizen, not a school employee.

Except that's just not true. For one thing, as the school district emphasizes in its brief, Kennedy was only allowed on the football field in the first place because he was a school employee performing official duties. And as a federal appeals court held, Kennedy was selected by the school district specifically to “teach on the field, in the locker room, and at the stadium.” Atheist players felt pressured to join in the prayer. Coaches, players, and members of the general public mobbed the field when Kennedy knelt to pray resulting in a "stampede" where members of the marching band were knocked to the ground.

Coaches and teachers are authority figures. Kennedy wasn't having a private moment of grace. He had a a coordinated legal and PR campaign against the school district. Unfortunately the fact that the Supreme Court agreed to hear this case at all signals that Kennedy may prevail. Speaking of the court being extremist and illegitimate...

It is true what French says, prior to Roe v. Wade abortion rights were not “deeply rooted” in America. To which I say:

So what if abortion wasn't a right before Roe? How is it better to remove that right?

From Adrienne LaFrance: "To allow the state to control the body of a citizen is to deny her full personhood. To allow the state to control the body of a citizen is to undermine the very notion of what America is, the core promise it makes."

Yes, there no explicit protection for abortion in the constitution. The constitution is a deeply flawed document. It would be better if we had legislation to protect abortion, but we don't. We shouldn't throw people's lives into chaos because of legislative failures. French had more to say about this ruling:

I mean, you barely even need to read the article to refute the premise, that gay marriage isn't threatened because the court says it isn't. On an unrelated note, here are statements from the conservative justices during their confirmations:

"[Roe is an] important precedent of the Supreme Court" --Samuel Alito

"I would have walked out the door" [had Trump asked him to overturn Roe.] --Neil Gorsuch

"It is settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court, entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis... The Supreme Court has recognized the right to abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. It has reaffirmed it many times." --Brett Kavanaugh

Hence, when a conservative tells me they're not going to do a horrible thing they appear to want to do... forgive me if I am skeptical.

French reasons the court won't end the right to gay marriage because "state-ordered involuntary dissolution of a marriage... would instantly introduce personal and legal chaos into families across the nation."

To which I must respond: What in particular makes you think that will stop the court? Allowing access to abortion to be curtailed will introduce personal and legal chaos into families across the nation. The supreme court doesn't seem to give a shit about that.

French tries place himself above the fray, call errors on both sides and give conservatives the benefit of the doubt. Except conservatives have shown themselves repeatedly to be bad faith actors. As a recent example, Republicans having been wailing about gas prices, only to vote against a the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. We should be deeply skeptical of the GOP.

French is not a voice of reason, he's whitewashing a tarnished movement.