Sadly, @TuckerCarlson frequently misleads his audience. Tonight is no exception. He lied about me, and it's worth exposing how. He starts at the 5:24 mark in the clip below. Apart from the various personal insults, he accuses me of hypocrisy /1:
The basic case is that I'm a hypocrite for writing this article about Trump's Syria policy in 2018 while supporting Biden's strikes again Iranian-allied militias that had killed a Filipino contractor and wounded five Americans. Here's my 2018 piece: /2 nationalreview.com/2018/04/trump-…
Tucker of course counts on the fact that his audience trusts him. His audience trusts Tucker and his team to do their homework and tell the truth. Yet if they did their homework and told the truth, they'd say my position is clear and consistent, then and now: /3
I did not and do not support attacking a Syrian regime that had not attacked us. I did and do support launching attacks against terrorist militias (ISIS or Iranian-backed) that have attacked us and intend to attack again. I've had the same position for Obama, Trump, and Biden. /4
I strongly opposed initiating new military hostilities against the Assad regime under Obama, for both constitutional and strategic reasons. For example, this is what I wrote in NR in 2013: /5 (nationalreview.com/magazine/2013/…):
I continued that opposition during the Trump administration and objected to his strikes against the Assad regime. In both cases I knew that Assad was evil, but I still believed it was a strategic mistake and constitutional violation to attack: /6:
But note my qualifier--"Trump undoubtedly has the authority to direct military responses when American forces are under attack or face an imminent threat." That's the situation Biden just faced. He didn't attack the Assad regime, he attacked forces that days ago attacked us. /7
And in fact, I endorsed Trump strikes under the same circumstances. This is what I wrote in Time after Trump ordered the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani (time.com/5759007/trumps…) /8:
In the video bit, Tucker says, "We're keeping track." I'd assume that meant he or his team read my relevant work and chose to mislead his audience anyway. He also says "war makes David French feel powerful and alive." What a gross insult and utterly contrary to what I believe. /9
He closes with a final material omission. Speaking of my tweet about Biden's strike, he says, "Good, he wrote. Then he went back to writing essays about what a fine Christian he is." But my actual tweet is below. What did he leave out? /10
Why would Tucker omit "Targeting our troops should carry a consequence"? Because that sentence undermines his entire diatribe. I'm unbothered by policy differences. Lies, omissions, and playground insults are a different matter. At that was Tucker's tactic tonight. /end

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More from @DavidAFrench

26 Feb
War powers/law of armed conflict Twitter leaves a bit to be desired. So--in the aftermath of Biden's strikes--here's a quick legal explainer on the different kinds of military actions and the different constitutional/legal justifications, in case you're interested. /1
First, it's important to remember that presidents of both parties have largely ignored the Constitution and have stretched their Article II commander-in-chief powers up to and past the breaking point. So this thread is about what should be, not what is. /2
Presidents SHOULD seek congressional approval before initiating hostilities against foreign regimes/entities not engaged in active hostilities against the U.S. Examples--Obama attacking the Gaddafi regime, Trump attacking Assad regime. /3
Read 7 tweets
13 Jan
I'd encourage everyone who believes that Amazon MUST host Parler's content to read Amazon's brief. The power of the state should not be used to force Americans to host and help disseminate mass amounts of death threats and insurrectionary content. /1 courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
It's honestly stunning to me that many members of a movement that united to say that bakers/florists should be free to use their talents to advance only messages they approve now angrily assert that another set of Americans MUST provide platforms for the MAGA insurrection. No. /2
Again, read the Amazon brief. It presented evidence that it warned Parler for weeks of problems with threatening content and Parler was either unwilling or totally incapable of dealing with the problem. It was a sewer. Americans aren't required to host sewers. /3
Read 4 tweets
6 Dec 20
I'm getting a lot of good and thoughtful responses to my Sunday essay. I could have written 2,000 more words on the role of staff and boards in enabling abuse, but in lieu of that, here are a few tweets. /1 frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-crisis-o…
In dysfunctional religious celebrity cultures, key staff gain not just their livelihood but also their cultural clout from the proximity to the "great man." They have everything to lose if he falls, so they guard him zealously and often crush internal dissent. /2
As for board members, if they also gain prestige from their association with the "great man," they're often unwilling to hold him accountable. Again, the board member also has something to lose if the leader falls. Their own clout is at stake. /3
Read 5 tweets
23 Nov 20
I'm not sure if you're noticing, but there's been a recent shift in the anti-anti-Trump defense of Trump's deranged behavior from "these lawsuits might have merit" to "hahahaha this is revenge for the 'Russia hoax' and impeachment." This is absurd, for many reasons. /1
Trump's defenders constantly want to memory-hole his campaign's misconduct, but there were real reasons to investigate his campaign. His son, campaign chair, and son-in-law met with a Russian lawyer in the attempt to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. /2
Trump's campaign chair, Paul Manafort, was in active, clandestine communication with a Russian agent and provided the agent with internal campaign information. The campaign attempted to use Roger Stone to set up a back-channel communication with Wikileaks, a Russian asset. /3
Read 11 tweets
13 Oct 20
So my former colleagues at @AllianceDefends are under fire. A few things:

First, ADF is so "hateful" that it recently joined with the ACLU and NAACP to press for the single-most important civil rights legal reform of our time -- ending qualified immunity. naacpldf.org/wp-content/upl…
Second, it's extraordinarily successful free speech/religious freedom litigation (including a glittering record at SCOTUS) has resulted in concrete civil liberties gains for ALL people, not just Christian believers. My cases at ADF expanded liberty, for example.
Third, at Blackstone and throughout all of ADF's programs (including litigation) there has long been an emphasis on doing the right thing, the right way -- with integrity, civility, and decency.
Read 7 tweets
10 Oct 20
This is an excellent development, and the opinion is exactly right. Capitol Hill Baptist's plan -- outdoor services, socially-distanced and masked -- was extremely responsible based on everything we now know about the virus. Yet DC said no, while it said yes to mass protests. /1
The key line from the opinion is below. In plain English it means that it's time for courts to stop simply deferring to the judgment of local officials and start applying standard levels of scrutiny to state actions during a pandemic: /2
That doesn't mean that all pandemic measures should be struck down. It means that the time of simple judicial acceptance is over. Mask mandates pass legal review easily. But placing more restrictions on outdoor worship services than outdoor protests or outdoor dining? Nope. /3
Read 5 tweets

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