David Frum

David Jeffrey Frum (born June 30, 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator who was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

Quotes

An American-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein - and the replacement of the radical Baathist dictatorship with a new government more closely aligned with the United States would put America more wholly in charge of the region than any power since the Ottomans, or maybe even the Romans.
- The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush (2013).

When you just look at the map of American elections, I mean, barring some truly extraordinary event that utterly destroys the credibility of the incumbent presidential party, it’s very hard to see that Donald Trump, who is so unacceptable to so many groups in American society, can beat Hillary Clinton.
- "Trump can't beat Clinton — former Bush speechwriter", NPR (26 March 2016).

When liberals insist that only fascists will defend borders, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won't do.
- "The Roots of a Counterproductive Immigration Policy", The Atlantic (28 January 2017).

As President Trump is cruel, vengeful, egoistic, ignorant, lazy, avaricious, and treacherous, so we must be kind, forgiving, responsible, informed, hardworking, generous, and patriotic.
- Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic (2018).

The thing to fear from the Trump presidency is not the bold overthrow of the Constitution, but the stealthy paralysis of governance; not the open defiance of law, but an accumulating subversion of norms; not the deployment of state power to intimidate dissidents, but the incitement of private violence to radicalize supporters. Trump operates not by strategy, but by instinct. His great skill is to sniff his opponents' vulnerabilities: "low energy", "little", "crooked", "fake". In the same way, Trump has intuited the weak points in the American political system and in American political culture. Trump gambled that Americans resent each other's differences more than they cherish their shared democracy. So far, that gamble has paid off.
- Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic (2018).

If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
- "An Exit From Trumpocracy", The Atlantic (18 January 2018)

Anti-Semitism itself is a conspiracy theory ... Anti-Semitism differs in this respect from racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia. Those other bigotries are founded on contempt. Anti-Semitism, like all forms of conspiracism, is founded on paranoia. Which is why people who start down any conspiracy-seeking path so often arrive at anti-Semitism. The pull is hard to resist, because the idea of Jews as arch-manipulators is such a powerful cultural resource.
- "Nice Little Jewish Community You Have Here", The Atlantic (September 25, 2024)