American ISIS 'candidate'

Talk about "a day late and a dollar short..."

Washington (CNN)Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol and Donald Trump on Tuesday [May 31] traded fresh blows after the conservative commentator had suggested that an "impressive" independent conservative presidential candidate is forthcoming.

French

Kristol, whom I can't help but think of as a card-carrying member of the American version of the so-called Islamic State (American exceptionalism or bust!), has apparently settled on a lawyer with little or no national name recognition, David French.  "French is a writer for another conservative publication, National Review, and a constitutional lawyer. He's also an Iraq war veteran and a Bronze Star recipient."

As trial balloons go, Kristol's is strikingly flaccid. Trump has pretty obviously wrapped up the 'Republican' nomination and the poor old neo-conservatives seem to feel left out and deserving of a credulity they didn't see fit to woo earlier in the presidential process. A dark horse now is a dark horse indeed. All that's left are the crumbs of egotism... scrambling for attention like a pope overtaken by pedophile priests.

Trump, who as far as I can figure out, has precisely zero track record when it comes to public service, has got all the focus, whatever the reasons. For a 'serious' contender to step forward now is too little and too late and thus smacks of something other than a serious political effort. All I can think of is that it feels lousy to have your agenda blithely ignored: "Lookit me! Lookit me!" And it's not clear at all whether French's relative obscurity is a plus from the point of view of a standard bearer who actually wants his own flag saluted.

PS. Here is a gossipy tale of Donald Trump's similarities with the fuck-'em-all Roman emperor, Caligula.