Image: David French/Twitter

Bill Kristol, your local pizza man’s favorite conservative prognosticator, teased over the weekend that “an independent candidate—an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance” would be entering the race. Kristol’s pick, according to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann of Bloomberg Politics, is the National Review writer and constitutional lawyer David French.

Whom?

David French, man! You know, the guy who wrote the book A Season for Justice: Defending the Rights of the Christian Church, Home, and School? And the thought-provoking essay “Jesus Was Transgender? I Thought He Was Gay” for his day job at NRO? Big celebrity, lots of name recognition? Lots of experience in electoral politics? (OK, no experience in electoral politics.)

The Bloomberg report cites “Two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts” to push a third-party candidate into the race. Neither Kristol nor French himself offered comment.

French has vocally supported the idea of some third-party candidate stepping in to stop Trump. Last week, he wrote that “Mitt Romney is the only man who combines the integrity, financial resources, name recognition, and broad public support to make a realistic independent run at the presidency.” Presumably, he meant an independent candidate other than, you know, himself.

Sadly, for all of French’s obvious qualifications and support and popularity among ordinary Americans, he faces in one major roadblock in being backed by Kristol, whose every prediction about the 2016 race has turned out to be wrong. No sooner hath Kristol spoken the words “real chance at the presidency,” than French was doomed.