Last week I kicked a hornet’s nest on Twitter. Tired of the Trumpist tendency to write off the conservative movement as a failure that didn’t “conserve anything” — and of the tendency to denigrate the accomplishments of prior GOP presidents — I sent out a tweet:

I appreciate Trump’s pro-life actions, but he can’t yet match GWB. Bush:
1) Signed 2002 born-alive act
2) Signed 2003 partial-birth abortion ban
3) Appointed 330 lower-court judges
4) Appointed 2 SCOTUS justices who have pro-life records
5) Reinstated Mexico City policy.

— David French (@DavidAFrench) March 2, 2019

The reaction was entirely predictable: How dare you praise George W. Bush?