According to a reviewer of one of his books, Arianna Huffington, David Frum is someone who speaks fearlessly no matter where the chips might fall. The Canadian-American political commentator has always followed what has been given in his articles for The Atlantic where he is an editor, on other platforms for which he contributes and in his books.
He is the author of nine books, including his 2012 novel Patriots and Trumpocracy (2018), a revealing book about the dangers posed by the Trump presidency to American democracy. From 2001 to 2002, he served as speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. In 2007, he was senior adviser during the presidential campaigns of Rudy Giuliani.
Who is David Frum?
A one-time speechwriter for George W. Bush, David Frum has been a fierce critic of the current Republican administration. He criticizes the Donald Trump administration in his articles and in his book, Trumpocracy. Frum has been an editor at The Atlantic since 2014 and also contributes to MSNBC.
He was the chairman of the board of the UK think tank Policy Exchange (2014-2017) sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, drug policy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, and is vice-chairman and member associate of the R Street Institute.
His date of birth was June 30, 1960. During the same decade, the political movement known as neoconservatism, of which he would later become a strong supporter, was discovered. Named David Jeffrey Frum, he was born into a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was raised alongside his sister, Linda Frum, a member of the Senate of Canada.
From an early age, Frum began to show interest in political matters. In 1975, at the age of 14, he volunteered to campaign for the provincial election of Jan Dukszta, candidate of the New Democratic Party of Ontario. He almost gave up politics after the campaign because he had to endure teasing from his fellow campaigners.
David Frum was educated in high school at the University of Toronto and later served as school captain before graduating in 1978. He then went on to Yale University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in History of History there in 1982. In addition, he did postgraduate studies, studied Western culture, and was a member of the conservative Yale Political Union party. After graduating from Yale, Frum received his Juris Doctor (JD) from Harvard Law School in 1987 before going into broadcasting.
Here’s what you need to know about him
Career
David Frum worked as associate editor of Saturday Night after returning to Toronto, then as editor of the Wall Street Journal for three years (1989 – 1992). He was then a journalist at Forbes magazine, from 1992 to 1994, before joining the Institute for Policy Research in Manhattan as a senior researcher until 2000.
He was with The Weekly Standard, a neoconservative opinion magazine as contributing editor, Canada’s National Post, columnist, regular contributor to National Public Radio (NPR) and the National Review as contributing editor and blogger in online, but left in 2008.
After his stint at the National Review, David Fruma launched a new political website called NewMajority.com in January 2009, but later changed it to FrumForum in October. The goal was to create an online community that would appeal to younger readers, often repelled by today’s mainstream conservatism. Three years later, it was merged into The Daily Beast where he nonetheless continued to blog.
Besides NPR, he was a commentator for American Public Media on Market from 2007 to 2011 and made appearances on other radio programs, including the weekly program Left, Right & Center on KCRW, where he presents the conservative point of view, as well than the NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, California.
David Frum Political Affiliations and Neoconservatism
David Frum has been a long-time conservative Republican. In 1996, he was among the organizers of the first political movement, Winds of Change in Calgary, Alberta, aimed at uniting Canada’s two main political parties: the Reform Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
In January 2001, he was appointed to the Bushadministration as one of the few foreign nationals. He was naturalized in 2007. He served as the President’s Special Assistant for Economic Speechwriting until February 2002. During that time, he was also a strong advocate for the war in Iraq.
Subsequently, he became a member of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a neo-conservative think tank from 2003 to 2010. In 2003, he co-wrote Un mal au mal with Richard Perle, in which he boldly presented the neoconservative vision of world affairs and an apology for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Frum served on the Rudolph Giuliani 2007 presidential campaign but later voted for John McCain. In the 2016 presidential race, he supported and voted for Hillary Clinton against Trump. He was not only a major critic of the 45th POTUS, but also of the Republican Party.
Personal life – family
Frum is the son of famed Canadian journalist Barbara Frum (née Rosberg) and the late Murray Frum, a dentist-turned-real estate developer, philanthropist, and art collector. His mother was born in Niagara Falls, New York, while his father’s family is made up of Polish immigrants who moved to Toronto in 1930. He has a known brother or sister, Linda.
His mother was an active part of his political life and gave him a pocket edition of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, which he read to travelers during his political campaign as a teenager. It was the book that earned him the derision that almost made him turn his back on politics.
He is married to writer Danielle Crittenden. Frum and his wife are the parents of three beautiful children. Although born into a Jewish family, he considers himself “a not particularly observant Jew”. The family of five divides their time between their homes in Washington DC and Wellington, Ontario.
Bibliography
David Frum is an experienced writer. Over the years, he expressed his opinion more than by mouth, although he was particularly vocal on political issues. His first book, Dead Right was published in 1994 to rave reviews. It was followed by What’s True in 1996 and How We Got Here in 2000. Next came his memoir from his service in the Bush administration, The Righteous Man (2003) which was the first insider account of the Bush presidency. The book was also a #1 New York Times bestseller.
He co-wrote La fin du mal with Richard Perle. There, he suggested ways to win the war on terror. The same year he wrote The Mystery of Capital and in 2008 The Comeback: A Conservatism That Can Win Again was published.
Frum published the e-book Why Romney Lost and his first novel, Patriots in 2012. His latest release, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic came in 2018.