William Cummings

USA TODAY

The anti-Trump folks are still without a candidate.

David French, a lawyer and staff writer for the National Review, has announced that he won't be running for president as a conservative alternative to Donald Trump.

Just last week, French was identified as the champion picked by Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol to dispatch Trump, whom Kristol has deemed unfit for the Republican nomination and the presidency.

French, an author and Army veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, is unknown to the vast majority of American voters and had little realistic prospect of gaining much support.

French said he "gave it serious thought" because the likely Republican and Democratic nominees are "two dishonest, deceitful candidates who should be disqualified for running for town council, mush less leader of the free world."

He concluded, however, that "it is plain to me that I'm not the right person for this effort."

Given the late stage of the race, French says it would take someone "extraordinarily wealthy" or a "transformational political talent" to make a successful run. He names Mitt Romney as one such potential candidate.

Many Republican leaders who had been highly critical of Trump during the primary race have since endorsed the businessman, including House speaker Paul Ryan. But, several conservative leaders, such as Romney, have continued to push for a conservative to make an independent run against Trump and Clinton.

Kristol has been one of the most vocal advocates of an independent challenge to Trump, but it seems French was the best option he could find. With him out of the running, Kristol must go back to the drawing board or scrap the idea altogether.