When National Review writer David French was considering a long-shot run for president as an alternative to Donald Trump , he had little baggage to worry about. He had no name recognition and a resume that squared as the opposite of Trump: an Iraq War veteran, a lawyer and a conservative blogger. His biggest concern was simply that he was a nerd who loved video games.

White supremacists and various racist trolls didnt see it that way, though. The instant his name was floated as a possible third-party candidate in late spring of 2016, French immediately became a target of their vitriol. So did his 7-year-old daughter, who is African American and whose face was edited into images of gas chambers with a picture of Trump in a Nazi uniform pressing the button to kill her.

In this episode of our Candidate Confessional podcast, French details the extent of the attacks he faced in the few days he was considered a potential presidential candidate. And he talks about the psychological toll it took on him and his family.

The comments section of his wifes blog, for example, became filled with pictures of African-American men and women being murdered or committing suicide.

It was horrific, French says. It was the kind of stuff that had I not been in Iraq and seen worse things with my own eyes, would have been scarring for life. ... Fortunately, I was able to delete it before my wife saw any of it.