Dear French Press Readers,
As you know by now, our cherished colleague David French is taking his writing talents to the New York Times, where he’ll be a columnist. But he’s not leaving the Dispatch family. David will remain part of the dynamic duo with Sarah Isgur on Advisory Opinions, our twice-weekly podcast on law and—when they can sneak it in—other weighty issues. He’ll also pop in from time to time on the Dispatch Podcast roundtable, The Remnant, and our members-only Dispatch Live streaming shows.
We’re not going to try to replace David’s writing. One of the reasons we were so thrilled to have him—and undoubtedly why the NYT came calling—is his unique voice. David could write with great authority and clarity on religion and culture, free speech and abortion, national security and criminal justice—just about everything other than pop culture.
But while we won’t “replace” David, we remain committed to offering the kinds of editorial work that made him so proud to have played a role in building The Dispatch. In recent months, we’ve added several new writers who share David’s wisdom and insight on politics, policy and culture, adding newsletters like Kevin Williamson’s Wanderland and Boiling Frogs from Nick Cattogio, and our soon-to-be-launched Dispatch Politics newsletter.
On Tuesday night, David joined our Dispatch Live show and, at the end, offered some thoughts on what we’ve built here at The Dispatch. We’re not objective about it, but we think it’s worth the roughly five minutes it’ll take to give it a listen.
For those of you who are already Dispatch members, we are grateful for your support and look forward to building on these early years. And for those of you who have not yet joined us, we hope you’ll consider doing so. We can’t promise more writing from David French, but we can promise that we’re as dedicated today to the mission David so eloquently describes as we were when he first joined us.
Either way, we thank you for your support.
Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg
Please note that we at The Dispatch hold ourselves, our work, and our commenters to a higher standard than other places on the internet. We welcome comments that foster genuine debate or discussion—including comments critical of us or our work—but responses that include ad hominem attacks on fellow Dispatch members or are intended to stoke fear and anger may be moderated.
With your membership, you only have the ability to comment on The Morning Dispatch articles. Consider upgrading to join the conversation everywhere.