A Last Word From David French

On his way to the New York Times.

Published January 29, 2023

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.

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Either way, we thank you for your support.

Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg

Steve Hayes

Steve Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to co-founding the company in 2019, he worked at The Weekly Standard for 18 years, covering Washington, politics, and national security. Steve is the author of two New York Times bestsellers. He also worked as a contributor at CNN and Fox News, and currently serves as a political analyst at NBC News. When Steve is not focused on The Dispatch, he’s probably traveling with his family, grilling, or riding his mountain bike.

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things.

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