Michael Reneau

Deputy Managing Editor at The Dispatch

Believer. Managing editor for @thedispatch, editor of Dispatch Faith newsletter. Married to a wonderful woman. Father to three boys and a little girl.

Articles

Passover and the Masters We Choose

1 week ago | thedispatch.com | Michael Reneau |Theodore Goldstein

Chag Pesach Sameach to those observing Passover this week. In this week’s Dispatch Faith and on our website today we’re featuring three writers with three different essays on Passover’s larger themes. First up as the featured essay in today’s newsletter is Theodore Goldstein’s meditation on freedom and Passover. As he puts it, Passover doesn’t just commemorate freedom from something (in this case, slavery), but freedom for something. And that, he argues, is a universal theme.
Can We Beat China? | Interview: Sen. Tom Cotton

2 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Jamie Weinstein |Beatrice Scudeler |Michael Reneau |Hannah Anderson

'The threat with China is much worse than you think.' Published April 7, 2025 GOP Sen. Tom Cotton joins Jamie Weinstein to discuss his news book, Seven Things You Can’t Say About China, as well as the looming military threats against Taiwan and the Republican Party’s divided foreign policy views.
Loving Your Neighbor’s Job

2 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Michael Reneau |Hannah Anderson

Hi and happy Sunday. Increasing efficiency in the federal government—the stated goal of Elon Musk’s new agency within the Trump administration—is a laudable goal in the abstract, and federal bureaucracies are certainly ripe for reform. Few Americans are likely to argue that point. But what happens when the impulse to slash runs amok, divorced from any notion of the value of work and how work itself—vocation—is baked into us as humans?
Faith, Beyond Worship

2 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Michael Wear |Michael Reneau |Theodore Goldstein |Hannah Anderson

I have been thinking a lot about agency lately. Politics in America over the last decade has felt designed, scripted even, to rob people of their own sense of agency. I think many people feel as if our politics is happening to them—affecting their livelihood, their relationships, their neighborhoods—and is beyond their reach or influence. But agency is not only essential for a healthy democracy, agency is an essential aspect of what it means to be human.
The Monthly Mailbag With James P. Sutton

3 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | James Sutton |Valerie Pavilonis |Ryan Brown |Michael Reneau

Hey everyone, thanks for all the great questions! In a job where you spend so much time typing words on the internet, it’s nice to be reminded that real people actually read—and even more surprisingly, enjoy—what you write! Let’s dive right in.
Hindu Nationalism Is Not India’s Version of Christian Nationalism

3 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Michael Reneau |Bill Drexel |Paul Miller |Joseph Roche

Hi and happy Sunday. With India’s importance in geopolitics rising—perhaps in no small part to its charismatic leader, Narendra Modi—it may be easy to assume the Hindu nationalist political project he has become the leader of is something akin to Christian nationalist movements in the U.S. That’s not the case, the Hudson Institute’s Bill Drexel writes in today’s Dispatch Faith.
Why Democrats Keep Losing: Policy—Not Messaging

4 weeks ago | thedispatch.com | Jeremiah Johnson |Michael Reneau |Paul Miller |Nick Catoggio

Politics is about changing the world. To change the world, you need power so you can implement the policies you think will help people. And to win power, you need to be able to get votes. All this is fairly obvious, but we live in a political era where obvious and true things bear repeating. So allow me to state the obvious once more: To win votes, you can’t have wildly different views from the public. That’s a lesson Democrats seem to have forgotten.
Rethinking the Democratic Playbook

1 month ago | thedispatch.com | Jamie Weinstein |Tal Fortgang |Charles Hilu |Michael Reneau

Autopsies and resolutions. Published March 24, 2025 Jim Kessler, the executive vice president for policy at the Third Waythink tank, joins Jamie Weinstein to discuss the failures of the Biden administration, where Democrats could gain ground, and whether Donald Trump will lose his mojo. The Agenda:—What is Third Way? (00:00)—Did the Democrats botch the government funding fight?
A New Exodus

1 month ago | thedispatch.com | Tal Fortgang |Michael Reneau |David Wolpe |Samuel J. Abrams

As weather across the United States warms, concern springs eternal that universities will once again draw national attention for all the wrong reasons. Last year, milder temperatures brought unsanctioned encampments full of students (and faculty) demonstrating against Israel. Administrators tolerating Zionist-free zones predictably invited lawsuits, which have progressed considerably in recent months.
A Confessing Church for America’s Weimar Moment

1 month ago | thedispatch.com | Michael Reneau |Paul Miller |Rachael Larimore |Jonah Goldberg

Religion Plus: A century of Flannery O’Connor. By and Published March 23, 2025 Happy Sunday. One of the recurring themes around The Dispatch is that in any debate (politics, culture, religion, economics), the most extreme voices are often wrong. Perhaps they’re wrong honestly, but often because they’re being duplicitous. And throwing our lot in with a particular faction solely out of fear of the other side usually ends badly.