The Fifth Column

We’re joined by Tina Nguyen , Senior Reporter at The Verge , covering “Big Tech vs. Big Government death matches.” ⁃ All I want for Christmas is Wendy Williams-branded booze ⁃ Someone is a bit cracked out… ⁃ Big tech versus big government ⁃ (David) Sacks of cash ⁃ Susie goes wilding ⁃ The swamp is a viper pit ⁃ Hate the media. Need the media ⁃ A non-denial denial of a non-denial denial ⁃ MAGA’s so...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * RIP Rob Reiner * Sorry about the horrific murders but…Go Bills!? * It was a great American who created Spinal Tap * Reaction from conservative pundits vs. conservative politicians * Trump’s derangement syndrome * And he doubles down… * The Islamist attack in Australia * Assimilation and integration: Europe vs. Ameri...

Dan Abrams is the CEO and Founder of Abrams Media Chief Legal Analyst for ABC News, host of On Patrol: Live on Reelz, host of SiriusXM radio’s “The Dan Abrams Show,” host and executive producer of “Court Cam” on A&E Network. He is also the author of numerous New York Times bestselling books about forgotten trials in history and is also the founder of Mediaite. * In defense of legacy media. Sort of...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Michael Moynihan sits down with entrepreneur, actor, and bon vivant Kevin O’Leary to talk about politics, money, and being an asshole. * The economics of...hockey? (He’s Canadian. It makes sense) * Mr Wonderful vs. Idiot King * Pierre misses the open net * Swiss watches and Swiss gold * Sell the damn chips to China! *...

It’s been a bit since it was just Michael, Kmele, and Matt at the table so we’ve decided to unlock this Members Only episode and invite everyone in. For (literally) hundreds more Members Only episodes, become a paying subscriber. •Heliocentric anime •50 Cent, documentarian •Boycott Black Murder •Glenn Beck is doing it for the kids •John Stossel walks into a bodega •And now, a few words from the fa...

We’re joined by Brace Belden, co-host of the TrueAnon podcast. •They don’t make heroin anymore •The Taco Bell connection •King of the libertarians •Kmele almost dies •You say Somali, I say Somalian, let’s call the whole thing off •The people cut out of the Minnesota Somali fraud story •Does Ben Shapiro think we’re white? •A Maoist small businessman •Certain liberties •Curtis Yarvin discovers YouTu...

Periodically around these parts the audience demand for unpaywalling certain subscribers-only episodes becomes too clamorous to ignore. So it was with Members Only #286 , our gripping conversation with celebrated author Sebastian Junger about his harrowing new book, In My Time of Dying . “Please consider making this a non-members only episode,” wrote beloved subscriber James G . “Ditto,” seconded...

Andy Mills joins to discuss his new Longview podcast, The Last Invention The last invention is…a new species Humanity’s coming “hinge moment” Doomers v. Accelerationists v. Scouts We are the ants When Elon warned Obama A digital God in a silicon box Have AI’s creators created something they don’t understand? Bubbles Was DOGE a backdoor to replacing government with AI? We’re all going to die!!!! Th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com You asked for it, you got it! A session with just Matt, Michael, and Kmele… plus 200 of their closest friends. It’s The Fifth Column recorded LIVE in Burbank (just like Fleetwood Mac) on Sunday, November 23, 2025. Want early access to the next live show (and full access to this episode)? It’s easy: become a paid subsc...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Check out Jason Leopold’s FOIA Files newsletter , and the new Disclosure podcast•Steve Albini never had to deal with California fires •Like a baby monitor, but for records •This is a Fugazi t-shirt •The trouble with true Norwegian black metal •All hail Metal Mike •Jason Leopold, FOIA terrorist •There’s always work at...

• Not safe at home, mayoral edition • “The guns were decades old” • The Trump/Mamdani bromance • The administration’s historic post-fire response • “You’re walking down the street, you happen to look Latino, or somebody hears you speak Spanish. A car rushes up in front of you. Masked men jump out with rifles and throw you in the car” • What does “sanctuary city” actually mean? • Like, no really, w...

* The Doppelgänger * Where do these Moynihans come from? * The journalism disease * You do not want to get a call from the New York Post * From schadenfreude to envious cruelty * Covering the powerful * What is “social proof?” * The Epstein obsession * Incompetence defeats the deep state * Epstein and language inflation * Representing the Trump voter * MTG’s difficulty with economics * Everyone’s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com We are joined by journalist, author, filmmaker, and chainsaw-wielder Sebastian Junger . His latest book In My Time of Dying is a touching reflection on death… and what might follow. Paid subscribers get access to this and hundreds of other Members Only episodes. •You can always start drinking again •Enough to make ⅔ o...

* The dog hasn’t barked * He knew about the girls. But we *knew* that * So what, if anything, do these emails prove? * Conspiracies, anomalies, pornography * That’s a bad, no good, awful Times headline * Enter Abby Phillip * The battle of the Caribbean * We couldn’t afford to fail * A distinct lack of psychopaths and Holocaust deniers * I care too much…. * Abby’s Jesse Jackson book * Abby: Sorry K...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com It’s release day for Shadi Hamid ’s new book, The Case For American Power , and we’re excited to have him back on The Fifth. Paying subscribers get access to the full interview in audio & video (plus literally hundreds more), and help us do what we do, so… In this episode: * Shadi makes the “case for American power” *...

We’re joined by Jessica Tarlov, co-host of The Five on Fox News, and Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway. •Among the cons •What does it all mean? •Over performance. Under performance •AOC’s war •What if the people who you want to destroy are the same people who ensure your existence? •You can afford to live here. Just not *here* •How to moderate a trans debate •The USDA wants you to stop mutilati...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com • Don’t mess with the Zoran • The opacity of hope • Inspiration is overrated • Wait, what if none of these proposals actually work… • The return of identity politics? • Is offline politics “additive, human, humane, and empathetic?” • The Dem doom loop • The online left vs. Jon Lovett vs. reality • Purity tests, left a...

* We are now alone / He’s out of our life * The Republican rebels? * Announcing a Fifth Column live show in LA! Subscribers get first crack! * Prediction: a stadium full of lusty boos for Matt Welch * Cuomo’s nonexistent campaign * The Truth and Armpits Party * On Zohran’s vaunted “political instincts” * If the cops rough you up in Queens, it’s because the Jews told them to do it * A “brilliant” c...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia, has a new book… - The disaster of Russia - Trump’s evolving views on Putin (and Nigel’s…and Georgia’s…) - When McFaul met Putin…in 1991 - Was the Maidan uprising an American-sponsored coup? - It’s not about NATO - From boring technocrat to a nationalist, imperialist ideo...

•Who subscribes to the New York Post? •One Battle After Another Redux •Myrna Opsahl and other deep cuts •F. Lee Bailey, legal consultant •Fawn Hall Gate •Double secret Nazis •Second Amendment People •The one on the right is on the left •Rehabilitation of the American radical •Omnibombers of the 1970s •I beg your pardon •An x-ray into Donald Trump’s soul •Hunter Biden & presidential power •From Whi...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Rooting against the dancing Irish poor Does One Battle After Another “whitewash left-wing violence?” LOTS OF SPOILERS, FYI In praise of Bullitt -esque car chases… The Lockjaw cartoon The genius of Jim Downey Matt is hemophobic Right-wing SNL Could you reverse the politics of OBAA? Leo’s character is basically an old-s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Check out Jake Adelstein ’s new book, The Devil Takes Bitcoin •A Japanese literacy test •Chvalry is not dead •They don’t teach you how to drink in J school •The Ansel Elgortification of Jake Adelstein •The Yakuza throw a killer Halloween party •Lions, and Tigers and Joe Gallo •The Yakuza’s pension plan •What’s with th...

* Misgendering Fox News * Wait, Michael was at a dinner? * Kmele tries to pronounce Normally * “Clearly we don’t fucking prepare” * “The last time I was with you guys, we were in a much smaller, darker room and I got very drunk” * Trump brings the hostages back … * … then emcees a roast * Somebody tell Bill Kristol! * A little bit psycho vs. the UN bitching at the Jews * 9/11 is a joke? * Little M...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com •One Battle After Another •Kmele’s hot take that will bring ruin to Hollywood •Separating the art from John Cusack •The kinship of Susan Sarandon & Mao Zedong •It’s not the dead kid that is most unsettling part of Stand By Me •Amity, as you know, means friendship •No dick at the Old Vic •The humbling of Russell Brand...

* Subscribe to our YouTube channel already! * A shirt full of toothpaste * Whiskey in a jar * Your dumb, complaining emails * A roundtable of cranks and weirdos * Happy 100 year anniversary Antifa! * People. People. It ain’t fascism. And it ain’t ISIS. * Wait, Twitter IS real life!!!!!! * The long shadow of 2020 * Remembering Seattle’s WASP autonomous zone * Ted Cruz’s hoop dreams * Sammy Hagar vs...