The Fifth Column

Last month, after years of you people begging us, we finally had on the great Russ Roberts —author, educator, and proprietor of the phantasmagorically influential podcast EconTalk . The extremely wide-ranging conversation , whose pre-Pivot-to-Video video is available to Never Fly Coach subscribers , one of the most could you please unpaywall this so I can share it? episodes in recent memory, and s...

It’s fine if you want to listen to this episode on Apple podcasts or Spotify or Substack. We get it! That’s the way you’ve always done it! But you do realize that after 525 episodes (not including the hundreds of subscriber-only episodes), we’ve finally launched the Fifth Column video podcast , right? And you know that you are required by federal law to subscribe to the new Fifth Column YouTube ch...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Oh sure, everyone’s go-to for imperial collapse tends to be Rome, but what broad lessons are there to be gleaned from every single other civilizational implosion, from Mesopotamia to the Mayans to the forgotten pyramid builders along the Mississippi River? Such is the intriguing set-up for Goliaths Curse : The History...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * If you’re a Never Fly Coach subscriber, remember that you get to watch the video version of this episode ! * The morning after pill and Roy Campanella’s glove * Why does Moynihan look like late-stage Nick Nolte? * Have a SoCal venue suggestion for a Fifth live show? * Comparatively, Alex Jones isn’t that bad (Ed. no...

Matt and Michael are joined by John Spencer , Executive Director of the Urban Warfare Institute. •Gary Busey and the B-movie military raid on the Turkish Embassy •Bagging and tagging isn’t as bad as it sounds •20/20 De-Baathification •Post 9/11 Islamophilia •The hockey analogy for war with Hamas •Human shielding & bomb shelter inequities •Gaza vs Berlin 1945 •Journalism in Gaza •The IDF’s absent P...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Pretty sure FIRE president Greg Lukianoff is the perfect guest for this moment… * A requirement of Judaism * FIRE on fire these days * Come on man, it was the FCC! * My husband got Kimmel fired! * The latest campus free speech ranking * FYI, lots of dumb young people are cool with political violence * Is does the un...

* See below for the video version of this episode! * On Candace and Megyn * That source, says Thor, the Venezuelan, is a big booster of the shittiest people on Earth * How they shot my mother (Hugo Chavez edition) * The failure of the Human Rights Industry™ * How Venezuela collapsed * It’s not a country. It’s a drug cartel * The hierarchy of South American drug trafficking * The real reason the US...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * See below for the video version of this episode! * Russ’s drinks by the pool with Hitchens * How potato chips are made. And what it tells us about economics * Backwards towards “artisanal” * How will a NatCon economy perform? * It ain’t all doom and gloom (surprisingly) * Do academic economists matter? * Russ talks...

A very bad day for American politics, recorded within an hour of a young father’s death. Political violence, outgroup hatreds, and a side of media malpractice. With a sidebar conversation on 9/11, plus extended outro on the murder in Charlotte and subsequent discussion about race. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both… * Waiting for Bill and Ted * A catalogue of bad prophecies * 7th Day Youtube * Jamicanon * Yakub and the Atlantians * War with Venezuela? * Was Katrina racist * “Heritage Americans” * A listener is mad about…one of our friends * The Zionist silence * I’ll alwa...

* The video age is upon us * Sweet Jane * Crazy Nancy * I’m a survivor, I'm not gon' give up * You have a microphone. Just TELL US. * Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, pedo hunter * A revolt at HHS * The conspiratorial mind * Failing the logic test * Malcolm Gladwell comes clean. Moynihan doesn’t forgive * Taboo busting b/w forbidden topics * A hunch that they were lying… * Europe changed. Everyone...

* A barrel of crackas * We’re buying Hooters * Glamorous hairstyling * Look it up, people * The caudillo and the talk show host * Hega-stan * MAGA Marx: Nationalize everything! * The era of state capitalism is upon us * Burn yer flags * Right-wing ACLU * One more time: the government is bad at things * A history of privatization * Lisa Cook and the Cult Jam * The coming violence? * MAGA Panthers *...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Kmele connects with Thomas Chatterton Williams to discuss his latest book, “ The Summer of Our Discontent” . It’s a wide-ranging conversation that revisits the (or at least Thomas’) optimistic feelings toward the Obama moment in american politics, the backlash of the Trump years, and the ideological hangover of 2020’s...

* Tahoe plague * The Swiss lobby * Hate your kids * They seem like nice kids * If you only wore a tie, kids wouldn’t die * Have some dignity, says the most undignified human alive * The root of “root causes” * Free the guilty * White Hippies * Right-wing cancel culture * Chicago needs this more than DC ] * We kind of disagree about the Smithsonian * This is absurd * Ancient Chinese custom, eh? * I...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * A Spanish Harlem incident * The selective regret of Hank Azaria * Kmele watches Eddington * Ozzy confesses * Bonding with your kids over music * Back to Billy * The genius of Rick * Kmele reveals his race * Is Moynihan the Jerry Springer of TFC? * Spectacle vs. interview * Is Martyr Made a baddie? * Endless late cap...

* Below the Mendoza Line * Tommy the HIV+ Rocky boxer * Stallone’s Bergman period * Does Tom Friedman still have a job? And if so, why? * The hundreds of forgotten anti-Bush books * An especially bad Munich analogy * NATO, NATO, NATO * Purely defensive? Well… * Perhaps it made sense at the time… * The Olympic graveyard * A test for the post-war European left * Won’t somebody just *do something* *...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A rebroadcast of our latest Second Sunday episode during which the lads discuss Killer Mike, World War III, fascism, Billy Joel, Brits, Americans, the Swiss, stupid people, smart people, and white people. And a bunch of other stuff…

* A $750 late fee * Crazy train * Tariffapalooza 7.0 * Making Modi mad * Economic nationalism vs. market capitalism * The Soviet Senator * A pen and phone guy * Should DC be taken over by the feds? Or just left alone to be awful? * Israel and the TikTok war * Tell me how this ends * And about a million other things… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Just let them waffle on for a few minutes before the good stuff… * Poor Europe * The $50 Norwegian pizza? * Functional Denmark, deranged Danish * Moz and the monolingual * The brilliant Child * Moynihan vs. his daughter on Billy Joel * “Forbidden topics are true” isn’t true * How to talk in Eurocode * Bumper sticker...

Moynihan joins from Europe. Robbie Soave (Reason, Rising, Sheetz & Giggles) guests — bravely joining the fellas after stopping by the local precinct so he could report his scooter stolen. Plus; Epstein conspiracies, whether Sydney Sweeney’s jeans are saving America, and debate the merits of dating an AI girlfriend. * Pimponomics * Victimized * Scooter Evangelism * Robbie is a nerd * European Hobos...

Moynihan is somewhere in Europe. Eli Lake ( The Free Press , Breaking History ) fills in. And Kmele sustained a harrowing podcast-related injury that postponed a recording (and nearly cost him a finger). * Meat & Memory * Colbert Gets the Axe * Small Packages * A Yearslong Coup? * Russiagate Replay * Accountability and Missed Opportunities * The Never-Ending Epstein Drama * An (Inevitably) Dysfunc...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * An enigma wrapped inside a…wait, what does that word mean? * Wait, what did you call it??? (Take a guess) * Buffalo Bills, the preferred team of all Mossad agents * How to not write a news story * You know, Epstein was pretty close with many MAGA figures * Bannon’s crisis PR business? * Tulsi and the “seditious cons...

* Crazy from the heat * AMA * Who is Jim Walden?? * The dumbest civil war * So we have to discuss the Epstein “issue” again, eh? * I think we solved the case… * Leaving breadcrumbs in the archives * Jimmy Carter and the aliens * That’s a lotta airstrikes * The plastic surgery exception * Kurt Russell, American * The next, hottest Nobelist This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wit...

* Matt discovers Mass * Because Matt is cruisin’ * Boats and hoes * An ultra exclusive event! The Fifth…on the high seas?? * The Epstein hoax * Very dumb people holding empty Trapper Keepers * Fake numbers transform into facts! * Does anyone know how this stuff works? * The client list ███████ █████ * Why do people want this stuff to be true? * A few notes on the forthcoming film Eddington * The B...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A few weeks ago, we mentioned that newly minted Iran expert Joy Reid went on CNN and provided her damning verdict on America’s relationship with Iran: acktchully, she gravely intoned, the United States brought the ire of the Iranian dictatorship upon itself by engineering the 1953 coup against the “democratically elec...