The Fifth Column

* First class mud hobbit * At the 80th in Poland * An executive flurry * The interrogation of RFK * In defense of pharma * The interrogation of Kash Patel * Give us Greenland, Part 32 * Overreach on DEI? * Frozen budgets * Getting the win * Is *this* the art of the deal? * Why were the JFK/RFK/MLK files held back? * And what will we find therein… * The most annoying Kennedy * Trusting Deepseek * H...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Moynihan in Poland (Katya stole his mic) * Ronalda Reagana * Know a Nowa Huta * Onward to Auschwitz * Maybe don’t speak to the far-right German party? * Axis of anti-Woke * Unimpressed with nation-states * The Best Black History Month Report, EVER * Lia vs. MLK Part II * Rufo’s Sore "Winning" * Activism vs. Truth *...

* The Zombies reunion * Edibles and expressionism * A ghost on the knee * Who needs a desk when democracy’s dead? * Outage equality * Don’t ever integrate? * Segregation redux * Why Steve hates Elon * Those terrible oligarchs * Who needs the Constitution when we have executive orders? * The Jan 6 pardons: a disagreement * The art of the overcharge * Ross Ulbricht goes home This is a public episode...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The sycophants are back! * Are we suckers for paying? * Gauleiter Musk * Day one executive orders * The newest, greatest Amazon Prime perk * New national bird: Jim Eagle * Pardon me? * Guess what? Leonard Peltier is not a good guy! * That Outside magazine article * Inauguration babes * Kmele’s letter to his daughter...

* Melanie: the eternal First Lady * A bad deal but…the only deal * The same situation, over and over * Joey B’s final babble * Ike, Elon, and the unacceptable “oligarchy” * The Ralph Lifshitz Award for Cultural Betrayal * F**k You, Surgeon General, says Matt Welch * The shittiest NYT story in recent memory * A shitty celebration of murder on Jimmy Kimmel * Pete H on the Hill * Women in combat is n...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A rebroadcast of our most recent “Second Sunday” episode, during which paying subscribers can hop on a Zoom call, ask us questions, berate us, tell meandering stories, and be generically clever/hilarious/insane. On this episode, we talk to a number of people in Los Angeles about the ongoing conflagrations and the city...

* Black Bill Kristol * Nobody beats the Rizz * Stealing Greenland * Yet another horrible big city mayor * When you love Castro, you are obviously an incompetent moron * Forget it, Matt. It's Chinatown * More on the 🔥 * Is big city governance killing progressivism? * Your lying eyes * Elon’s Nazis * Mark Zuckerberg and “winning” on free speech * The end of corporate walkout culture * January 6 par...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Lia the diva * The era of athlete actors * Moynihan correction: It was Bubba Smith in Police Academy. Dick Butkus was in Police *Story*. * I want to make fun of my boss * Awful political cartoons * More on progressive schools * Are you a hypocrite, MM? * Reflections on Jimmy Carter, DPRK fan * The neo-neocons? * The...

* No more Bobby * No resolutions * Pump it up: The bionic podcast host * New Year’s terror in NOLA and Vegas * The military connection that doesn’t matter * The advent of “car ramming” * In celebration of Chaim Sapir * Forgotten terror * When Charlie destroyed our faith in the media class * Jimmy Carter’s awful op-ed * Erasing Islamism * Revisiting Rushdie * Getting scammed by the “truth” people *...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * An episode that takes a break from politics? * Stars, tardigrades, and microscopy * Race in space * Matt and Moyn watch “A Complete Unknown,” come to different conclusions * Phantom and 40mg * AI’s take on this section: “Listener emails prompt discussions on art, personal struggles, and growth during the holidays.”...

* Pivot to Zoom * Rereading books * The ex-presidents * “It’s 1,547 pages of unreadable garbage. Every year, it’s like Christmas." * Chip the RHINOOOOOO * Elon’s Political Fantasy Camp! * Is Trump losing his power to threaten? * The end of AOC? * Before his own inevitable perp walk, Mayor Adams does a hot assassin perp walk * Insurance companies redux * Kmele is a bad drinker * Don Jr. trades up *...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * If you think it’s expensive now, wait until it’s free * Unpersuasive persuasion * How race is like probiotic soda * Ends and means * "If one killing is justified, where do you draw the line—10,000? A million?" * Siouxsie and the Nazis / Bill Grundy * Tinder Trotskyists * More “memoirs about trauma and identity” * ‘O...

* The Daniel Penny verdict * REinstitutionalization * When should the state involuntarily commit? * Remember, she was a very bad candidate * The great exhale * Joe and the Squad * A fake Portuguese guest * Barro blowback? * On the Substack revolution * The repulsive Luigi Mangioni * The failed Kaczynski * And much more! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com One topic in the news . One quick podcast on that single topic (rather than just texting each other about how certain media figures are vulgar, stupid, and morally depraved). Welcome to the Fifth Column One Hitter! In our inaugural episode, Matt and Moyn get pissed off about the hideous reaction from certain very onli...

* Little Moynihan’s pediatric cancer fundraiser can be found here! This might be the opposite of an incentive, but a random donor will be chosen for a personalized roast video from Moyn and his daughter… * The idiot winds (That “One More Cup of Coffee” live performance MM referenced) * Pete Hegseth replaced by Ronny D? * Ok, you asked for it…with new information, the lads return to the Hunter pard...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The boys had just heard the Biden pardon news. So much they missed about the specifics…and this brilliant video had not yet been created. * Citizens of the Fifdom debate RFK * The professional Youtube debaters * Teens and true crime * JonBenet * How to interview your dad * A listener asks: Is Dan Crenshaw the worst?...

As a Thanksgiving treat, an unlocked Members Only episode featuring Moynihan in conversation with Dr. Alan Levinovitz, author of Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science and The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat , about RFK’s view of public health, why you are fat, the myth of “natural,” and why so many people have stopped trusting...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Pete’s past * Friends with a murderer * Roofie vending machines * The worst cabinet pick? * Trans snakes that play golf * Damn dirty commies  * The three things reds do well * A store called Store  * That truck is still with Kamala  * Little Baron’s soooooooootcase * One black woman’s quest * Biased bookstores * Axi...

An hour with Semafor founder Ben Smith discussing the sorry state of the media, followed by a Smith-free hour with the lads discussing, among other things, two very different people who nevertheless shared a very deep love of young people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Kmele: Forever the HNIC * The Filet-O-Fish is Alaska pollock * A Swedish horror show * RFK at HHS * He forgot to mention this stuff… * Elon’s principles? * On Matt Gaetz and John Bolton * You know, we had a pretty good record on Covid… * Moulton v. a Salem Witch * A listener’s Irish-Catholic family is falling apart...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Michael Moynihan sits down with Bard College professor Sean McMeekin to discuss his new book To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism , a Fifth-approved history of the global communist movement, from the ur-commie instincts of Plato to the sinister stupidities of Plekhanov. They also contemplate...

We’ve promised this one for a very long time. But now that Trump is returning to the White House—the mercantilist maniac who recently said “the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff’”—we finally followed through. By popular demand, we called upon Scott Lincicome, senior visiting lecturer at Duke University Law School and vice president of general economics and Cato's Herbert A. Stiefel...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Our first post-election Second Sunday Zoom call! If you missed it, shame on you for choosing to spend time with your family or choosing not to pony up. But it’s all here. All three hours of it. Yes, it’s the “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” of election analysis. But to be clear, we also discuss Emperor Hirohito, Kentu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Welch and Moynihan are back in the studio, three days after the end of democracy, counting the days before they get the midnight knock from Trump’s NKVD. So what does one do? Engage in some anticipatory obedience , obviously. But can anything save them? Subscribe to find out! Note: Matt came across this amazing video...

The Fifth did a bit of processing today with our Trump-supporting friend at her Connecticut studio. Hungover, exhausted, bedraggled, the lads then returned to the scene of last night’s Fifth-Free Press-Reason party and recorded this episode. They enjoyed it. And they suspect you will too. . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episod...