Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

The Fifth Column

News EN ↓ 709 episodes

Your weekly rhetorical assault on the on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally ourselves. Kmele Foster (Freethink), Michael Moynihan (Vice), and Matt Welch (Reason) talk and laugh and drink their way to at least quasi-sanity in a world gone mad, often with the aid of clean and articulate guests. Weekly Members Only subscription edition often comes with listener mail and professional-quality (if inappropriate) singing. Analysis. Commentary. Sedition. www.wethefifth.com

Be sure to visit the podcast's website and support the creator: www.wethefifth.com

Author

Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

Category

News

Podcast website

www.wethefifth.com

Latest episode

Oct 22, 2026

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Episodes

Members Only #183 - UNLOCKED - K&M Live in Philly 04.10.2023

* Unrelated non-programming note from Moynihan: “As some of you might recall, and as I mentioned in the intro, last year I beseeched listeners to help my amazing daughter Livia (and her gymnastics team) raise money for pediatric cancer . And last year, you guys came through in such a crazy way that one parent asked me if I was “some sort of cult leader.” I said no. I’m only a cult co-host. So than...

#423 w/Josh Szeps - TED, Just Admit It 03.10.2023

Our old Aussie-Aussie-Aussie-Oi-Oi-Oi pal Josh Szeps, former host of the morning show Wake Up Ya C***s, was in New York this weekend and stopped by the Fifth’s Chinatown headquarters! So we decided to have a few drinks (Ed. note: Josh has lost approximately 600 pounds and is now sober , while Welch and Moynihan are still the same old lazy alcoholics) and argue about how our pal Coleman Hughes was...

Members Only #182 - The Racist Wolf 25.09.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Deion’s audacious blackness * Kevin McHale’s audacious whiteness * Serious Hasan’s baby is covered in cocaine * What everyone hates most is a racist, anti-Asian wolf * Cutting the razor wire because…why not? * Immigration in Europe is different * DOWTCHA BOY! The (Irish?) origins of Jamaican Patois * Is Matt the Har...

#422 - Introducing The Fifth Column Center for Antiracist Research 22.09.2023

* The sartorial excellence of the Pennsylvania Senate delegation * “Pooping on their shoes” * Kilmeade v. Rosendale ( that’s his name) * Kendi and the disappearing millions * Want to demonitize one of your enemies? We have an idea! * A threatening letter from Lady Orwell DBE * The ACLUization of everything * Trump on the Meet the Press * Broadcast needs to “lend democracy a hand?” * Biden is just...

Members Only #181 - From Bob Geldof to Jesus (of Nazareth) to Walt Disney 20.09.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Bob Geldof is the hero of this story * She isn’t the pantless one * Catholics, Kmele and your “best religious experience” * Nick and the Burn * Jamaican names / Wes Anderson movies * Revisiting Less Than Zero * The Hollywood Party v. Walt Disney * A listener has an Amy Cooper question… * The Kendi Center kind of shu...

#421 - Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice 17.09.2023

* 36 year-old grandmother vapes, feels up Democrat * Shanah Tova! * Russell Brand, who Moynihan wrote about in 2014, is accused of rape * They are coming after the truth tellers, maaaaaannnnnn * Revisiting Hunter’s indictment * Breaking: Biden is confused and sleepy * Trump v. Kelly * I’m the president, so it’s legal… * Ron’s compounding troubles, plummeting poll numbers * Preemptive skepticism *...

Members Only #180 - The Fifth on Zoom! With Ben Dreyfuss! It's a Rebroadcast! 14.09.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com As Moynihan explains in the intro, this is the Zoom recording from this month’s Second Sunday broadcast. Basically, it’s the difference between a soundboard and audience bootleg. But so it goes. So no bullet points this week—enough time has already been spent on this episode—other than to say that Ben Dreyfuss shows u...

#420 - Texas Ends New York! Protesters End Climate Change! DOJ Prosecutors End Proud Boys! 08.09.2023

* Every city is a nightmare * Airbnb banned—but hotel rooms are now free! * Pedro glues his feet to the floor, Moynihan discovers climate change * It’s the end of New York as we know it (and Mayor Adams feels not so fine) * None of this is sustainable, btw * “BIPOC” residents in Chicago are angry * Nikki rising, Vivek shrinking * Enrique Tarrio, black white supremacist, gets more time than Mr. Ame...

Members Only #179 – The Late Richard Riordan and the Never-Launched L.A. Examiner 05.09.2023

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

#419 - In Defense of Capitalism...and Sweden's Covid Response (w/ Johan Norberg) 02.09.2023

Let’s abandon the usual bullet points and instead provide a few relevant links. The lads sit down with Swedish writer and historian Johan Norberg to discuss his forthcoming book The Capitalist Manifesto ; his report on Sweden’s Covid response ; his almost-a-book The Mirage of Swedish Socialism: The Economic History of a Welfare State ; and that time, twenty years ago, when he first came across Moy...

Members Only #178 - The Blob 28.08.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Elvis Costello’s dad is the best dancer * Orthodox Shyne * Jamaicans vs….ummm…non-island people * Close enough * The race blob * The Australia craze / Jacko * Gross Steven Segal songs * “The molester Rolf Harris?” * Revisiting the dumb debate * Ron, Vivek, et al * In praise of Gary Becker (and his family) * OJ Simps...

#418 - The State of Debate (w/ Mike Pesca) 25.08.2023

* Best mugshots of all time (Winner: 70s Larry King) * Who won the dumb debate * No, the agenda is a hoax * Nikki…pretty, pretty, pretty good, actually * “Let’s not look backwards” * One of the most deranged policy suggestions… * The debate over Trump prosecutions * Did Trump sound sane compared to Tucker? * What happened to Pesca’s podcast “Not Even Mad” podcast? * It’s really hard to make a podc...

Members Only #177 - Bang , Bang, Bing, Bong, Dong, Dong (Second Sunday Live Rebroadcast) 24.08.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * San Francisco again * Song of the South again * TikTok NPC insanity * Colombian Snow White, for the first time * How Obama broke up with his girlfriends  * Roger Stone on JFK Jr. And a bit on PressTV  * Richy Rich of Richmond  * The AnCap of Argentina * If the lads of the Fifth could avoid the dumb outrage, would th...

#417 - Free Speech in Philly, Volume 1 (Live w/Lara Bazelon and Greg Lukianoff) 18.08.2023

* A Moynihan intro on theft and “Jew face” * Lara Bazelon on rap lyrics as evidence, January 6th prosecutions, RICO, prosecutorial insecurity and overreach * Artists, characters, and belief * A Title IX violation is worse than being convicted for robbery * Lara’s new podcast * Greg on Title IX bureaucracy and free speech * The decline of the American university * And much, much more * Stay tuned f...

Members Only #176 - A Fantastic Podcast Recorded in Hegemonic English 14.08.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * RIP Robbie Robertson * Yeah, so 30 minutes of music talk about The Band, The Doors being bad, listeners getting mad at us, Graham Nash in a book store, Mickey Jones, patriotic Bob, Barry Goldwater, and The Last Waltz. Sorry about that. * I’m going to suggest that you weren’t denied entry into the exclusive club beca...

Members Only #175 - The Six Million Dollar Racist and a Second-Hand Banana 07.08.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Richard Hananananananania is very sorry * He has changed. From last week. * Handjobs against racism * Lizzo, bananas, petards * “Everything I do is consequential, baby” * Chasing Fonzie the racist (Ed note: We can neither confirm nor deny this story) * The thing that is true but one cannot say… * Italy is a great bu...

#416 - A Sloppy Summer Pod, Recovered 01.08.2023

So this one is probably four days old now? But because of the shitty software we use—and the fact that our…ummm….editor is currently on vacation in Italy—it took some serious archeology to salvage the recording. But it sounds fine, it’s a good episode, and Moynihan isn’t at all annoyed about having to upload this from a beach in Forte dei Marmi. The lengths we will go to make you people smarter an...

Members Only #174 - Coast to Coast, Until You Say Stop 26.07.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Matt hasn’t seen Oppenheimer * Brittany Murphy is dead, probably from myocarditis. Kmele is surprised * Found that anti-Qaddafi t-shirt * That stupid interview on Democracy Now * NHJ is America’s greatest historian * Was Moynihan crying ? (Moynihan responds: This is fake news) * “But ackshually……..” * Low key good a...

Members Only #173 - VICE Disgrace, Racist Boston, Racist Viruses 18.07.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Kmele and the Dead * Lia hates God * RFK and the race virus * A guilty verdict * The Dersh and jury nullification * The often referenced video of Dersh v. the Fink * A listener retracts his “dickish email” * An email about Boston and music * Is Boston a “racist” city? * Forgetting about bussing * The Irish vs. the W...

#415 - The Pod of Laughter and Forgetting and Tracy Chapman and Crack and The Three Stooges 14.07.2023

* This is a very summer episode. Soz. * Moynihan, impanelled * Implicit bias and your cup of coffee * Chipotle paranoia * We interrupt this program for a detailed Welch interregnum of the death of Milan Kundera * Tracy Chapman is “honored” by Luke Combs’s cover. The Washington Post is alarmed * Elvis was a hero to most, but he never… * You didn’t write that song. The “community” did * De La Soul i...

#414 - Clarifications, Curried Goats, Cocaine Capers 09.07.2023

* Taking back a “clarification” * Underhoused. Overhoused. Differently housed. * Mayor Adams yells at a Holocaust surviving slave master * Drinking coffee with pictures of dead cops * Who lost the cocaine? * Kamala speechwriter video * The worst person in America is… * That interesting piece about Kevin Kruze’s not interesting book * The Fifth Column agrees: the 4th is pretty great… * Immigration...

Members Only #172 - We're Literally Shaking / RFK Redux 04.07.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * A sick podcast * Revisiting Coleman and RFK * Listeners yelling at Moynihan * Some nice stuff about Moynihan * A clarification from Moynihan * (All of this is re: RFK) * BTW, Sirhan Sirhan was really anti-Semitic * The conspiratorial mind * Are Birchers libertarians on meth? * Taking photos of yourself smoking crack...

#413 - So Many Idiots (w/ Damon Root) 02.07.2023

Our old pal Damon Root, author of Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court , stops by to explain why the world is ending and racism won and all new websites will be homophobic and paying your debts is fascism or something. So yeah, the lads discuss the court, affirmative action, student loans and how to eat your gay website cake. Enjoy. This is a public episode. If you'd like...

#412 - An RFK Intervention (w/ Coleman Hughes) 24.06.2023

The great Coleman Hughes sent a pained email. Like many Americans angry about various stupid and sinister government Covid policies, he was now feeling the gravitational pull of a warbly-voiced political outsider from a family of consummate political insiders. He was, of course, starting to fall for Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To be clear, this wasn’t a full-throated endorsement of Kennedy but, Cole...

Members Only #171 - Bobby, Cormac, and Geddy 19.06.2023

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Another live Zoom for our handsome, brilliant, and generous subscribers (hence all the weird asides responding to a fast-moving live chat). A few topics covered: * Kmele on Juneteenth * Rush and nerds and whites and wizards * RFK and Rogan and debate * Being brave and calling…. * RIP Cormac McCarthy * James Randi “pla...

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