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

Why'd You Gag Me, Preet Bharara! (Members Only #323) 25.05.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com The podcast is called Stay Tuned with Preet , and if you find yourself wanting more legal analysis from someone who knows the system from the inside and still has a sense of humor about it. -Trump 2.0 & the frictionless DoJ -The one thing Jeff Sessions did right -Even Bill Barr had his limits -Why do smart lawyers fol...

TFC LIVE in DC at w/ Lulu Garcia-Navarro & Robby Soave - Members Only #322 24.05.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com After 10 years of doing this podcast, this week we had our first ever DC show at the Miracle Theatre on Capitol Hill. We were joined onstage by Robby Soave of Reason , and Lulu Garcia-Navarro of The New York Times’ The Interview . Join us as we wax nostalgic about the city we love to hate, and so much more. •The Curse...

Matt Yglesias on Cancellation, Mamdani, and the AI Panic (Members Only #321) 22.05.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Matthew Yglesias is a liberal policy writer and longtime blogger. He co-founded Vox, now writes the Slow Boring newsletter, and is known for wonky-but-readable takes on housing, economics, Democratic politics, foreign policy, and the abundance agenda. -Matty finally makes it through the firewall -What type of gay is K...

The Youngest Guy in the Worst Room in America w/ Rep. Maxwell Frost (Episode #558) 20.05.2026

We talk about broken housing markets, broken healthcare, broken Congress, Trump’s corruption, a broken Cuba, Epstein, UAPs, and the tragedy of being a drummer with no place to practice. -Making music is for rich kids now -From jazz drummer to Hillary field organizer -Sandy Hook, March for Our Lives, and the road into politics -Florida’s felon disenfranchisement fight -Guns, swamps, Confederate fla...

When Everyone Stops Pretending w/ Steven Pinker (Episode #557) 14.05.2026

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 - Steven Pinker on why “common knowledge” is much stranger than it sounds -The social machinery behind weddings, money, and power -How a norm starts to die once someone breaks it and gets rewarded -Trump as the great destroyer of polite restraints -The...

Robert D. Kaplan on a World Getting Darker (Members Only #320) 12.05.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com His next book, China Whisperers (out in November), looks at the diplomats, journalists, scholars, and China hands who shaped America’s understanding, and misunderstanding, of its chief geopolitical rival. But we pretty much cover the entire globe in this conversation. -The experts had it coming -Federalists, anti-fede...

Masquerade of Morons (Episode #556) 07.05.2026

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 -Kmele gets glasses -The return of Soho legs -Matt’s movie-theater race science -Trump sends a letter to Congress saying the war is over, Iran says, “wtf?” -Little Marco, Fog of War correspondent -A very leaky White House -Strange new respect for the an...

Premeditated Fingering w/ Anthony Scaramucci (Members Only #319) 05.05.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com We’re joined by Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, former White House Communications Director, and one of the more memorable casualties of Trump 1.0 -The Mooch reads the stars -The truth is out there, allegedly -954,000 seconds in the White House -The Ryan Lizza thing, briefly -the reason God made Steve...

David French on the Supreme Court, Race, and the Miracle That Confirmed His Faith #555 30.04.2026

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 …and how raising a black daughter changed the way he sees America. -David French returns to the Fifth Column -SCOTUS drops of a few ruling -Free speech wins 9-0 ( First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport ) -The Voting Rights Act gets another t...

Crimes of Boredom (Members Only #318) 28.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com After the failed shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the boys sift through bad manifestos, assassination discourse, microlooting, conspiracy politics, and the strange moral permissions of America’s bored radicals. -Matt’s 15-year Werner Herzog hangover workshop -judging the newest failed killer manifes...

Tucker, Totenkopf, and the Fascist Question w/ Michelle Goldberg #554 23.04.2026

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 -have we met before, or did we just share a zip code? -Iran is a disaster from basically every possible angle -you don’t go to war with this president -maybe just crawl back to a worse JCPOA and call it historic -Venezuela “worked,” which is exactly why...

Live From Village Underground: The 10th Anniversary Show w/Ryan Long (Members Only #317) 22.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Comedian Ryan Long stops by to join the guys at their very special 10th year anniversary. A few live mics, a non-stop flow of mystery drinks, and audience participation: what could go wrong? -10 years later, the grievance ledger is still very much active -Brett Weinstein cannot think his way back from the moon -Andrew...

Audience of One w/ Brian Kilmeade (Members Only #316) 21.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com The border, the bombs, and can you guess how many Baldwins there are? -up at 2:30am, in by 4am, then 6 straight on-air hours before the fill-in shift even starts -Glenn Beck saved 5pm and accidentally birthed The Five -Fox News finally discovered the internet -2020 was insane and everyone got dumber -if the facts chan...

Nothing is Impossible w/ Mark Harmon (Members Only #315) 16.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com He has spent a lifetime around fame, a heroic father, football mythology, and old Hollywood… and somehow still comes off like the calmest guy in the room. -Steve McQueen and a Mini Cooper -what Carl Reiner was really like, and why Summer School still rules -growing up with Tom Harmon: Heisman winner, broadcaster, figh...

A Blockade of the Blockade #553 15.04.2026

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 -Where have ye gone Chris Matthews? -California’s governor race is a freak show (Fang Fang rides again) -Bring Kevin Spacey to the table? -Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, and different standards -The anti-gambling jihad -Talks about talks about talks -The go...

Supreme Court, Inferior Congress w/ Sarah Isgur (Members Only #314) 14.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Sarah Isgur, Executive Editor of SCOTUSblog , has a book! Last Branch Standing is out today. -The Ted Lasso version of the Supreme Court -The Supreme Court is not the 6-3 cartoon people think it is -RBG thought Roe was built on weak foundations -The Court decides legal questions, not good policy vs. bad policy -Congre...

The Ceasefire That Wasn’t #552 (w/ Abe Greenwald) 09.04.2026

-The wrong Greenwald, but the actual Abe -Everyone loves our ad spots -Iran’s deranged peace menu -Ceasefire, with extra missiles -The joint Hormuz tollbooth fantasy -What Iran lost, even if nobody can sell it -Regime change, but not the fun version -Vanceworld (probably) leaks to the Times -Trump threatens apocalypse, then shrugs -Pakistan, Vance, and easier marks -Groypers and other forms of los...

Halfwits, Knuckle Draggers, and Droolers (Members Only #313) 07.04.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com BEHOLD, the Mailbag (aka male-bagging, aka you-yell-at-us-and-we-tell-you-to-fuck-off) -The Easter Bunny claps for the Iran rescue -Lie long enough and eventually your conscience taps out -about that Rahm moment -who remembers Jazz Hands? -maybe woke actually is over -Bret Weinstein, vindication for the Evergreen psyc...

Ten Years of The Fifth Column (#551) 02.04.2026

The Fifth Column marks ten years with a live, loose, alcohol-assisted celebration featuring Thor Halvorssen, Pete Meijer, Olivia Reingold, Nick Gillespie, and Nancy Rommelmann, with stops along the way for Venezuela, culture war absurdity, Jewish identity, sexual politics, old stories, new grievances, and the usual refusal to keep anything on the rails. WATCH IT on Youtube: The Fifth Column (A Pod...

Cuba, Race, and the American Category Problem w/Ted Henken (Members Only #312) 31.03.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Oh, and Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of this show, yes, on April Fools’. Can you fucking believe it? Join us for the only appropriate celebration, a LIVE late-night shitfest of alcohol, probable technical mishaps, and some very special guests. -Theodore Henken, plantanified yuma -Why America still can’t quit C...

The Limits of Sound and Fury w/ Rahm Emanuel (Members Only #311) 28.03.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Maybe I wasn’t exactly a prince * Why nobody should want to stay in Washington too long * The worst job in politics * The ACA, “the three children,” and the birth of the Tea Party * The Great Recession and losing your ticket to the American dream * Trump didn’t invent the anger, he captured it * The no-drinking-unti...

Is Apple Still Apple? #550 (w/ David Pogue) 26.03.2026

Kmele loves Apple products…maybe a little too much. But what a perfect guest to talk all things related to this monster company and how it’s shaped American culture and the globe as a whole. -The Newton saved Apple -What Kmele does with Apple products in the shower -The underdog with taste -Why Matt Welch hates Macs -On getting access to Apple -Project Titan and the $10 billion heartbreak -Apple a...

The Hungarian Road to Havana (Members Only #310) 24.03.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Celine Dion, slightly less stiff -Every headline out of Hungary is insane -The Orbán character arc -The Polish miracle -Conservative 2Pac in the Borat republic -Cuba is falling apart, Hasan Piker is thriving -Cuba’s healthcare miracle, minus aspirin -Why pseudo-intellectuals love communist field trips -The pig whose...

There’s Always a New Monster to Destroy (w/ Noam Dworman) #549 19.03.2026

-Joe Kent’s weird texts and the “Israel did Iraq” brainworm -The Jews are so fucking clever -Iraq 2003, back from the dead yet again -There’s always a new monster to destroy -Iran, nukes, and the problem with crazy people holding civilization hostage -A Ron Paul guy with a war boner -Don’t you realize you’re losing America? -Norman Finkelstein has no phone -Mearsheimering, Robert Pape, and the inc...

Cuba in the Dark (Members Only #309) 17.03.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Gov. Chris Christie debrief -Kmele nearly dies after seeing the new hidden painting on set -K-Pop Nazi Hunters and Sinners -Joy Reid says America is basically Iran now -Straight from The Communist -Lights out in Cuba -The Gains of the Cuban Revolution -”I got my job from the New York Times” -The old broken Cuban syst...

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