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

Where to listen?

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Episodes

How Much Benevolence Can You Take? - #540 15.01.2026

-Good Movies We’ve Never Seen -Raw Dog Minerals -Moynihan Responds to a Cunty Troll -The Reckoning We Didn’t Have -Renee Good, a Week Removed -These People Have No Constitutional Knowledge -The MST3K of ICE Videos -The Sanctuary City Devaluation -Iranian Violence Spectacle and thoroughly verifying the dead -Weaponized DOJ: Now Featuring Powell and a Reporter Raid -The Walter Cronkite of This Gener...

Why Can't We Be Friends? (w/ Ana Kasparian) - Members Only #295 13.01.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Who Remembers the Armenians? (The Fresno ones) -The One Good Decision Gavin Newsom has made -Who Remembers Amy Cooper? (The Central Park one) -When Facts Become Partisan Coded -Journalism vs. Activism -Matt Welch Is Buffy St. Marie -Broken LA Dreams -The Actual Way to Pronounce Cenk Uygur -ICE’s Shock and Awe Theater...

The Memory Hole & the Rent Freeze Trap (w/ Josh Barro) - #539 08.01.2026

We’re joined by Josh Barro , contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and host of the Very Serious and Central Air Substack -Feldstein, Leibowitz, Berkowitz, and White Nationalist Moynihan -The Nancy Pelosi Riot, 5 years later -An ICE shooting in Minneapolis -Morally disgusting and electorally advantageous -Marco Rubio’s Spine Transplant -Memory-Holing Anarchy -The Warmth of Collectivism...

Kevin Williamson Is The Darkness - Members Only #294 06.01.2026

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com •Belated Christmas gifts from Matt •Who’s got the biggest war boner? •Lysander Spooner, still bringing people together after all these years •Kevin’s had four kids in 19 months. You do the math. •How to tell the kids apart? Tattoo ‘em! • Build, Baby, Build •Romney the virile tribal chieftain •Trump’s faux presidential...

One Hitter: Maduro Snatch 'n Grab with Thor Halvorssen (Members Only #293) 04.01.2026

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 back to the Fifth Column One Hitter! This time Matt and Moyn are joined by Human Rights Foundation founder—and Venezuelan dissident, des...

The Revolutionaries (w/ Charles C. Mann) - #1 01.01.2026

Introducing The Revolutionaries , a new Fifth Column miniseries for the Semiquincentennial Exactly 250 years ago yesterday, George Washington’s Continental Army attempted to drive the redcoats out of Canada, thereby protecting the rebels’ northern flank, by launching a two-pronged assault on Quebec. It was a disaster . There was snow and ice everywhere (who knew that Canada might be cold on New Ye...

Year Is Over (If You Want It) - #538 30.12.2025

-Eggnog: What’s Actually in This Shit? -Massachusetts Pidgin -Kmele’s Kwanzaa Plans -“What We Got Wrong” (Nothing) -Eddington vs. Sinners -Spending Hundreds of Dollars to Get Drunk at Zootopia 2 - Pearl Harbor: Live at Budokan -Moynihan Stroke Watch -The Ryan Lizza Self-Emasculating Saga… Continued -Mediaite’s Biggest Losers List -Batya! Recap (Now in Animation!) -Was Moynihan Wrong About the Epst...

Sweet Baby Jesus! Are We Really Arguing About Sodomy with John Fugelsang? - Members Only #292 23.12.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Twas the episode before Christmas, and all through the show, The hosts were debating how the political winds blow. Matt Welch was present, the whole crew was there, With Moynihan and Kmele, live on the air. The guest was John Fugelsang , with a name meaning “Birdsong,” Who’d been banished to Cali to write for so long....

Black Irish, Ice Queens, and Body Snatchers (w/ Tina Nguyen) - #537 18.12.2025

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...

Not Even Matt Drudge Can Make Today Better - On Rob Reiner, Bondi Beach, and DJT (Members Only #291) 16.12.2025

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...

Nobody Likes a Gossip Cop (w/ Dan Abrams) - #536 11.12.2025

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...

Members Only #291 - Leader of the Asshole Nation (w/ Kevin O'Leary) 10.12.2025

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! *...

UNLOCKED Members Only #290 - AI George Washington, LSD Margaritas, and Tara Reid 09.12.2025

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...

#535 - America's Top Breshnevist (w Brace Belden) 04.12.2025

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...

UNLOCKED: Atheist in a Foxhole, w/ the Great Sebastian Junger 03.12.2025

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...

UNLOCKED - Members Only #289 - Destroy All Robots…Before They Destroy US (w/ Andy Mills) 02.12.2025

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...

Members Only #288 (LIVE in Los Angeles) - American Canyon Revisited 29.11.2025

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...

Members Only #287 - Hoarding Epstein’s Emails, Band T-Shirts, and Air Jordans (w Jason Leopold) 27.11.2025

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...

#534 - Even the Mayor Says L.A. Isn’t Well Governed (w/ Karen Bass) 25.11.2025

• 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...

#533 - Moynihan vs. Moynihan (w/ Lydia Moynihan) 20.11.2025

* 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...

Members Only #286 - Atheist in a Foxhole (w/ Sebastian Junger) 18.11.2025

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...

#532 - Trinnies, Joy Bells, and Race Pride (w/ Abby Phillip) 13.11.2025

* 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...

Members Only #285 - The Case For American Power (w/ Shadi Hamid) 11.11.2025

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” *...

#531 - Liberal of Fox News, Unite! (w/ Jessica Tarlov) 06.11.2025

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...

Members Only #284 - Pod Save The Queen (The Fascist Regime) with Jon Lovett 04.11.2025

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...

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