Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

The Fifth Column

News EN ↓ 676 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

Author

Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

Category

News

Podcast website

www.wethefifth.com

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

Members Only #254 - These Days of the Condor 01.04.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Tomorrow on The Moynihan Report: Actor and former fat guy Ethan Suplee ( American History X, Wolf of Wall Street, Mall Rats, Remember the Titans ). You can watch live at 4pm ET here. Archived there too! * Muslims and parking * No turkeys in NYC * Matt to the mothership * Austin Fifdom * Kmele and a Complete Unknown...

#498 - The Signal and the Boys 27.03.2025

* FYI: If you want to join the Zoom for March 27 episode of The Moynihan Report at 4pm ET, use this link * The Legend of Gavin and Charlie * Bob in Tulsa * Moyn in Miami * The bumbling Signal Boyz * We hope our kids never lie like this * Defund NPR * Another 25% will save American industry * Remember the minerals deal? * The jury on whether we should execute the judiciary * Car swastikas * And muc...

#496 - Ich bin ein Disappointed Konspiracy Theorist 19.03.2025

* Live tweeting history * The importance of Jack * The “climate of hate” * Some of these goofballs are normal * RIP Manny * The fake ceasefire * If only were weren’t a democracy… * Back to Gaza * Civil liberties, due process, and magicians * And a bunch more…. 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/su...

Members Only #253 - One-Armed Lithuanians and Mute Latvian Cats 19.03.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The golden age of Oaktown’s 357 ("I just put Juicy, Got Him Crazy into Chat GPT to determine what it's about and it is definitely a song about...." * Yes, we briefly talk about forgotten about rappers and their dumb lyrics * Pumps and the Bump * Grok has this to say about our Hammer convo: “The casual acceptance of...

Members Only #252 - On a Sunday, On the Lash (w/ Thomas Chatterton Williams) 17.03.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A rebroadcast of our last subscriber-only Second Sunday episode. Thomas Chatterton Williams stops by. Everyone’s in the same room. Many bottles are emptied. Many offensive jokes told. Many careers destroyed. Enjoy.

#495 - Cranks, Conspiracies, Campuses, and Ceasefires 15.03.2025

* The one Jew she likes * The amateur crank historian * The cranks always end at…take a guess * Kmele isn’t interested in Ms. Macron’s dong * Show we draw some distinctions? * Congrats to the Buchananites * The weirdness of Gavin Newsom’s podcast * On Bannon * On Columbia, the first amendment, masks, and dangerous idiots * The Ukraine non-deal * And much, much more This is a public episode. If you...

Members Only #251 – We Got Five Years of Covid Fury 13.03.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com I was very moved by friend & past guest Jeff Blehar ’s Covid anniversary piece , so … I just read it out loud. And added related commentary for paying subscribers. Some links alluded to therein, in rough order of reference: * Reason Roundtable Covid look-back * Related Twitter thread * “ The Great COVID Rupture : Thre...

#494 - State of Delusion 05.03.2025

* A very long SOTU * Al Green meets Buju Banton, Tripadvisor objects * The most beautiful, terrifying word in the English language * The “deficit” you shouldn’t care about * The forgotten Foxconn boondoggle * The hopeless Democrats * Maybe look at, say, Dean Phillips and ignore the Squad * Asian finger cuffs * Two cheers for parliamentary democracy * Poor lil’ Marco * Who killed Gene Hackman’s dog...

Members Only #250 - Twitter Is Now Real Life 03.03.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com There’s some discussion of parenting. A tiny bit about the Oscars. And a bunch about the triumph of conspiracy culture. But this is mostly a subscriber-only episode about the Zelensky debacle and the ongoing U.S. foreign policy realignment. So why bother with bullet points?’

#493 - Fifth Extra: John Bolton on Trump 2.0 02.03.2025

* Trump’s maturity * Trump’s deal making * Trump and NATO * Trump vs. Europe * Trump and Taiwan * A price on Bolton’s head * Is he a neocon? 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

#492 - How Deep Is Your State 28.02.2025

* The traffickers of the Fifth Column * The genius of Bill Belichick * Those Boston boys aren’t so terrible after all * Nick v. Stewart * Democracy died in the light! * The WaPo freakout * The press pool freakout * No one believes in anything, part 387 * The “Epstein files” will contain nothing of interest * A “Roman” salute that no one noticed * MSNBC is apparently racist * A live event in NYC! T...

Members Only #249 - Killing Us Softly 25.02.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * RIP Roberta * What’s the “woke right?” No idea. * MAGA Brooklyn * Reform Party 2000! * Nadia didn’t pay, so… * But does it vindicate the collusion narrative? * Eli Lake’s “Framed and Guilty” * The Great Negotiator * The rise of AfD…and the end of Europe? * Kmele and Kanye (“ He’s a NAZI, Kmele, a NAZI …”) * Moynihan...

#491 - The Last Globalist 21.02.2025

* Matt vs. the Gremlins * He lasts about 20 minutes * Subscribe to the pod so he can stay at normal hotels that don’t use Compuserve * Two minutes of Kayne and the Yahud * Everything is a lie * Free speech king goes Russiagate * Trump’s Ukraine disgrace * Allies and Axis 2.0 * Here DOGEy DOGEy DOGEy * Misunderstanding democracy * The animals of Hamas * Inhumanity makes one inarticulate * 😡🐰🥚 Th...

Members Only #248 - Marvin, Mugshots, and Migrants 17.02.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * If this plane crashes, it’ll just be ‘Steve Wozniak, Allen Iverson, and some other people’ * Murder motel in Huntington Beach * Marvin Gaye's confession * A shot, a beer, and Paddington 3 * Brexit, bananas, and robber outfits * Not their best. But sort of. * The New York Times ’s dumb report from Europe * Does Vance...

#490 - Among the Bullshitters 16.02.2025

So we took a few days off. We deserved it. Sort of. And after all, there were pilots to filmed, kids to be cared for, conferences to attend. Indeed, on Friday we gave a talk at a wonderful University of Florida conference on America’s love of bullshit. But we begged off from the proceedings for an hour to record an episode. Because we love you guys. And because we needed to discuss Pete Hegseth, b...

#489 - Neocon Don and Sandals Gaza 06.02.2025

* The hockey plumber * A very brief return to tariffs * Let’s fight the drug war again! Yay! * Neocon Don wants to make Gaza great…for the first time * This is a very, very bad idea * Like…an extraordinarily bad idea * The 80-20 issue * Lia’s standup special * 60 Minutes in the docket * “Restoring freedom of speech” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...

Members Only #247 - The Dumbest War Begins 03.02.2025

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com We asked ChatGPT to give us some titles for this episode. Turned out to be a pretty decent précis of the discussion…and the last one is particularly good: "Tariffs, TikTok, and Toe-Kneading Terror" "Mary Poppins: Feminist Propaganda & Economic Illiteracy" "Avocados vs. American Fish: The Dumbest Trade Debate Ever" "Tr...

#488 - By Order of the MAGAstate 01.02.2025

* 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...

Members Only #246 - Premature Denazification 27.01.2025

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 *...

#487 - A Symphony of Horror 23.01.2025

* 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...

Members Only #245 - Everything Old Is New Again 21.01.2025

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...

#486 - A Deal with the Devil, MelaniaCoin, Danny has AIDS 17.01.2025

* 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...

Members Only #244 - Second Sunday Coming Down 16.01.2025

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...

#485 - The Fire This Time 10.01.2025

* 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...

Members Only #243 - Pox Blankets, Political Cartoons, Poor Parenting 06.01.2025

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...

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