The Fifth Column

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Moynihan couldn’t make it (we don’t know where he is, but if you see a shirtless man yelling at a parking meter in lower Manhattan, please let us know). In his absence, Kmele and Welch cover a wide swath: alien oceans and scientific hype cycles, the collapse of local journalism, the rise of YouTube basketball nerds, a...

Errr….This one gets pretty heated. But we’re all still friends! We think. And Moynihan is now sober and his blood sugar is back to normal, so there’s that too. Either way, hats off to Batya for braving another episode with three people who disagree with her on pretty much everything. We talk Tariffs, Trump, lawfare, Ukraine, and everything in between. This is a public episode. If you'd like to dis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The Hungarian dentist and the prostitute theory * Your TV wife sees Hitler all the time, no? * Facilitate… * Dinners with politicians * A digression on Big Star ( FYI: "Holocaust” ) * Elder scams * Apple Watches and proof of life * Back to Rogan and Murray * A trip to Libya for a copy of the Green Book * #9 Fifth Dr...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com On May 11, 2020, as I was navigating personal collapse (“it’s been a really shitty two months,” I said on an interesting-to-listen-to-now Special Dispatch #20 ), my two daughters were wrestling unhappily with Zoom school, and all three of us lads were in the process of buying Covid cars, I came across a Wired article...

Moynihan is out with a “tooth thing” (which sounds lame, but is allegedly a “painful,” “very serious” dental emergency that definitely doesn't involve a tall, attractive blonde woman). Fortunately, our pal Jesse Singal ( Blocked and Reported , Singal-Minded ) is along for the ride, and outlines the plans for his heroic crusade to save THE REPUBLIC by beefing with JD Vance on X. We dive into Trump...

Is this episode 500?? Well, not really. Likely a bit higher. There have been some numbering convention mixups over the years and we’ve also recorded almost 300 paywalled episodes (yes, you should subscribe now, ya skinflints). But let’s just pretend it’s 500 and say…happy 500th episode, Fifth Column! * Waymo through skid row * The dumb right * Dead cats bounce * They took brown doublewides from us...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Val, Tombstone, Top Secret * Top Gun takes it to 11 * One the best Hollywood memoirs * RIP Capucine * African-American Monday * Johnny Depp, musician * OK TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE COLLAPSING ECONOMY * Spartacus moment? Once they start flipping… * “They couldn’t believe it. Ben Shapiro, of all people…” * A Norwegian. A...

* We bring back the great economist Scott Lincicome to separate MAGA myths from inconvenient facts on trade, trade imbalances, ChatGPT math, and getting “ripped off” by our (former?) allies. * Note: watch Kmele and Moynihan (and Gerald Posner) on the latest episode of the Moynihan Report * Eli’s new Liberation Day jam * These tariffs are dumb * Really, really dumb * Ruinously dumb * Laura Loomer i...

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...

* 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...

* 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...

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...

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.

* 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...

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...

* 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...

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?’

* 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

* 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...

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...

* 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...

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...

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...

* 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...

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...