The Fifth Column

Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch
  • 4.2 (153)
  • News
  • Updated Weekly

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

  1. Are We the Baddies? The Graham Platner Reckoning (w/ Kat Rosenfield) - #565

    13 hrs ago

    Are We the Baddies? The Graham Platner Reckoning (w/ Kat Rosenfield) - #565

    The great Kat Rosenfield joins us to discuss the ongoing fallout from rape allegations against Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner published Monday by Politico. When you’re a star, they let you mispronounce their name. •The Fifth Column (whiskey) sells out! •America’s birthday month •Loathing Graham Platner before it was cool •The least weird thing about Platner •The Times is on it •A working class hero is something to be A•bout that beard •The flaws are a feature, not a bug •We all know a guy like this •Christine Blasey Ford enters the chat•Michael Tracey exists •Kmele expresses skepticism•It’s not consensual, it’s DiGiorno•On second thought, let’s not play the Fuentes clip •Michell Goldberg’s mea culpa •Fruit baskets •Midterm Madness… the Graham Platner edition •Stephen King for senate? •Missing Moynihan Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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

    1h 15m
  2. The Revolution Will Be Staffed by PhDs (w/co-host Peter Meijer) - #564

    6d ago

    The Revolution Will Be Staffed by PhDs (w/co-host Peter Meijer) - #564

    -The Fifth Column whiskey racket begins -Matt moves during a heat wave… Peter Meijer reports for duty -Meijer, class traitor, explains the pied-à-terre tax -Mayor Mamdani balances the budget, if you ignore the bailout -Kmele gets Hayek’d -Machine politics was bad, but graduate student politics is worse. -Bannon’s old Leninist fantasy, now available in DSA packaging -Kamala Harris genuflects toward Mamdani-world -MAGA wants the factories back. The robots have other ideas. -Ro Khanna’s children: landed gentry -Midterm Madness, Rocky Mountain High -Melat Kiros justifies 9/11 -Scott Wiener gets yelled at for insufficient revolutionary fervor -Stalinism, but make it customer-facing -The revolution will be staffed by PhD candidates -Speaking of revolution: happy birthday, America Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a viewer/listener supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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

    1h 26m
  3. Adam Carolla Has Nowhere Else to Go (Members Only #332)

    Jul 1

    Adam Carolla Has Nowhere Else to Go (Members Only #332)

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Also: a serious discussion of the cinematic category known as “movies where they clearly came up with the title first.” -The N-word trap at the Hudson Yards gym -Joe Jackson dressed for the evil dad part -Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound defense -Richard Simmons slaps a cage fighter -How to respond to an a*****e -Con Air, Face/Off, and insane ’90s movies -Pr…

    15 min
  4. One-Hitter: Sarah Isgur Explains the Supreme Court’s Big Finish (Members Only #331)

    Jun 30

    One-Hitter: Sarah Isgur Explains the Supreme Court’s Big Finish (Members Only #331)

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com We are lucky to be joined once again by Executive Editor of SCOTUSblog, Sarah Isgur, and on a day when the Supreme Court gave everyone a lot to argue about. -Trump loses, birth tourism maybe does not -Anchor babies and America’s soccer future -The 14th Amendment gets weird -A color-blind Constitution, except when it isn’t -Immigration is the culture war now -Executive p…

    7 min
  5. The Cadres and the Cabal (#563)

    Jun 26

    The Cadres and the Cabal (#563)

    -Welch enters his Charles Nelson Reilly era -Laura Branigan, Happy Mondays, and songs you didn’t know were covers -Puerto Rico’s revenge -The cadres are closing in -Reihan Salam and Larry Flynt -DAC hits the media circuit and refuses to answer the easiest question in politics -Aber Kawas explains 9/11, in a Miss South Carolina sort of way -Vaporware word clouds masquerading as policy -No borders, no prisons, no TSA PreCheck… no joke -Nationalizing airlines, abolishing comfort, and calling it justice -Mamdani’s machine, the DSA bench, and the Democratic Party’s growing nervous breakdown -Polymarket vs. the polls -The internet is not a socialist invention, no matter how hard socialists try -Senate Republicans discover Trump skepticism several years too late -The SAVE Act tantrum and the incredible courage of people who already lost -Tucker, Trump, Iran, inflation, and the limits of MAGA obedience -Peter Thiel’s terrifying secret network of people talking at conferences -Moynihan goes to Dialog and accidentally joins the Illuminati -Kmele reports back from the alleged cabal -Bohemian Grove was cooler because at least you had to break in Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a listener/viewer supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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

    1h 36m
  6. One Hitter: The DSA Takes NYC w/ Michael A. Cohen (Members Only #330)

    Jun 24

    One Hitter: The DSA Takes NYC w/ Michael A. Cohen (Members Only #330)

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Michael A. Cohen is a columnist for MSNOW, a senior fellow at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and co-director of its Afghanistan Assumptions Project. He also writes the Truth and Consequences newsletter. He is not the former fixer of Donald Trump. -The correct Michael Cohen stops by -Mamdani flexes in the primaries and three congress critters cometh -DAC gets worse the more…

    9 min
  7. Genocide Juice and the Socialist Machine w/Reihan Salam (Members Only #329)

    Jun 24

    Genocide Juice and the Socialist Machine w/Reihan Salam (Members Only #329)

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Ethnicity as performance -Manhattan politics with the president of the Manhattan Institute -Dan Goldman orders coffee, receives moral instruction -The many political personalities of Brad Lander -Taxpayer-funded activism and the Office of Mass Engagement -Mamdani and the borg beneath the campaign -AOC, cadres, and disciplined political parties -Gaza as the om…

    17 min
  8. The Iran Deal Is Bad and Everyone Is Stupid (#562)

    Jun 19

    The Iran Deal Is Bad and Everyone Is Stupid (#562)

    -Kmele debuts his Sebastian Bach beach jeans -The Iran deal is like the JCPOA, but a lot worse -Lebanon sneaks into a U.S.-Iran deal -Strait of Hormuz, 60-day promises, and negotiating with hostage-takers -Why can’t the hawks ever learn? -Ukraine brings the war home to Russia -Drones, oil refineries, and the new cost of war -Europe wakes up… sort of -Meloni jabs her digits at Trump -Polymarket checks the damage in Israeli politics -as well as NY-13 and the rise of the DSA -Hamilton Heights is Gaza now -Mamdani’s little machine comes for Dan Goldman -Gaza replaces BLM as the Democratic purity test -The long-term problem with Mamdani economics -Gavin Newsom vs. Trump’s DOJ -The New York Times makes the Epstein suicide case -Tucker, Trump, Loomer, and the inevitable reunion -Baseball is gay in June Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a viewer/listener supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

    1h 38m
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Hosts & Guests

4.2
out of 5
153 Ratings

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    675
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Fifth Column
  • Show Website
    The Fifth Column

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