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PODCAST

The Fifth Column

Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

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

news & politics

All Episodes

20:32

The Admirably Irresponsible Journalist w/ John R....

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/31

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comSo that’s where these Genius Grants come from…-Most roads lead back to Prague for Matt Welch-about that letter…six paragraphs, $5 million in free publicity and Harper’s back in the mainstream-It was NAFTA, not woke, that elected Trump. Or was it?-Illegal immigration is a wage issue-Who still believes free trade is the answer to everything?-Vietnam made …

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101:15

The Fifth Gets a Substitute Teacher (w/ Jesse Singal)...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/29

Jesse Singal of Blocked and Reported and Singal-Minded fills Michael Moynihan’s special diabetic chair to discuss Fauci’s diaries, broken institutions, runaway AI, LeBron and Mamdani Mart.-Moynihan out, Jesse Singal in-Barry Weiss hired everyone except Jesse-The Prince of Science re-enrages everyone (or at least Rand Paul)-Gell-Mann amnesia and the collapse of institutional trust-The media needed a COVID daddy-An OpenAI model escaped the sandbox-The analogy of the paperclip machine and how it

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17:46

The Temple Is Rich. The Monks Are Poor (w/ Frank...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comFrank Dikötter is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and one of the foremost historians of modern China. His research in overlooked and restricted Communist Party archives has transformed our understanding of Maoist rule.-Frank Dikötter is kind of Dutch, but not really-Writing the definitive history of Maoist horror-Edgar Snow a…

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124:54

I Don’t Make Mistakes Anymore. They’re Just Lies (w/...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/22

We talk about what the media still gets wrong about Trump, what losing CNN did to him, and why he believes more political violence is coming.-Kmele sizes Chris up and… is this podcast 10% gay?-From Fox, to ABC, to CNN-Did the media make Trump president?-Celebrity, discontent and everything the media missed-Being right about what’s wrong-The duopoly is killing us. DSA isn’t helping.-Cuomo, Cuomo and Cuomo Crime Time-Scott Jennings, JD Vance and the rewards of picking a side-The media discovers

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18:56

The Gold-Plated Imperial Presidency (w/ Maggie...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/21

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comRegime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, co-written with Jonathan Swan, is out now.-yes, he superglues the gold fixtures in the Oval Office-Maggie Haberman and her very irritating competitor Jonathan Swan-Project 2025 and Stephen Miller’s search for lawyers who would get to “yes”-what needs to be in the paper as soon as possible… a…

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16:14

The Denial of Reality Is a Powerful Drug (w/ Bret...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/17

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com-Bret Stephens, Mexican?-Bret’s naked grandmother and the Trotsky/Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo connection-The family saga of Stalinists, refugees and Reagan Republicans-Learning to love America through tap water and cops you don’t have to bribe-Belgium, a sick little, horrible place-America, land of late bloomers-The socialist Sweden Bernie remembers no lon…

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91:12

There Is No They - #566

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/15

-The many sins of fattie John J. Cafaro-The Moynihan Report will return-Hand jobs and the intellectual life of West Hollywood-Release the Welch canceled-songs playlist-The Iran deal is dead. The war is back.-Why did Iran blow it up? Why does a dog lick his balls?-Air power has never toppled a regime-The anti-globalists discover the Strait of Hormuz-Israel’s secret Ahmadinejad project-In partial defense of the late Lindsey Graham-Politics is gross. Stop loving politicians.-Fellating is best done

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22:05

Failing "The God Test" (w/ Robert Wright) - Members...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/10

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comRobert Wright’s new book The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning, is out now (Bookshop | Amazon)•“Conference” = group sex•21 years of successfully avoiding podcast wealth•Interviewing the godfather of AI•A tiger and a rattlesnake•Matt gets quizzed on LLMs•The God Test•The shock of vibe coding•China and the superintelligence arms race•Re…

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75:22

Are We the Baddies? The Graham Platner Reckoning (w/...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/08

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 beA•bout that beard•The flaws are a feature, not a bug•We all know a guy like

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86:09

The Revolution Will Be Staffed by PhDs (w/co-host...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/02

-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

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15:25

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

The Fifth Column ·

2026/07/01

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comAlso: 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 asshole-Con Air, Face/Off, and insane ’90s movies-Pr…

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6:57

One-Hitter: Sarah Isgur Explains the Supreme Court’s...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/30

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comWe 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…

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96:06

The Cadres and the Cabal (#563)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/26

-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

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9:17

One Hitter: The DSA Takes NYC w/ Michael A. Cohen...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comMichael 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…

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16:42

Genocide Juice and the Socialist Machine w/Reihan...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/24

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…

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97:52

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

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/19

-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

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19:51

Batya Ungar-Sargon and the Status Revolution (Members...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/17

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comBatya Ungar-Sargon, host of Batya! on NewsNation, returns!!! And with a new book, The Jews and the Left, about antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and why so much of the modern left has made Jews the enemy. -JD Vance, Tucker, and the anti-Israel right-The Iran deal, Rubio’s silence, and Trump’s trial balloon-What Batya got wrong about the war-Could Trump have sold the war better?

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89:54

The Knicks, Oyster Man, and the Infinite Lies (#561)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/12

-The Knicks give New York its greatest night in years and OG makes his MVP case-Valid destruction or peaceful rioting?-A brief detour through America’s dumbest college mascots-Dave Chappelle and Shane Gillis give Moynihan a perfect Comedy Cellar night-Kmele roots for the Spurs, but only to punish Knicks fans-Spike Lee has been on the court long enough-Which celebrity row courtsider gets booed?-Mamdani gets into the affordable soccer jersey business-The World Cup comes to New Jersey by

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18:54

A Hamster Wheel of Shit w/Ana Navarro (Members Only...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/10

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comThroughout this entire interview, Ana remains furious that our office was stocked with whiskey, but only half a bottle of white wine and absolutely no pizza.-The White House press corps just takes it-Kristen Welker gets the Trump treatment (and would Trump have tried that with Tim Russert?)-Ana Navarro is here, from one of them Mexican countries-Charles…

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18:22

When Political Violence Has the Right Enemies w/ Noah...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/06/05

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comNoah’s new book is Blood and Progress… not to be confused with “Blood and Soil,” a phrase Moynihan has been muttering to himself around the office.-A book squarely in the TFC wheelhouse-The teens, the twenties, the sixties, the seventies, and now-The forgotten history of left-wing violence-Italian anarchists and “propaganda of the deed”-Is Noah handwavi…

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