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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

44:16

One Hitter: Why Oil Prices Could Get Much Worse (w/...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/10/03

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comMarshall spent 25 years covering oil and gas at Raymond James before retiring this week. He joins the guys to explain what’s actually driving prices higher, why diesel matters more than most people realize, and how war, refinery outages, and shrinking reserves have left the global energy market with very little room for error. Also, is Marshall the real

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90:33

The Weave Within the Weave

The Fifth Column ·

2026/10/02

…and Moynihan discusses Harvard’s artist in residence. Also, we’ve been nominated for something! vote for us in for the Signal Awards!-Kmele’s Cross-Country Trail of Tears-Trump Praises the Latinos-Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble-Coming Soon: Jason’s Weird Fetishes-Trump Talks to Time-The Weave We Go-No Fatties, No Trannies, No Weirdos-It’s Worse Because It’s Worse-Saving Western Civilization, One Taxpayer-Funded Ad at a Time-Sen. Eric Schmitt’s Awesome Week-The Indian Question-Roxane Gay, Harvard

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14:52

Sarah Hepola and the Life You Didn’t Choose (Members...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/29

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comFinally, a break from politics and a discussion about…love. If you like Sarah, check out her podcast with friend of The Fifth Column Nancy Rommelmann Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast -Sarah is back on the wagon (not really!)-The married man, the younger man, and the New Orleans homicide detective-Women’s tears are a recording device-Kavanaugh, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves…

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13:54

The UN, Wokeness, and Other Failed Institutions...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/25

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com-being gay, doing drugs, that’s the Szeps life-Moynihan’s anti-Australian bigotry-the Lupita Nyong’o pronunciation challenge-Why is daddy wearing boobs?-this actor can play any ethnicity-Josh’s dad, the George Costanza of Australia-UN Clip-o-rama-in defense of the UN, sort of-can America afford to piss off all its allies?-Greta Thunberg goes to the Rena…

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15:36

The Algorithm Is the Editor-in-Chief (w/ David...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/23

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com-Pakman is a fan of this show. Will he regret saying this?-Kmele’s cult-adjacent upbringing-Pakman’s Argentina upbringing-Macklemore, Robert Kraft and the limits of independent media-Do people actually control their media diet?-Nick Fuentes, Fishback and Twitter not being real life-Pakman puts himself at the tip of the junk food pyramid-Should The Fifth…

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100:29

The Loyal Republican w/ Scott Jennings (#576)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/22

And is he gonna get that press secretary job or not?-Jennings the teetotaler-wtf happened to Moynihan’s hair?-Jennings’ working-class Kentucky origin story-back when Kentucky + West Virginia were swing states-Rush Limbaugh + Paul Harvey University-what would Rush make of $9K for stay-at-home moms?-what kind of Republican is Scott Jennings anyway?-why is Trump so unpopular?-tariffs, potash + the new Republican orthodoxy-the Greenland victory (?) lap begins-Scott’s muscular Republicanism meets the

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17:53

Academically Unserious With Authoritarian...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/18

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comTyler Austin Harper, staff writer for The Atlantic and co-host of the Time To Say Goodbye podcast joins Michael C. Moynihan & Matt Welch to talk about extreme fishing, picking socialsts as your fighters, and his recent pot-stirring essay “Why I quit the tenure track.” •It’s morning in America, or is it Japan?•The Night Fisher•Worse than Al Qaeda•A pro-America leftist•Why Tyler Austin Harper quit the …

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108:33

AI Might Kill Us. Here’s Why It Matters: w/ Jim...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/16

-Simplify, simplify, simplify…-Do people like Jim as a boss?-The two things to screen for in prospective employees-The humility of Mike Allen-AI and the newsroom-The way you consume news is about to completely change-Are we at the Napster stage of AI?-The demand for local news didn’t die-DEI without the corporate activism-Axios refuses to take a stand-Moynihan’s Vice postmortem-Jim used to be a hothead. Mostly.-AI might kill us. Why it matters-Kmele vs. the AI doomers-Hugging Face and the runaway AI

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90:22

The Things We Thought After 9/11 (#574)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/11

-RIP Andrew Wimsatt, a true friend of the show and beloved member of the Fifth Column community-And in lighter news, it’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11-Trump’s 9/11 story-Why we’re called The Fifth Column-When Matt Welch welcomed us to war-Moynihan moved to New York on September 10, 2001-How much of your memory of the day is actually real?-Mary Beard and other “the US had it coming” takes-Little Eichmanns and the root-causes Olympics-Did we win the War on Terror?-You get $5,000! And you get

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16:25

The Department Formerly Known as Justice (w/ Devlin...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/09

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comAs well as Epstein, and the conspiracy theories that refuse to die-the most famous person from Troy, NY?-shut your whore mouth, Producer Jason-we actually do have a serious guest today-a radical re-purposing of the Justice Department-James Comey and the seashells-lowercase justice-Tom Homan and the $50,000 CAVA bag-Abscam and the lost art of government …

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98:50

Conspiracy Theories Never Die (w/ James B. Meigs) #573

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/04

Jim is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a Wall Street Journal columnist-The tractor beam of sexuality-James B. Meigs is here-Tucker Carlson is just asking questions. He’s less interested in the answers-It’s 9/11 season. Call in the OG debunker-Jet fuel didn’t have to melt steel-Death threats for… Popular Mechanics-Tucker finds Israel in the JFK files-Revisiting Loose Change, 20 years later-Conspiracy theories thrive in the ruins of journalism-Data centers or, hear us out, server

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15:59

It Was All Just a Joke (Members Only #342)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/09/02

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comLook who decided to come back for this episode! (for the visually impaired, it’s the one and only Kmele Foster)-A Caribbean anti-colonial fantasy-A gay Lady Chatterley’s Lover… and hockey-Oh, Milo-Because it’s funny. It’s a joke-Milo, the Tates, and the “it was all a bit” defense-ICE, deportations, and discovering empathy the hard way-He gave as good as…

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94:15

Canada Calls Trump’s Bluff (#572)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/28

Holy shit, The Moynihan Report has RETURNED.Watch the episode, subscribe on YouTube, and sign up for Moynihan’s Substack while you’re at it.Now, back to the Fifth: -why you have to watch this podcast-Sanna Marin…for the policy-Finding Kmele Foster-Welch returns from Montreal to report that the French lost-life in the time of Trade War-NPR finally solves reparations-tariffs, hockey sticks, and remedial economics-JD Vance is still not funny-Polymarket bets on Canada-Tucker discovers Christian

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14:02

Bad Writing, Good Journalism, and AI (w/ Ben Smith)...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/26

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comHow does Semafor make money and what is the best magazine in the world? Well…why don’t you smash that subscribe button and/or whip out that credit card if you want the real insider information from media’s best?-Karen Attiah and the Charlie Kirk quote that wasn’t real-Firing people for tweets + the last good account on Twitter-Why is Semafor worth so mu…

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13:01

Seize the Means of Conservatism (w/ Stephanie Slade)...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/21

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comStephanie Slade’s new book, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, is available for pre-order now!-J.D. Vance seizes the means of production-Let’s define “conservative” in case you forgot-So what the hell is Fusionism?-From free markets to owning the libs-Cultural resentment > economic anxiety-Is there a reset after Trump?-Whe…

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106:02

Clip Roulette w/ Dictators, Demons and Democracy...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/19

-Greetings…oh, fuck-Welch has a bone to pick with Ben Dreyfuss-Clip Roulette-Tucker and the Demon Bomb-Jason Arday, martyr?-The Jonah Lehrer comparison-The Samantha Power mic disaster-Fuck you Joaquin-John Mearsheimer, Stephen F. Cohen and the Russian apologists-Ukraine didn’t go away-Trump, Kim Jong-un and the South Korea war games-Midterm Madness / Polymarket, wha happen?-Median Strategies and the fake poll-Adam Bonica, Marc Elias and scamming the elderly-Is Cuba a dictatorship? Apparently a

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14:36

Terry Moran and the Network News Autopsy (Members...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/14

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comWe’re joined by former ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran, who now publishes Real Patriotism with Terry Moran on Substack and hosts a podcast of the same name on YouTube.-Terry reads that tweet-Fired, suspended, non-renewed…whatever-Any regrets?-Network news is dying and everyone’s jumping ship-The 9/11 flag-pin controversy-Hire more people who voted for Trump-Why not …

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101:34

The Politics of Pretending (Episode #570)

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/12

-Kmele is out of Adderall-Did anybody actually watch this Tucker and Hunter interview?-“Montrosity” and other difficult words-The adventures of Proximity Hong-The curious case of Jason Arday-Is there any chance Jesse Singal is racist?-AOC discovers Woke 1.0 was crazy-Shane Gillis and the conspiracy of enforcing things nobody believed-Thank you, Thom Tillis. Also, fuck you.-Funding the other side’s whackos-Mamdani declares war on Amazon-A general rent strike. Over one cockroach.-David Remnick meets

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103:18

A Man of 1989 (w/ David Frum) #569

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/07

-a pre-obit for the esteemed David Frum-involuntarily unionized at The Atlantic-spy novels, bureaucrats and expense reports-turning down Bill Buckley’s golden ticket-prosperity, security and how quickly it can all disappear-Frum is forever a man of 1989-God makes you lucky, then convinces you you’re smart-Tucker Carlson was always capable of many things-falling flat on your back isn’t progress-the Michigan Senate choice from hell-Democrats discover Trump’s permission structure-Midterm Madness in

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15:49

Out of Whiskey and Reaching for the Rotgut (Members...

The Fifth Column ·

2026/08/05

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comMichael Moynihan has returned from his Italian sojourn where he barely escaped arrest…-Moynihan has the clap or something-Who exactly is the demographic for this show?-Moynihan’s European vacation involved bus karaoke, too much drinking, and now the shakes-Matt went to Cooperstown with Bill Schulz…-The forgotten insanity of the Peekskill riots-Paul Robe…

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