

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
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 7, 2023 • 28min
Members Only #175 - The Six Million Dollar Racist and a Second-Hand Banana
Guest Richard Hananananananania, a person who has changed and is very sorry, discusses controversial topics such as racism, bananas, and his belief in the consequences of his actions. The hosts explore attributing actions to racial groups and express skepticism towards solely attributing cultural issues to race. They also discuss an email requesting assistance in transferring a large sum of money and their disinterest in engaging with trolls.

45 snips
Aug 1, 2023 • 1h 49min
#416 - A Sloppy Summer Pod, Recovered
So this one is probably four days old now? But because of the shitty software we use—and the fact that our…ummm….editor is currently on vacation in Italy—it took some serious archeology to salvage the recording. But it sounds fine, it’s a good episode, and Moynihan isn’t at all annoyed about having to upload this from a beach in Forte dei Marmi. The lengths we will go to make you people smarter and happier…So no description. Just listen to the damn thing. 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

Jul 26, 2023 • 25min
Members Only #174 - Coast to Coast, Until You Say Stop
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* Matt hasn’t seen Oppenheimer * Brittany Murphy is dead, probably from myocarditis. Kmele is surprised * Found that anti-Qaddafi t-shirt* That stupid interview on Democracy Now* NHJ is America’s greatest historian* Was Moynihan crying? (Moynihan responds: This is fake news)* “But ackshually……..”* Low key good and not great* Richard (not Robert) Frank’s brilliant book* The…

Jul 18, 2023 • 29min
Members Only #173 - VICE Disgrace, Racist Boston, Racist Viruses
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* Kmele and the Dead* Lia hates God* RFK and the race virus* A guilty verdict* The Dersh and jury nullification * The often referenced video of Dersh v. the Fink* A listener retracts his “dickish email”* An email about Boston and music* Is Boston a “racist” city?* Forgetting about bussing * The Irish vs. the WASPs* Moynihan unloads on idiot Vice executives

75 snips
Jul 14, 2023 • 1h 57min
#415 - The Pod of Laughter and Forgetting and Tracy Chapman and Crack and The Three Stooges
* This is a very summer episode. Soz. * Moynihan, impanelled* Implicit bias and your cup of coffee* Chipotle paranoia * We interrupt this program for a detailed Welch interregnum of the death of Milan Kundera* Tracy Chapman is “honored” by Luke Combs’s cover. The Washington Post is alarmed* Elvis was a hero to most, but he never…* You didn’t write that song. The “community” did* De La Soul is not Steely Dan* Airbrushing music and film history will save the universe* Actually Tintin in Congo is pretty bad….* A dumb congressman says something dumb. Ho hum. * A suggestion for a new Sokal hoax* Cocaine, crack, and a question never asked of Biden the Younger* Why Matt once bought $100 worth of crack 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

52 snips
Jul 9, 2023 • 1h 47min
#414 - Clarifications, Curried Goats, Cocaine Capers
* Taking back a “clarification”* Underhoused. Overhoused. Differently housed.* Mayor Adams yells at a Holocaust surviving slave master* Drinking coffee with pictures of dead cops* Who lost the cocaine?* Kamala speechwriter video* The worst person in America is…* That interesting piece about Kevin Kruze’s not interesting book* The Fifth Column agrees: the 4th is pretty great…* Immigration in Europe vs. immigration in the US* Harvard and affirmative action 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

14 snips
Jul 4, 2023 • 23min
Members Only #172 - We're Literally Shaking / RFK Redux
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* A sick podcast* Revisiting Coleman and RFK* Listeners yelling at Moynihan* Some nice stuff about Moynihan* A clarification from Moynihan* (All of this is re: RFK) * BTW, Sirhan Sirhan was really anti-Semitic* The conspiratorial mind* Are Birchers libertarians on meth?* Taking photos of yourself smoking crack* Matt tells a story about…something* Etc, etc, etc

23 snips
Jul 2, 2023 • 2h 9min
#413 - So Many Idiots (w/ Damon Root)
Our old pal Damon Root, author of Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court, stops by to explain why the world is ending and racism won and all new websites will be homophobic and paying your debts is fascism or something. So yeah, the lads discuss the court, affirmative action, student loans and how to eat your gay website cake. Enjoy. 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

23 snips
Jun 24, 2023 • 1h 41min
#412 - An RFK Intervention (w/ Coleman Hughes)
The great Coleman Hughes sent a pained email. Like many Americans angry about various stupid and sinister government Covid policies, he was now feeling the gravitational pull of a warbly-voiced political outsider from a family of consummate political insiders. He was, of course, starting to fall for Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To be clear, this wasn’t a full-throated endorsement of Kennedy but, Coleman averred, an understanding where his ever-expanding legion of supporters were coming from. And after all, Kennedy was making some good points, no? With Matt Welch having left to join the Wagner Group, Moynihan and Kmele sent a flurry of furious messages and extended an invitation. Dear Coleman: be this week’s guest co-host! Because if we acted now, perhaps we could at least slow any potential descent into...no, no, no. We couldn’t sit idly by as another friend joined the Kult of Kennedy. We invited…he accepted. It was time for an intervention… 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

Jun 19, 2023 • 23min
Members Only #171 - Bobby, Cormac, and Geddy
The podcast covers topics such as Juneteenth, the passing of Cormac McCarthy, parenting moments with daughters, a night at a comedy show, and updates on news topics.


