The Fifth Column

Fresh from his campaign stop in front of a Miami courthouse, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy stops by the Fifth’s Chinatown studio to very politely argue with Welch and Moynihan about a whole bunch of stuff. Including:* The donor class* What kind of conservative is Vivek?* Populism and free trade* A peace plan for China and Ukraine* The Trump indictment* Would Vivek take a position in a Trump * Vivek leaves, the lads have a tipple* Not many randos this time* Matt and Moyn on the Trump indictment * Wait, did Moynihan just say…free Assange?? (He did!)* More 2024 nonsense* Chris Christie is serving his purpose * Moynihan tries to decode an ever more complex flag 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

Matt, Moynihan, and Kmele assemble in Chinatown to mull over another Trump indictment. No need for bullet points for this one because beside the predictable digressions into muscle-bound gay birders and homophobic Blue Jays, it’s a lotta Donald. So without further ado…And don’t forget: for the price of one very large coffee, you can help feed the children. Specifically our children. Who are very sad. And very malnourished. And very disappointed in your cheapskatery. For shame. 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comDespite being in a car in the city of Dnipro, journalist Tim Mak joins Michael Moynihan to talk about leaving NPR, moving to Kiev, and starting The Counteroffensive, his new Substack dedicated to reporting the Ukraine War. A few of the topics covered:* Tim arrived in Kiev the night the war started* Going back to Ukraine—and going independent* Why so many on t…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* Ground control to Tucker C. * Episode one of the Bonkers Conspiracy Files* Also, we know what happened to that dam in Ukraine* But back to the white supremacist aliens…* Did the California senate pass on of the dumbest bills of all time? * Root causes and robbing Walgreens* Moynihan loves rooftop Koreans, thinks baby Matt should have been shot in his adorable littl…

* Kmele is moving to a place where everything is free * ChatGPT is a fabulist * Moynihan’s new Orwell piece * Wikipedia v. AI chatbots* The assassination of (our) Kennedy* Random gossip columnist: Jamie Foxx was murdered by Pfizer * A better America: when Rick James met Linda Blair* BTW: Tupac Shakur was very dumb. And very violent.* Keeping people with dumb politics out of the various halls of fame…* Pride warz….* Root causes and Bud Light and Target and….* Inconsistent baseball atheism * But you like these old skool book bans* The debt ceiling deal* Biden meets a sandbag* Kamala wages war on…racist home appraisers * Congrats, you ridiculous failures! 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* Stan Jonathan vs. Pierce Bouchard* The Lia Thomas of Pickleball* Owning a house sucks* “Lia has these books”* Kmele loves Thoreau* Matt hates Thoreau* Feinstein and elder abuse * “…to function”* On gas stoves and gesture science* C.S. knows someone with dumb ideas* Robert Murdoch controls your brain * Legislating curricula * Huey Newton and Eric Clapton

* Tina, RIP. Bill Lee, RIP.* Zone of Interest* DeSantis announces* Tim Scott announced too, btw * An increasingly crowded and unimpressive field * Our old pal Ethan Strauss joins* Why does Joe keep saying that…thing about Iraq?* “Trump is sharper than Biden”* An interregnum on Ike Turner* Ethan’s piece on Glen Kuiper * The American employment gulag: exiled forever * Paying indulgences* Is it ok to boycott brands for not having the right politics? A debate* Cruising, the gay Casablanca / Donnie Moore, baseball’s Ike Turner* Bonus blathering about Basketball 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* RIP Martin Amis (and Andy Rourke and Jeremy Clarke)* “Pussies are bullshit”* A reading list: Money. London Fields. Zone of Interest. (Note: these all appear to be sold out on Amazon)* On Orwell and D.J. Taylor’s new biography* The Citibike “Karen” and her “white tears”* Online vigilantism* Salman Rushdie’s return * Why’s there no challenge to Biden from The Squad?* The…

* “Zero-to-insane in the first three minutes”* The terrible 2024 election * The right’s bizarre infatuation with RFK Jr.* The immigration crisis in NYC* The cruelty isn’t always the point* How the average American thinks about illegal immigration* Eli Lake joins to wish us all a Happy Durham Week* Takeaways from the Durham Report* The “heroes of democracy” are, in fact, the villains of democracy* David Frum’s Atlantic piece* Eli on Robert Kennedy Sr., the cop* Diane Feinstein, John Fetterman, Joe Biden* That insane LA Times piece (that we will talk about more later) 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

* Charging the Islip Strangler* Moynihan’s weird bias* A bad WSJ podcast* The Trump townhall * Rating Kaitlan Collins* Journalists who hate journalism * The not Desantis response* Tucker’s Twitter take* Can he succeed?* Killing [TK], A Series* Sorry, but that guy you hate is actually really smart* That amazing Firing Line destruction of Leander Perez * Our grim election / memories of 1968 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