

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

Sep 1, 2020 • 1h 50min
202 w / Tina Nguyen "Trump on Twitch, Jacob Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse"
w / Tina Nguyen (White House Reporter @ Politico)Watching the RNCTrump's on TwitchNasty EmojisThe Fire Next Time (Kenosha Edition)"What's the big deal? Your insurance will pay for it?"Total Failure of Political LeadershipMatt Welch: Snowflake?Marines in Portland? Libertarian Enough?Leaping to Conclusions, Outright LyingIndependent InvestigationsJacob Blake: Things We Don't KnowKyle Rittenhouse: Things We Don't KnowRecorded Aug 31, 2020Published Sept 1, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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

Aug 23, 2020 • 2h 36min
201 w / Coleman Hughes "DNC COVID CON, QAnon Don, Canceling Kmele"
w / Coleman Hughes🤫Recorded Aug 21, 2020Published Aug 23, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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

Aug 13, 2020 • 1h 39min
200 w / Andrew Sullivan "Uncancellable Andrew and the Great Media Miasma"
We can't believe it. Neither can you. It's our 200th episode!! (Well, not including the thirty-plus, subscriber-only Patreon episodes, which are looser, bawdier, and even more problematic...so stop freeloading and subscribe!). In celebration of this momentous anniversary, we called up our old friend Andrew Sullivan, fresh from his separation with New York magazine and joining from his Provincetown whirlpool, to discuss:- Daddys, bears, and pervs...oh my!- Andrew has a conversation with some younger gays- A generation without tragedy- BTW: No one actually says LGBTQ+- And you're not suppose to like being oppressed- Why did Andrew leave New York magazine and what is the "mysterious miasma"? - Sully starts his own thing, quickly realizes he was underpaid- The drunk brilliance of old-school British journalism- FWIW, Andrew didn't write The Bell Curve- The anti-Sullivan fatwa issued by a former employer- Michael Kinsley's two rules of writing - The future of magazines, the future of media - Why you should read, listen to, and befriend people with bad ideas- Kmele, Kamala, and the prostitutes- Andrew convinces us to...changeRecorded Aug 13, 2020Published Aug 14, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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

Aug 9, 2020 • 1h 58min
199 "Nothing to See Here, An Emergency Every Minute"
Drugs You Should TryHeroine, A Black Drug?Black People Are All The SameVoter Fraud, by MailSelecting A VPCognitive Tests (Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV)Scare TacticsSuburban Lifestyle DreamsThe State of New YorkFBG DuckNew George Floyd VideoThe Trouble With ChinaFacebook vs TikTokBlazing SaddlesRecorded Aug 6, 2020Published Aug 9, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 29, 2020 • 1h 50min
198 w/ Nancy Rommelmann "There's a Riot Goin' On"
Guest: Nancy Rommelmann, journalist and author of To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and MurderNancy Rommelmann, friend of the Fifth and former resident of Portland, Amerikkka, returns from the ramparts of the revolution with news, anecdotes, and a glimpse at our glorious future. Alis volat propriis. So we asked our very own Lady John Reed just what the hell is happening in the insurrectionist precincts of the Pacific Northwest...Nancy doesn't recognize parts of PortlandWhat everyone is getting wrong about the protests/riots/federal interventionWait, where is the Portland PD?Shares in a homemade body armor business are trading higher today...Why you're not hearing that amazing, hilarious, enlightening conversation we had about the secret app(It's because the SD card ran out of space and no one noticed...)We return after our tech screw up--much, much drunker--to talk history vs. journalismNo one arguing about colonial history knows anything about colonial historyIt sort of falls apart around this point...And by the way: stop telling us what we should care about See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 27, 2020 • 1h 23min
197 w/ Glenn Greenwald, Thomas Chatterton Williams "Hypocrisy, Controversy, Cancellations"
Glenn Greenwald,Co-Founder @ The InterceptAuthor, "No Place to Hide"Thomas Chatterton WilliamsContributing Writer @ New York Times MagAuthor, "Self Portrait in Black and White"After a little internet drama related to the Harper's Open Letter, Kmele got together w/ Thomas and Glenn to discuss.Why we needed "A Letter on Justice and Debate"Why Glenn isn't a SignatoryWhat is Cancel CultureDo we really need to talk about this RIGHT NOWEvangelism or ExcommunicationHypocrisy and Healthier ConversationsRecorded July 24, 2020Published July 27, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 18, 2020 • 1h 30min
UNLOCKED - Patreon Dispatch #29 🎁 - The Williamsburg Tapes - This Podcast is Lava
We haven't unlocked a Patreon episode since way back in February. But we (Moynihan) were feeling generous, so here's a paywalled bonus episode from July 13, liberated for all of you cheapskates. You're welcome.If you want a new subscriber-only episode every week (plus slurring live Zoom calls, lost episodes, mail bag episodes, a community of like-minded psychos, etc), subscribe here!--------------For only the second time since the Bat Flu, the lads are back in the same room...and back at the Stupid Table™ in Williamsburg. The energy! The booze! The crosstalk! Kmele singing! Yay! It's an hour and half bull session covering the most important debates in America. Zum beispiel: - Moynihan's new CNBC show "Stock Monstah Dood!"- Getting psyched about--and possibly auditioning for--a show Kmele loves but has never seen- Kmele is Mr. 2X. Moynihan is Mr. Angry Irishman Driver- Understanding the core of the anti-racist project- Matt's formative moment as an 18-year-old journalist- The privileged people who hate really privileged people- Yes, the lads talk about the endless LETTER WARS- Kmele rants about a Jo Jorgensen tweet- What does it mean to be anti-racist?- If they win, we will all will end up living in a joyless world- Back to Bay Ridge (and coming upon a pro-NYPD protest) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 16, 2020 • 2h 12min
196 w/ Josh Szeps "Covid, Cancellation, and Melanated Peoples"
w/ Josh Szeps (né Zepps), ABC Australia and host of the Uncomfortable Conversations podcast.Josh-o's back and the dingo has his baby! Australia's most listened-to radio host joins the Fifth from his COVID-free compound in Sydney to talk nonsense about:Paul Hogan (obviously)How the Aussies handled the COVIDThat story about our friend who resigned from the Times"Cancel culture," right and left"Good Morning ya' ****s!"Armageddon the shit out of that rockAre we becoming a totalitarian hell hole? (Probably not)Viacom race theorist Nick Cannon on masked singers, Mariah Carey, and the Rothschilds.Matt knew a NaziRecorded July 15, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 10, 2020 • 2h 7min
195 w/ Yascha Mounk "Woke Fragility"
Two-plus hours with our favorite German, Herr Yascha Mounk, contributing editor at The Atlantic and founder of Persuasion, a publication dedicated to promoting and defending the "values of a free society."The lads discuss that Harper's letter on cancel culture, signed by Kmele and Yasha (and Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, JK Rowling, et al); the attempt to cancel people who signed a statement opposing canceling people; how everyone's still a fascist; the painful absurdity of Robin Diangelo; a Matt and Kmele fight about Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech; the dangers of the populist right; El Chino; and so very much more.Recorded July 8, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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 6, 2020 • 2h 12min
194 w/ Wesley Lowery "Moral Clarity, Objectivity, and ALL THE SMOKE"
w/ Wesley Lowery Correspondent @ CBS - "60 Minutes in 6"Lowery Wrote A Thing:"A Reckoning Over Objectivity, Led by Black Journalists" (NYT) - June 23, 2020https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/objectivity-black-journalists-coronavirus.htmlWelch Raised Some Objections:"Journalists Abandoning 'Objectivity' for 'Moral Clarity' Really Just Want To Call People Immoral" (Reason) - June 24, 2020https://reason.com/2020/06/24/journalists-abandoning-objectivity-for-moral-clarity-really-just-want-to-call-people-immoral/Some Twitter Drama Ensues.The Parties Agree to Settle Things Directly....And now, here you are. All caught up, ready for the fireworks (literally + figuratively).Recorded: July 2, 2020Published: July 6, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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