

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

Feb 19, 2020 • 1h 35min
Episode 172 "The Swamp, The POTUS, The Press" w/ Swin Suebsaeng, Lachlan Markay
w/ Asawin Suebsaeng and Lachlan Markay (White House Reporters @ The Daily Beast)Co Authors: ""Sinking in the Swamp" How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington"Description:- Moynihan's Vocal Fry and "Actually Good" Accents- Searching for "Henry Hills" in Trumpworld- Lachlan's Conservative Apostasy- Al Gore: Most Boring Interview Subject Ever- Rats and Snitches- Daily Beast: A "High-brow Tabloid"- Woke (Racist?) Bloomberg- The Muslim Ban- From Seb Gorka to Hunter Biden- Reporters vs Opinion Pundits- Will the Press Scrutinize the Next President as Aggressively?- The Never Trumpers Who End Up in the White House Anyway- John Bolton's Next Act- Swin/Lachlan's "Badgers Story"- Drama Queens- Bob Woodward- Godfather 3, still bad- Gore Vidal + Timothy McVeighRecorded: February 18th, 2020Released: February 19th, 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

Feb 13, 2020 • 1h 38min
Episode 171 w/ Jesse Singal "Biden's Ebony Firewall, No BBQ Sauce in American Dirt"
Description:- Black History Month- There's no Barbecue Sauce in American Dirt- Believe Some Death Threats, Leverage Others- Oscar Obsession (Beautiful Mind Edition)- Yang Dead Is Dead, Long Live Yang Gang- Bernie's Ceiling, Biden's Ebony Firewall- A SHOCKING Presidential Endorsement- Bloomberg's Stop + Frisk Memory Hole- ADL: "White Supremacy is On The Rise!"Recorded: February 12th, 2020Released: February 13th, 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

Feb 8, 2020 • 1h 42min
UNLOCKED - Patreon Dispatch #8 🎁
The last time we did this, we said don't get used to it. Well, we meant it. But we're also feeling overly generous. So here is last week's Patreon-only dispatch, featuring Moynihan and Kmele. You're welcome.--------Kmele and Moynihan are back in Williamsburg drinking bad wine and talking shit...while trying to figure out why Welch isn't returning anyone's calls. Moynihan returns to Iowa and remembers why he hates journalists. Bumbling around the Hawkeye State, he chats with Andrew Yang, hangs with hardcore Trump types and fanatical Bernie bros. And they're all Iowa nice. Kmele has a black "Big Chill" weekend in Pennsylvania and opens about up his parents--to a gobsmacked Moynihan. As usual, the lads try to catch up on a bunch of listener mail, provoking discussions about tattoos, Chile, Northern Ireland, Goop, The Central Park Five, and the "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers. And twenty years after it debuted, Kmele finally watches Curb Your Enthusiasm.Outro music: RIP Andy Gill.Recorded February 4, 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

Feb 6, 2020 • 1h 49min
Episode 170: "Trump’s Best Week Ever, Iowa Pile Up"
Description:- Kmele's Inner MAGA- State of the Union Theatrics- “Oh, God -- Fire the Media!”- "The Big Lie" (and other nonsense)- Mitt Romney’s Moment- Trump’s Criminal Justice Reform- Iowa Fiasco- Waiting for Bernie to Turn on MSNBC- Preview of Upcoming Patreon EpisodesRecorded: February 5th, 2020Released: February 6th, 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

Jan 30, 2020 • 1h 50min
Episode 169: "I'm so sorry this is happening to YOU"
Description:- When the mob came for the Fifth- Hong Kong: Proto Police State- The Democratic Field- Bernie's Got a Shot, The Joe Rogan Bounce- Criminalizing Disinformation- Watching Lou Dobbs- Fearing the Bern- Truthy Skepticism- An Impeachment Drive-By- Eli on the FBI- Some Idiot Wrote This (and this... and this...)Recorded: January 29, 2020Released: January 30, 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

Jan 18, 2020 • 1h 54min
Episode 168 w/ Miriam Elder: "Does Anything Matter Anymore?"
GUEST:Miriam Elder, senior political reporter for BuzzFeed News and former Russia correspondent for The Guardian. (@MiriamElder)DESCRIPTION:Our fake biosMiriam's seven years in MoscowGet Shorty, Alex Jones, and the D-list bullshit artistsMatt’s Russophobia isn’t as bad as MSNBC’sPolitical theater provides cover to Putin’s authoritarianism Moynihan and Elder throw down over Bernie's alleged sexism. Plus: Is believing Warren or Sanders a #MeToo lesson?Who is the nihilist candidate?Banning lies on FacebookCan a bully be funny?The “Independents” couple foreverRecorded: January 16, 2020Released: January 18, 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

Jan 8, 2020 • 1h 37min
Episode 167 w/ Noah Rothman “ The Case for F*ckin Iran Right Up”
GUEST: Noah RothmanAssociate Editor@ Commentary -- Contributor @ MSNBC/NBC NewsAuthor: “Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America” (Jan 2019)DESCRIPTION:- Why the Washington Bullets became the Wizard - Bomb Iran?- Will Americans ever support another Middle East War again?- International commerce —> global middle class —> less war- Trump thinks China should police the Strait of Hormuz- What if we did NOTHING?- Brian Stelter praises Tucker Carlson - John Bolton might testify- Moynihan shows up late- Elizabeth Wurtzel- Facebooks deep fake 'Problem'- Thanks for the swags, and the boozeRecorded: January 7, 2019Published: January 8, 2019 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

Jan 3, 2020 • 2h 2min
Episode 166: “Buttigieg Loves Drugs, Soleimani Canceled, Media Malpractice”
DESCRIPTION:- Neighborhood Watch- Moynihan’s Anti-Brit Streak- Bernie’s Fundraising Clout- Ron Paul’s Newsletters and Everlasting Ice Cream- Buttigieg Wants to Decriminalize All Drugs- Iran’s Quds Force commander Soleiman Killed in Iraq- Media Malpractice on Vaping- Chuck Todd's Fake News special- About That MemoRecorded: January 2, 2020Published: January 3, 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

Dec 25, 2019 • 2h 15min
UNLOCKED - Patreon Dispatch #4 🎁
Happy Kwanza -- We've UNLOCKED a Patreon Only dispatch just for you (and everyone else)! Enjoy it, but don't get used to it.The Williamsburg Tapes (Dispatch #4)"Losing Our Religion"DESCRIPTIONIt's a pre-Christmas miracle! The Fifth Columnists are back at the stammtisch (stupid table) in Williamsburg for a long-ass special dispatch, mostly discussing things distant from the news cycle. Kmele watches "Mandingo" and, to the shock of both Welch and Moynihan, is slack-jawed by how racist it is. The lads answer some reader mail and discuss Michael Collins, the Pete Best of Apollo 11; offer some meandering thoughts on Catholicism and Seventh Day Adventism; ruminate on tragedy and loss; blather about the Richard Jewell movie nontroversy; recommend books about Israel; and provide two-plus hours of assorted other nonsense.Recorded: 12/??/2019Published: 12/25/2019 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

Dec 18, 2019 • 2h 22min
165 w/Conor Friedersdorf “Mayhem in Jersey City, Foreign Affairs, Gesture Politics”
GUEST: Conor FriedersdorfStaff Writer @ The AtlanticDESCRIPTION:- Patreon-only Preview- Chapo Trap vs Conor- An Underreported Attack in Jersey City- Afghanistan Mea Culpa- Something About Impeachment- Reauthorize Every War, Every Year- Biden, Dove of the Obama Administration- Complicated Brexit voters- Gesture politics- The Paternalism of Blooombergism- The Pronoun Talk- Civility, Without Obsessing Over IdentityRecorded: December 17, 2019Published: December 18, 2019 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


