The Fifth Column (private feed for bitterone31droid@googlemail.com)
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
Mar 19, 2025 • 1h 20min
#496 - Ich bin ein Disappointed Konspiracy Theorist
* Live tweeting history* The importance of Jack * The “climate of hate”* Some of these goofballs are normal* RIP Manny* The fake ceasefire * If only were weren’t a democracy…* Back to Gaza * Civil liberties, due process, and magicians * And a bunch more…. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 19, 2025 • 1h 33min
Members Only #253 - One-Armed Lithuanians and Mute Latvian Cats
* The golden age of Oaktown’s 357 ("I just put Juicy, Got Him Crazy into Chat GPT to determine what it's about and it is definitely a song about...."* Yes, we briefly talk about forgotten about rappers and their dumb lyrics* Pumps and the Bump* Grok has this to say about our Hammer convo: “The casual acceptance of MC Hammer’s Speedo situation is absurdly funny.” Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 17, 2025 • 2h 16min
Members Only #252 - On a Sunday, On the Lash (w/ Thomas Chatterton Williams)
A rebroadcast of our last subscriber-only Second Sunday episode. Thomas Chatterton Williams stops by. Everyone’s in the same room. Many bottles are emptied. Many offensive jokes told. Many careers destroyed. Enjoy. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 15, 2025 • 1h 56min
#495 - Cranks, Conspiracies, Campuses, and Ceasefires
* The one Jew she likes* The amateur crank historian* The cranks always end at…take a guess* Kmele isn’t interested in Ms. Macron’s dong* Show we draw some distinctions?* Congrats to the Buchananites* The weirdness of Gavin Newsom’s podcast* On Bannon* On Columbia, the first amendment, masks, and dangerous idiots* The Ukraine non-deal* And much, much more Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 13, 2025 • 31min
Members Only #251 – We Got Five Years of Covid Fury
I was very moved by friend & past guest Jeff Blehar’s Covid anniversary piece, so … I just read it out loud. And added related commentary for paying subscribers. Some links alluded to therein, in rough order of reference:* Reason Roundtable Covid look-back* Related Twitter thread* “The Great COVID Rupture: Three years after ‘15 days to slow the spread,’… Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 5, 2025 • 1h 38min
#494 - State of Delusion
* A very long SOTU* Al Green meets Buju Banton, Tripadvisor objects* The most beautiful, terrifying word in the English language* The “deficit” you shouldn’t care about * The forgotten Foxconn boondoggle * The hopeless Democrats* Maybe look at, say, Dean Phillips and ignore the Squad* Asian finger cuffs* Two cheers for parliamentary democracy * Poor lil’ Marco * Who killed Gene Hackman’s dog? Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 3, 2025 • 1h 46min
Members Only #250 - Twitter Is Now Real Life
There’s some discussion of parenting. A tiny bit about the Oscars. And a bunch about the triumph of conspiracy culture. But this is mostly a subscriber-only episode about the Zelensky debacle and the ongoing U.S. foreign policy realignment. So why bother with bullet points?’ Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Mar 2, 2025 • 39min
#493 - Fifth Extra: John Bolton on Trump 2.0
* Trump’s maturity* Trump’s deal making* Trump and NATO * Trump vs. Europe * Trump and Taiwan* A price on Bolton’s head * Is he a neocon? Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Feb 28, 2025 • 1h 51min
#492 - How Deep Is Your State
* The traffickers of the Fifth Column * The genius of Bill Belichick * Those Boston boys aren’t so terrible after all* Nick v. Stewart* Democracy died in the light! * The WaPo freakout * The press pool freakout* No one believes in anything, part 387* The “Epstein files” will contain nothing of interest* A “Roman” salute that no one noticed* MSNBC is apparently racist* A live event in NYC! Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
Feb 25, 2025 • 1h 28min
Members Only #249 - Killing Us Softly
* RIP Roberta* What’s the “woke right?” No idea.* MAGA Brooklyn* Reform Party 2000!* Nadia didn’t pay, so…* But does it vindicate the collusion narrative?* Eli Lake’s “Framed and Guilty”* The Great Negotiator* The rise of AfD…and the end of Europe?* Kmele and Kanye (“He’s a NAZI, Kmele, a NAZI…”) * Moynihan’s memory* Drinking with Team Uterus Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.
