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
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
One Hitter: Why Oil Prices Could Get Much Worse (w/ Marshall Adkins) Members Only #348
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Marshall spent 25 years covering oil and gas at Raymond James before retiring this week.
Oct 3 44 min
The Weave Within the Weave
#49 trending · News
…and Moynihan discusses Harvard’s artist in residence. Also, we’ve been nominated for something! vote for us in for the Signal Awards!
-Kmele’s Cross-Country Trail of Te
Oct 2 1 h 30 min
Sarah Hepola and the Life You Didn’t Choose (Members Only #347)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Finally, a break from politics and a discussion about…love. If you like Sarah, check out
Sep 29 14 min
The UN, Wokeness, and Other Failed Institutions (Members Only #346)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
-being gay, doing drugs, that’s the Szeps life
-Moynihan’s anti-Australian bigotry
-th
Sep 25 13 min
The Algorithm Is the Editor-in-Chief (w/ David Pakman) Members Only #345
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
-Pakman is a fan of this show. Will he regret saying this?
-Kmele’s cult-adjacent upbri
Sep 23 15 min
The Loyal Republican w/ Scott Jennings (#576)
And is he gonna get that press secretary job or not?
-Jennings the teetotaler
-wtf happened to Moynihan’s hair?
-Jennings’ working-class Kentucky origin story
-back w
Sep 22 1 h 40 min
Academically Unserious With Authoritarian Bureaucratic Aspirations (w/ Tyler Austin Harper) Members Only #344
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Tyler Austin Harper, staff writer for The Atlantic and co-host of the Time To Say Goodby
Sep 18 17 min
AI Might Kill Us. Here’s Why It Matters: w/ Jim VandeHei (#575)
-Simplify, simplify, simplify…
-Do people like Jim as a boss?
-The two things to screen for in prospective employees
-The humility of Mike Allen
-AI and the newsroom
Sep 16 1 h 48 min
The Things We Thought After 9/11 (#574)
-RIP Andrew Wimsatt, a true friend of the show and beloved member of the Fifth Column community
-And in lighter news, it’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11
-Trump’s 9/11 st
Sep 11 1 h 30 min
The Department Formerly Known as Justice (w/ Devlin Barrett) MO 343
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
As well as Epstein, and the conspiracy theories that refuse to die
-the most famous per
Sep 9 16 min
Conspiracy Theories Never Die (w/ James B. Meigs) #573
Jim is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a Wall Street Journal columnist
-The tractor beam of sexuality
-James B. Meigs is here
-Tucker Carlson is just as
Sep 4 1 h 38 min
It Was All Just a Joke (Members Only #342)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Look who decided to come back for this episode! (for the visually impaired, it’s the one
Sep 2 15 min
Canada Calls Trump’s Bluff (#572)
Holy shit, The Moynihan Report has RETURNED.
Watch the episode, subscribe on YouTube, and sign up for Moynihan’s Substack while you’re at it.
Now, back to the Fifth:
Aug 28 1 h 34 min
Bad Writing, Good Journalism, and AI (w/ Ben Smith) MO #341
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
How does Semafor make money and what is the best magazine in the world? Well…why don’t y
Aug 26 14 min
Seize the Means of Conservatism (w/ Stephanie Slade) MO #340
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Stephanie Slade’s new book, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American R
Aug 21 13 min
Clip Roulette w/ Dictators, Demons and Democracy (Episode #571)
-Greetings…oh, fuck
-Welch has a bone to pick with Ben Dreyfuss
-Clip Roulette
-Tucker and the Demon Bomb
-Jason Arday, martyr?
-The Jonah Lehrer comparison
-The Sa
Aug 19 1 h 46 min
Terry Moran and the Network News Autopsy (Members Only #339)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
We’re joined by former ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran, who now publi
Aug 14 14 min
The Politics of Pretending (Episode #570)
-Kmele is out of Adderall
-Did anybody actually watch this Tucker and Hunter interview?
-“Montrosity” and other difficult words
-The adventures of Proximity Hong
-The
Aug 12 1 h 41 min
A Man of 1989 (w/ David Frum) #569
-a pre-obit for the esteemed David Frum
-involuntarily unionized at The Atlantic
-spy novels, bureaucrats and expense reports
-turning down Bill Buckley’s golden ticke
Aug 7 1 h 43 min
Out of Whiskey and Reaching for the Rotgut (Members Only #338)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com
Michael Moynihan has returned from his Italian sojourn where he barely escaped arrest…
Aug 5 15 min
Chart trend
Position in the News chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#100#199JulAugSepOct
#75
all-time peak
12
days in the top 100 since Nov 2024
Chart positions
Where The Fifth Column ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 3, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Intelligent, irreverent and independent thinkers. Love the format and topics. And all this with a strong moral core. Really refreshing.
designgirl555 · Aug 2026
Found these guys a few years ago and have followed even through cycles of dumping all the other podcasts. Fresh thoughtful and balanced take on issues in today’s news. These guys call out BS wherever it arises (and it seems to arise everywhere).
Ultrarunningprof · Dec 2025
Funny, irreverent, with loads of guts, courage and insight. No MSNBC leftist drivel, and no FOX theatrics. They analyze and mock BOTH sides, as they should. A solitary voice of reason in bizarre culture war times. Totally worth listening and paying. Intelligent, provocative and highly entertaining,
Looshy82 · Jun 2024
Love the show, guests and banter. Moynihan clearly loves the sound of his voice and dominates the conversation. He also talks over Kmele too much. Want more Kmele.
Notthefinalrose · Jun 2024
I was a paying subscriber for years. It’s the first of two podcasts I’ve given money to and I genuinely enjoyed and looked forward to the weekly content. However, the show is not what it used to be. It has turned into a nutpicking show that focuses on whatever ridiculous thing that comes out of whatever ridiculous person’s (usually left wing) mouth. If you’re interested in that then this is your show. If not, I highly recommend the group of podcasts from The Dispatch.
P.S.
Thanks for the good times gents, and good luck.
Kdbooth123 · Jun 2024
I've been a Never Fly Coach subscriber since they started their Substack (and for a bit before that on Patreon), but I won't be renewing my subscription this May unless they drastically improve. I don't necessarily need them to change their positions, I just want them to stop mischaracterizing the positions of those they disagree with and actually engage with them instead.
It started with the Russia/Ukraine war, where they mischaracterized anti-war people as being pro-Russian. Then with the Israel/Palestine conflict, where they mischaracterized people being critical of the actions of Israel's government as being antisemitic and/or pro-Hamas (yes, there are idiots on the left who are pro-Hamas, but there are also plenty of people who condemn Hamas while also being critical of Israel).
Despite being a mostly libertarian podcast, they seem more willing to speak with liberals and conservatives than with libertarians who are more radical than them. The fact that they're more interested in talking with Ben Shapiro (who they've said they'd like to have on the podcast) than with someone like Scott Horton says a lot.
On cultural issues and criticizing the media, they're great. On foreign policy, they've become awful, and foreign policy is too important for me to overlook what they've been saying on the topic. Again, I don't need them to change their positions, I just want them to actually engage with people they disagree with. They do that on other topics, so they should do it for foreign policy as well.
FireShield95 · Apr 2024
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of The Fifth Column, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
