The Fifth Column - Podcast Rankings and reviews

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,

I’m not sure which but for a very long time this podcast has been such a voice of reason; a place where events and ideas are discussed and debated in good faith, representing each side fairly, and with an appropriate amount of levity to keep things interesting. I could listen to you guys present and debate challenging topics and learn while I clarified where I land, laughing all the way. It was so refreshing. But lately it’s become more snark than informative or enlightening discussion. I’m not saying you need to be the end all/be all for your audience but something seems to be missing. The takes seem to be more and more just judging from a distance and making fun of certain people/perspectives rather than engaging with the meat of the opposing arguments so the audience can learn what you know as journalists. The Russia/Ukraine war is a good example of this. Perhaps I missed an episode where you hashed this out but from the beginning it’s been a very overt “obviously Russia is in the wrong and Ukraine is in the right” type certainty without explaining why the dissenting views and all the various historical evidence supporting said views should be dismissed. It’s been many months since I’ve been able to get through a whole episode without turning it off bc it’s not really helping me understand the local and global landscape the way it used to.

I found you guys through MK’s podcast and now I listen to you too. You guys have so much fun and I love the endless heckling and general merriment. Thank you for getting me to smile when I feel like rarely smile anymore.

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.

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.

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.