The Fifth Column - Analysis, Commentary, Sedition

By Michael Moynihan (Vice), Matt Welch (Reason), and Kmele Foster (Freethink)

News & Politics

What's The Fifth Column - Analysis, Commentary, Sedition about?

News, politics and culture w/ Michael Moynihan (Daily Beast, Vice), Matt Welch (Reason) and Kmele Foster (Freethink). Each week this triumvirate scrutinize the big stories and offer comment.

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302 - "Making Arrangements,...

04.09.2021

Hunter "Squirtle" BidenMatt "Making Arrangements" Gaetz Adventures in the Havana Hilton?When Everything is Sex Trafficking? (Not Exactly)A New Era of BipartisanshipWin Ben Stein's HeartThe American Metaphor CouncilWho's D riving the Democratic PartyChina and BitcoinSelf Correcting JournalismTweets Bad. Accessory to the ...

The Fifth Column - Analysis, Commentary, Sedition episodes:

04.09.2021 302 - "Making Arrangements, Ghost Guns, Pullin' Out" Hunter "Squirtle" BidenMatt "Making Arrangements" Gaetz Adventures in the Havana Hilton?When Everything is Sex Trafficking? (Not Exactly)A New Era of BipartisanshipWin Ben Stein's HeartThe American Metaphor CouncilWho's D riving the Democratic PartyChina and BitcoinSelf Correcting JournalismTweets Bad. Accessory to the ...
04.03.2021 301 - "Five Years of Impending Doom, Chauvin on Trial, Blowin Money Fast" (In No Particular Order) Live From New YorkDRINKAOC AMACDC Press Conference Mask EtiquetteDRINKDerek Chauvin on Trial (Week 1)Eight Fingers LeftTar BabiesA Thing Greater Than YourselfVoter Suppression 2.0DRINKCorporate WelfareFive PinocchiosEnding Ken BurnsThe Cowardly Doormen Recorded April 1st, 2021 Published April 3rd, ...
03.27.2021 300 - "A Do Over Episode (Mostly Uncut)" Summary Kmele Loses an Entire DispatchMoynihan's Most Racist VoiceImportant Homework What We Might Have Talked AboutMass ShootingsHate Crime Hysterics and LiesEnding the War in AfghanistanNationa BuildingWhale Watching + 400 Years of SufferingLeaving Sesame Street Recorded March 25th, 2021 Published March ...
03.22.2021 229 w/ Jeffrey Sachs - "How to be a Dictator, Anti-Woke Hypocrisy" Guest: Jeffery Sachs, Lecturer in Politics @ Acadia University Snyder CutSympathy for DictatorsUseful Pretense of JusticeHow Did Sachs Get It So WrongState of the New Culture WarFree Speech HypocrisyThe Left Is Worse, Right?Power ImbalanceCoastal MyopiaWhat if We're Wrong (Again*) Recorded ...
03.12.2021 228 w/ Katie Herzog - "1.9 Trillion Reasons to Block and Report You" Guest: Katie Herzog, HOST @ "Blocked & Reported" Keeping SecretsComing 2 AmericaTransphobia is BadA Most Prescient CancelationSay THE WORD, KatieThey'll Never Give You A ResonThe Tax Code is RacistPlato's UtopiaRescue Package in Name OnlyTucker Carlson, Mean PersonTinker Taylor, Toy SoldierVirtual ...
03.05.2021 227 w/ Ben Smith - "Sign O’ The Times, Memo to Kendi" Guest: Ben Smith, Media Columnist @ The New York Times From BuzzFeed to The NYTWhen Your Bosses are Kinda THE StoryWhy We Can't Stop Talking About The TimesNewsroom Cultural White Privilege and Employee OrientationResignations*Caliphate vs. 1619"My Notebook Remains Open"Losing the ...
02.26.2021 226 w/ Matt Taibbi - "Why Journalism Got Substack'd" Guest: Matt Taibbi @ Contributing Editor @ Rolling Stone. Author, "Hate Inc" NiggaratiPrivilege ChildhoodThe Art of the Substack DealThe ShiftAn Active Conspiracy or An Active ConspiracyThe Escape, And Uncertain HorizonIt's Just a Camp, For Kids, So It's FineTrump at CPACA ...
02.19.2021 225 w/ Martin Gurri - "The Revolt of the Public" Guest: Martin Gurri @ Author, "The Revolt of the Public" Prophecy, Historical Cycles, and Modest FrameworksFrom Information Monopoly to Information TsunamiPublic DissatisfactionElites in CrisisPublic NihilismHistorical AmnesiaThe Yellow Vests, Jan 6th, 2021Political SectarianismTruth + Objectivity + ResentmentDrama at the New York ...
02.06.2021 224 - "MTG v AOC, Merit is so Racist, Determined Incuriosity" Pump and DumpMatt Bought CrackReal Compton City GsReally Only One Bad WordThe Public InterestIrrelevant ContextMTG vs. AOC: Most Insane? Best Actress?"I Can Only Be a Non-White Person"Why The Culture War MattersMerit: The Racism of Fairness RacistCovid Cumo, And the Incurious ...
02.04.2021 223 w/ Van Lathan - "Productive Disagreements and Common Ground" Guest: Van Lathan @ "Higher Learning" (Co-Host), Previously @ TMZ Kmele and Van connect for a wide-ranging conversation about racism, reconciliation, and finding common ground. It's yet another exercise in constructive disagreement. In fact, it's the back half of a ...
01.30.2021 222 - "Moynihan Squeezes the Short, Cynics and Skeptics" Make a Mint w/ MoynihanWho's Behind the SqueezeOn the War PathStrange BedfellowsPopularity ContestsEven LibertariansEquity and Private PrisonsComing Attractions Recorded Jan 28th, 2020 Published Jan 29th, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
01.25.2021 221 - UNLOCKED Patreon Episode - Kmele's Victory Lap (Dem Haters) It is upon us: that very rare occasion when we unlock a Patreon episode for the masses.
01.22.2021 220 - The Dawning of Yet Another Terrible Era Is Melania the greatest first lady since Florence Harding?Does MC Hammer hate Kmele?Let the sycophancy begin!QanonsenseUnderstanding the Trump voterWe're all weird and wrongThe new Republican Party is awful. So is the new Democratic Party.The dumb 1776 project: "It's like Stephen ...
01.15.2021 219 - w/ Anna Khachiyan "Double Impeachments, All the Balenciaga You Can Carry" Guest: Anna Khachiyan @ "Red Scare" (Co-Host) Kinda CanceledHolding the MicOutrage BonerDirtbagsTight Sweaters, Tighter ShirtsMo' ImpeachmentsThe MAGA RiotsCulpabilityCultural Amnesia, Sweetest TaboosCanceling TrumpCanceling the Rest of Yall? Recorded Jan 13t, 2020 Published Jan 14th, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out ...
01.08.2021 218 - "A Slovenly Rebellion (Pass The Tequila)" Welcome to 2021 A Coup d'état? An Insurrection? A dark beginning? A despicable bookend? A world of shit?We'll get to that -- but we're gonna need a lot more booze. Recorded Jan 6th, 2021 Published Jan 7th, 2021 See acast.com/privacy ...
12.31.2020 217 - "You Gon Learn, Hawley's Gamble" - Kmele 2020 - AllyShip - Secret Shows - The Internet Never Forgets - Trap Lord - Burning the Witch (and maybe that annoying lady from down the street too) - Puritanism Without The Fun - Schadenfreude - Inconveniencing the ...
12.26.2020 216 - w/ Greg Lukianoff "From Campus to Caliphate" Guest: Greg Lukianoff @ Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (President). Co-Author, "The Coddling of the American Mind"
12.19.2020 215 - "New in Town, Vax Populi" New ViewsDemographic ConsiderationsWhat Seems to Be The Problem Officer?The Honorable MinisterVaccine RolloutCareful ReportingPost Trump News CycleThe FlagrancyPredicting Apocalypse Recorded Dec 17th, 2020 Published Dec 19th, 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
12.12.2020 214 - w/Ben Dreyfuss "Another Dreyfuss Affair" Look, you asked for it. Fifth fan favorite (ed - we really don't understand you people) and Mother Jones editorial director Ben Dreyfuss (né Gould) is back. And the results are wonderfully shambolic. But seriously: make sure the kids are ...
12.04.2020 213 - "Da Mystery Of Defunding the Police (while Stopin' the Steal)" "The Toad style is immensely strong, and immune to nearly any weapon. When it's properly used, it's almost invincible." - Five Deadly Venoms Way Out Of LineThe Incredible Asshole MachineRelated Controversy A Stolen*** ElectionObama
11.26.2020 212 - "A Thanksgiving Miracle" An issue with the mics. An inspired fix. A nearly aborted dispatch manages to slide into your feed just in time for the stranges Thanksgiving in decades. A Rolling StartWhen Moynihan Met OprahCoup d'é HAHAHAHAHA"I Told You"Salvaging the CultureCrisis of ...
11.19.2020 211 - w/ Glenn Greenwald "Leaving The Intercept, Crying Like a Baby" Guest: Glenn Greenwald @ Co-Founder, The Intercept The Move to Substack (https://greenwald.substack.com/)The Marvelousness of the Fifth ColumnThe Job MarketThe Reply to CriticsThe Blow by BlowThe CultureThe Hunter Biden Laptop Situation Recorded Oct 30th, 2020 Published Nov 19th, 2020 See acast.com/privacy ...
11.15.2020 210 - w/ Jason Stanley "What the Fascist, Covid Season, Race Critical" Guest: Jason Stanley @ Author, "How Fascism Works", Professor of Philosophy @ Yale. The AnswerExtremely Online, Prospective HypocrisyCancel CultureNo TellinTrump's Blacketst SwanBut He's a FascistCritical Race Back and ForthPretty Good (for a Black Guy)Covid Recorded Nov 12th, 2020 Published Nov ...
11.05.2020 209 - "And The Winner Is..." What Election?The Perils of Watching Cable NewsWhat You Talkin Bout WelchThe Got'Damn PollsAnticipated UnrestBlack Woman Stabbed, By Black Lives Matters Supporters?What Happens to the MediaWhat Happens to RepublicansWhat Happens to DemocratsStereotypes are Fine NowYou People Aren't Supposed to Vote That ...
10.24.2020 208 - "Techno Fascism, Jerking Jeff, and the Mendacious Media" Bannon's back. The New York Post isn't. Don’t talk about Hunter!Are we living in a Techno Fascist Reich?Regulate, regulate, regulateThe unforeseen consequences of deplatforming?Qanon inflation To the gulag, go!Russia, Russia, RussiaWhich New York Times editor does Matt call "a loathsome ...
10.20.2020 207 "Hunter's Laptop, Ordinary Corruption, Darkest Night" Moynihan's Old, New HouseCOVID... is Fake?Siri, Do Black Lives Matter?Dueling Town HallsEveryone is Awful, Even You, (But Not Really)The Brief And Highly Overrated Return of Respectability PoliticsPolitics of BullshitForeign BodiesThe Revolt of the PublicDarkest Totalitarian Hellscape Recorded Oct 18, 2020 ...
10.20.2020 207 "Hunter's Laptop, Ordinary Corruption, Darkest Night" Moynihan's Old, New HouseCOVID... is Fake?Siri, Do Black Lives Matter?Dueling Town HallsEveryone is Awful, Even You, (But Not Really)The Brief And Highly Overrated Return of Respectability PoliticsPolitics of BullshitForeign BodiesThe Revolt of the PublicDarkest Totalitarian Hellscape Recorded Oct 18, 2020 ...
10.03.2020 206 w/ Damon Root "Packed Courts, Peaceful Transfers of Power" Guest: Damon Root @ Reason Magazine, Author, "A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution" Trump Makes His PickHow Republicans Will Be DisappointedCourt Packing And Other ShenanigansHistorical Context, Oppressing People of ColorCOVID RumorsDebate Night Dog WhistlesWhat ...
09.24.2020 205 “If You're Reading This, It's Too Late” NOTE: This dispatch was beleaguered by technical and logistical challenges. The audio actually turned out pretty good (all things considered), but the entire thing was very nearly scrapped. Those challenges contributed to a delayed-release — and because the world has ...
09.13.2020 204 w/ Steve Kornacki "What's Up With These Polls?" Guest: Steve Kornacki, National Political Corespondent @NBC News / MSNBC Making TV News During a PandemicDoing Your Own MakeupLast Man in MidtownWe're All You Tubers NowIt'll Be a Blow-Out, Or It'll Be ClosePolls You Can TrustBlack Voters, Impeachment, CollusionState of ...
09.06.2020 203 w/ Nancy Rommelmann "From Portland to Kenosha to Rochester" Guest: Nancy Romemelmann, journalist and author of To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder Moynihan is back from Kenosha, and Nancy Rommelmann returns for an update on the goings-ons in Portland. On the ground in KenoshaOn the ...
09.01.2020 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 ...
08.23.2020 201 w / Coleman Hughes "DNC COVID CON, QAnon Don, Canceling Kmele" w / Coleman Hughes
08.13.2020 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 ...
08.09.2020 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 Saddles ...
07.29.2020 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 Murder Nancy Rommelmann, friend of the Fifth and former resident of Portland, Amerikkka, returns from the ramparts of the revolution with news, anecdotes, and ...
07.27.2020 197 w/ Glenn Greenwald, Thomas Chatterton Williams "Hypocrisy, Controversy, Cancellations" Glenn Greenwald, Co-Founder @ The Intercept Author, "No Place to Hide" Thomas Chatterton Williams Contributing Writer @ New York Times Mag Author, "Self Portrait in Black and White" After a little internet drama related to the Harper's Open Letter, Kmele ...
07.18.2020 UNLOCKED - Patreon Dispatch #29 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 ...
07.16.2020 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: ...
07.10.2020 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, ...
07.06.2020 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, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/objectivity-black-journalists-coronavirus.html Welch Raised Some Objections: "Journalists Abandoning 'Objectivity' for 'Moral Clarity' Really ...
07.01.2020 193 w/ Jacob Siegel "Why We Need the NYT, The New Truth" w/ Jacob Siegel, Senior Writer @ Tablet "The New Truth" (June 22nd 2020) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/new-truth-rationalism-religion "Journalists Abandoning 'Objectivity' for 'Moral Clarity' Really Just Want To Call People Immoral" (6/24/2020) https://reason.com/2020/06/24/journalists-abandoning-objectivity-for-moral-clarity-really-just-want-to-call-people-immoral/ - The Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez of Journalism - The Great ...
06.25.2020 192 w/ Jane Coaston "One Night In Tulsa, A Fool Proof Plan" w/ Jane Coaston, Senior Politics Reporter @ Vox Some Sports StuffTickTock SwiftboatsTulsaTrumps PartyWhat Comes NextImmigration + VisasThe Coaston PlanMore Black Lives Matter TalkBut What About....Unbundling the PoliceLiking the Neighborhood Cops Recorded: June 23, 2020 Published: June 25, 2020 See acast.com/privacy ...
06.17.2020 191 w/ David French "American Racism, SCOUTS Stuff, Qualified Immunity" w/ David French, Senior Editor @ The Dispatch and Columnist @ Time Help With Your Down Payment?A Busy Day For SCOTUS2A, Qualified Immunity (Part I), Expanding Civil RightsThought CrimesOn Racism (and Anti Racism)The Worst Dinner PartyThe Censorship ImpulseGone With the ...
06.12.2020 190 w/ Olivia Nuzzi " Insiders Guide to 2020, Defunding the Fuzz" w/ Olivia Nuzzi, Washington Correspondent @ New York Magazine An Unprecedented MovementDefunding the Police... Or Just Abolishing ThemCanceling Most Things, Razing The RestMoral Clarity in the News RoomTrump on the Campaign Trail, Biden's StrengthsWhy Trump and Rudy Can't Stop Talking ...
06.06.2020 189 "A Pandemic, A Civil War, A Great Awokining " A Brief History of Right NowPunk PoliceIt Might Actually Be LegalBlack on Black on BlackBending the KneeNYT Civil WarEssentialism in PracticeLaw & OrderPassoverMLK on Riots Recorded:6/4/2020 Published: 6/6/2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
06.01.2020 188 “On Anti-Racism II w/ Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Coleman Hughes, Thomas Chatterton Williams” Kmele facilitates a follow-up conversation on race, racism, and anti-racism -- this time, in the midst of a global pandemic and increasing social unrest. You can find the first installment in this series of conversations here: http://wethefifth.com/episodes/121 GUESTS / Glenn ...
05.29.2020 187 w/ Bari Weiss "Karens in the Ramble, Section 230" She wrote a column in the New York Times. She failed to mention her favorite podcast. She mentioned other podcasts. She texted us asking if she could come on the show to apologize. We agreed. Bari Weiss, the genial and ...
05.25.2020 186 w/ Balaji Srinivasan, Conor Friedersdorf - "Predicting Pandemics, Fixing Journalism" Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) Investor + Entrepreneur, Former CTO @ Coinbase, Partner @ Andreessen Horowitz Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) Staff Writer at The Atlantic, Founding Editor of The Best of Journalism - How Startups Think About Failure + Survival - Pandemics, Panics, ...
05.17.2020 185 w/ Ethan Strauss - "What's the Matter With Michael Jordan" w/ Ethan Strauss Writer @ Athletic, Author "The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty" (2020) - Getting Political - NBA vs China - Bad Deals and Bad Economics - The Incomparable Michael Jordan - 'What is ...

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