The Fifth Column
Analysis, Commentary, Sedition. @wethefifth
Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch
Show overview
The Fifth Column has been publishing since 2016, and across the 10 years since has built a catalogue of 655 episodes. That works out to roughly 890 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run over ninety minutes — most land between 55 min and 1h 49m — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. Roughly 22% of episodes carry an explicit flag from the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language News & Politics show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed earlier today, with 52 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 103 episodes published. Published by Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch.
From the publisher
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
View all 655 episodesWhen Everyone Stops Pretending w/ Steven Pinker (Episode #557)
Robert D. Kaplan on a World Getting Darker (Members Only #320)
Masquerade of Morons (Episode #556)
Premeditated Fingering w/ Anthony Scaramucci (Members Only #319)
David French on the Supreme Court, Race, and the Miracle That Confirmed His Faith #555
Crimes of Boredom (Members Only #318)
Tucker, Totenkopf, and the Fascist Question w/ Michelle Goldberg #554
Live From Village Underground: The 10th Anniversary Show w/Ryan Long (Members Only #317)
Audience of One w/ Brian Kilmeade (Members Only #316)
Nothing is Impossible w/ Mark Harmon (Members Only #315)
A Blockade of the Blockade #553
Supreme Court, Inferior Congress w/ Sarah Isgur (Members Only #314)
The Ceasefire That Wasn’t #552 (w/ Abe Greenwald)
Halfwits, Knuckle Draggers, and Droolers (Members Only #313)
Ten Years of The Fifth Column (#551)
The Fifth Column marks ten years with a live, loose, alcohol-assisted celebration featuring Thor Halvorssen, Pete Meijer, Olivia Reingold, Nick Gillespie, and Nancy Rommelmann, with stops along the way for Venezuela, culture war absurdity, Jewish identity, sexual politics, old stories, new grievances, and the usual refusal to keep anything on the rails. WATCH IT on Youtube:The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader & viewer supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Follow The Fifth ColumnYouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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
Cuba, Race, and the American Category Problem w/Ted Henken (Members Only #312)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.comOh, and Wednesday marks the 10th anniversary of this show, yes, on April Fools’. Can you fucking believe it? Join us for the only appropriate celebration, a LIVE late-night shitfest of alcohol, probable technical mishaps, and some very special guests.-Theodore Henken, plantanified yuma-Why America still can’t quit Cuba-Cuba and the full moon were made f…
The Limits of Sound and Fury w/ Rahm Emanuel (Members Only #311)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com* Maybe I wasn’t exactly a prince* Why nobody should want to stay in Washington too long* The worst job in politics* The ACA, “the three children,” and the birth of the Tea Party* The Great Recession and losing your ticket to the American dream* Trump didn’t invent the anger, he captured it* The no-drinking-until-the-mics-are-off rule* In the Oval Office, the choice is…
Is Apple Still Apple? #550 (w/ David Pogue)
Kmele loves Apple products…maybe a little too much. But what a perfect guest to talk all things related to this monster company and how it’s shaped American culture and the globe as a whole.-The Newton saved Apple-What Kmele does with Apple products in the shower-The underdog with taste-Why Matt Welch hates Macs-On getting access to Apple-Project Titan and the $10 billion heartbreak-Apple as a medical device company-Still a Steve Jobs disciple of focus-Apple made China and China made Apple-Where there is no will, there’s a way-New locations for Apple manufacturing-On the fantasy of bringing it back to the US-Apple Intelligence, deepfakes, and doing AI the “right” way-All it takes is a Congressperson having sex with a sheep-Anthropic, cheating, and the possible jobs apocalypse-The long runwayRead Apple: The First 50 Years by David Pogue (Bookshop | Amazon)Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST.After 10 years, we’ve finally found a sponsor we actually like. Ground News pulls coverage of the same story into one place so you can compare headlines across sources and see how framing changes depending on the outlet.Subscribe for 40% off our Vantage plan using our unique link https://groundnews.com/fifthThe Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader/viewer supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Follow The Fifth ColumnYouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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
The Hungarian Road to Havana (Members Only #310)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com-Celine Dion, slightly less stiff-Every headline out of Hungary is insane-The Orbán character arc-The Polish miracle-Conservative 2Pac in the Borat republic-Cuba is falling apart, Hasan Piker is thriving-Cuba’s healthcare miracle, minus aspirin-Why pseudo-intellectuals love communist field trips-The pig whose vocal cords had to go-Trump’s zigzagging is …
There’s Always a New Monster to Destroy (w/ Noam Dworman) #549
-Joe Kent’s weird texts and the “Israel did Iraq” brainworm-The Jews are so fucking clever-Iraq 2003, back from the dead yet again-There’s always a new monster to destroy-Iran, nukes, and the problem with crazy people holding civilization hostage-A Ron Paul guy with a war boner-Don’t you realize you’re losing America?-Norman Finkelstein has no phone-Mearsheimering, Robert Pape, and the incentives to go full crank-Megyn Kelly, the anti-Israel turn, and the warm bath of total nuttiness-Mark Levin’s penis size enters the chat-Louis CK and a Michael Barbaro hit job-the origin of Tough CrowdPrefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST.After 10 years, we’ve finally found a sponsor we actually like. Ground News pulls coverage of the same story into one place so you can compare headlines across sources and see how framing changes depending on the outlet.Subscribe for 40% off our Vantage plan using our unique link https://groundnews.com/fifthThe Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader/viewer supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Follow The Fifth ColumnYouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn 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