* 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? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...
Mar 05, 2025•2 hr 38 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com 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?’
Mar 03, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast * 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? 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
Mar 02, 2025•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast * 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! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus...
Feb 28, 2025•2 hr 51 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * 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...
Feb 25, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast * Matt vs. the Gremlins * He lasts about 20 minutes * Subscribe to the pod so he can stay at normal hotels that don’t use Compuserve * Two minutes of Kayne and the Yahud * Everything is a lie * Free speech king goes Russiagate * Trump’s Ukraine disgrace * Allies and Axis 2.0 * Here DOGEy DOGEy DOGEy * Misunderstanding democracy * The animals of Hamas * Inhumanity makes one inarticulate * 😡🐰🥚 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus ...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * If this plane crashes, it’ll just be ‘Steve Wozniak, Allen Iverson, and some other people’ * Murder motel in Huntington Beach * Marvin Gaye's confession * A shot, a beer, and Paddington 3 * Brexit, bananas, and robber outfits * Not their best. But sort of. * The New York Times ’s dumb report from Europe * Does Vance have a point? * Ukraine negotiations without Ukraine * A bunch m…...
Feb 17, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast So we took a few days off. We deserved it. Sort of. And after all, there were pilots to filmed, kids to be cared for, conferences to attend. Indeed, on Friday we gave a talk at a wonderful University of Florida conference on America’s love of bullshit. But we begged off from the proceedings for an hour to record an episode. Because we love you guys. And because we needed to discuss Pete Hegseth, beer bongs and Goldschlager luges, Elon’s weird kids, the future of DOGE, the future of Ukraine, Isla...
Feb 16, 2025•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast * The hockey plumber * A very brief return to tariffs * Let’s fight the drug war again! Yay! * Neocon Don wants to make Gaza great…for the first time * This is a very, very bad idea * Like…an extraordinarily bad idea * The 80-20 issue * Lia’s standup special * 60 Minutes in the docket * “Restoring freedom of speech” 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...
Feb 06, 2025•2 hr 52 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com We asked ChatGPT to give us some titles for this episode. Turned out to be a pretty decent précis of the discussion…and the last one is particularly good: "Tariffs, TikTok, and Toe-Kneading Terror" "Mary Poppins: Feminist Propaganda & Economic Illiteracy" "Avocados vs. American Fish: The Dumbest Trade Debate Ever" "Trump’s Tariff Tantrum: The Art of the Du…...
Feb 03, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast * First class mud hobbit * At the 80th in Poland * An executive flurry * The interrogation of RFK * In defense of pharma * The interrogation of Kash Patel * Give us Greenland, Part 32 * Overreach on DEI? * Frozen budgets * Getting the win * Is *this* the art of the deal? * Why were the JFK/RFK/MLK files held back? * And what will we find therein… * The most annoying Kennedy * Trusting Deepseek * Has the press learned its lesson? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other ...
Feb 01, 2025•2 hr 44 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Moynihan in Poland (Katya stole his mic) * Ronalda Reagana * Know a Nowa Huta * Onward to Auschwitz * Maybe don’t speak to the far-right German party? * Axis of anti-Woke * Unimpressed with nation-states * The Best Black History Month Report, EVER * Lia vs. MLK Part II * Rufo’s Sore "Winning" * Activism vs. Truth * Our “Blind spot” * Yellow/Blue Dress Explained * YOUR Outrage (Not Mine) * Ove…...
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast * The Zombies reunion * Edibles and expressionism * A ghost on the knee * Who needs a desk when democracy’s dead? * Outage equality * Don’t ever integrate? * Segregation redux * Why Steve hates Elon * Those terrible oligarchs * Who needs the Constitution when we have executive orders? * The Jan 6 pardons: a disagreement * The art of the overcharge * Ross Ulbricht goes home This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.we...
Jan 23, 2025•2 hr 56 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The sycophants are back! * Are we suckers for paying? * Gauleiter Musk * Day one executive orders * The newest, greatest Amazon Prime perk * New national bird: Jim Eagle * Pardon me? * Guess what? Leonard Peltier is not a good guy! * That Outside magazine article * Inauguration babes * Kmele’s letter to his daughter’s school * Not our oligarchs! * Ari Shaffir vs. Howie Mandel * Governme…...
Jan 21, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast * Melanie: the eternal First Lady * A bad deal but…the only deal * The same situation, over and over * Joey B’s final babble * Ike, Elon, and the unacceptable “oligarchy” * The Ralph Lifshitz Award for Cultural Betrayal * F**k You, Surgeon General, says Matt Welch * The shittiest NYT story in recent memory * A shitty celebration of murder on Jimmy Kimmel * Pete H on the Hill * Women in combat is not a weird debate * RIP David Lynch * RIP Bob Uecker This is a public episode. If you'd like to disc...
Jan 17, 2025•2 hr 51 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A rebroadcast of our most recent “Second Sunday” episode, during which paying subscribers can hop on a Zoom call, ask us questions, berate us, tell meandering stories, and be generically clever/hilarious/insane. On this episode, we talk to a number of people in Los Angeles about the ongoing conflagrations and the city government’s predictably feckless r…...
Jan 16, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast * Black Bill Kristol * Nobody beats the Rizz * Stealing Greenland * Yet another horrible big city mayor * When you love Castro, you are obviously an incompetent moron * Forget it, Matt. It's Chinatown * More on the 🔥 * Is big city governance killing progressivism? * Your lying eyes * Elon’s Nazis * Mark Zuckerberg and “winning” on free speech * The end of corporate walkout culture * January 6 pardons and pizzagate crazy person gunned down * Hobo stabs thug This is a public episode. If you'd lik...
Jan 10, 2025•2 hr 54 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Lia the diva * The era of athlete actors * Moynihan correction: It was Bubba Smith in Police Academy. Dick Butkus was in Police *Story*. * I want to make fun of my boss * Awful political cartoons * More on progressive schools * Are you a hypocrite, MM? * Reflections on Jimmy Carter, DPRK fan * The neo-neocons? * The vibe shift and the sense of the heroic (says MAGA Matt) * Matt…...
Jan 06, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast * No more Bobby * No resolutions * Pump it up: The bionic podcast host * New Year’s terror in NOLA and Vegas * The military connection that doesn’t matter * The advent of “car ramming” * In celebration of Chaim Sapir * Forgotten terror * When Charlie destroyed our faith in the media class * Jimmy Carter’s awful op-ed * Erasing Islamism * Revisiting Rushdie * Getting scammed by the “truth” people * Broken kneecap policing This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscrib...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * An episode that takes a break from politics? * Stars, tardigrades, and microscopy * Race in space * Matt and Moyn watch “A Complete Unknown,” come to different conclusions * Phantom and 40mg * AI’s take on this section: “Listener emails prompt discussions on art, personal struggles, and growth during the holidays.” * Books for young men searching…. * Can The Man Who Shot L…...
Dec 30, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast * Pivot to Zoom * Rereading books * The ex-presidents * “It’s 1,547 pages of unreadable garbage. Every year, it’s like Christmas." * Chip the RHINOOOOOO * Elon’s Political Fantasy Camp! * Is Trump losing his power to threaten? * The end of AOC? * Before his own inevitable perp walk, Mayor Adams does a hot assassin perp walk * Insurance companies redux * Kmele is a bad drinker * Don Jr. trades up * Barron is everyone’s boyfriend This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other s...
Dec 20, 2024•2 hr 42 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * If you think it’s expensive now, wait until it’s free * Unpersuasive persuasion * How race is like probiotic soda * Ends and means * "If one killing is justified, where do you draw the line—10,000? A million?" * Siouxsie and the Nazis / Bill Grundy * Tinder Trotskyists * More “memoirs about trauma and identity” * ‘Oh, they’re taxing us, let’s go murder people.’ * 23andme and Zor…...
Dec 16, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast * The Daniel Penny verdict * REinstitutionalization * When should the state involuntarily commit? * Remember, she was a very bad candidate * The great exhale * Joe and the Squad * A fake Portuguese guest * Barro blowback? * On the Substack revolution * The repulsive Luigi Mangioni * The failed Kaczynski * And much more! 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...
Dec 12, 2024•2 hr 50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com One topic in the news . One quick podcast on that single topic (rather than just texting each other about how certain media figures are vulgar, stupid, and morally depraved). Welcome to the Fifth Column One Hitter! In our inaugural episode, Matt and Moyn get pissed off about the hideous reaction from certain very online cretins to the awful murder of Uni…...
Dec 06, 2024•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast * Little Moynihan’s pediatric cancer fundraiser can be found here! This might be the opposite of an incentive, but a random donor will be chosen for a personalized roast video from Moyn and his daughter… * The idiot winds (That “One More Cup of Coffee” live performance MM referenced) * Pete Hegseth replaced by Ronny D? * Ok, you asked for it…with new information, the lads return to the Hunter pardon * "Is he really doing something injurious?" * Preemptive pardons? * The uselessness of cable “new...
Dec 05, 2024•2 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * The boys had just heard the Biden pardon news. So much they missed about the specifics…and this brilliant video had not yet been created. * Citizens of the Fifdom debate RFK * The professional Youtube debaters * Teens and true crime * JonBenet * How to interview your dad * A listener asks: Is Dan Crenshaw the worst? * Park Slope politics and the crotch Magen David * The M…...
Dec 02, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a Thanksgiving treat, an unlocked Members Only episode featuring Moynihan in conversation with Dr. Alan Levinovitz, author of Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science and The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat , about RFK’s view of public health, why you are fat, the myth of “natural,” and why so many people have stopped trusting “the science.” We won’t be unlocking any subscriber-only episodes for awhile so…subscribe! This is ...
Nov 27, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Pete’s past * Friends with a murderer * Roofie vending machines * The worst cabinet pick? * Trans snakes that play golf * Damn dirty commies * The three things reds do well * A store called Store * That truck is still with Kamala * Little Baron’s soooooooootcase * One black woman’s quest * Biased bookstores * Axios: Trump’s liberal cabinet * ChatGPT is wrong about everything * Back to Cormac...
Nov 25, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast An hour with Semafor founder Ben Smith discussing the sorry state of the media, followed by a Smith-free hour with the lads discussing, among other things, two very different people who nevertheless shared a very deep love of young people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 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...
Nov 23, 2024•2 hr 53 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com * Kmele: Forever the HNIC * The Filet-O-Fish is Alaska pollock * A Swedish horror show * RFK at HHS * He forgot to mention this stuff… * Elon’s principles? * On Matt Gaetz and John Bolton * You know, we had a pretty good record on Covid… * Moulton v. a Salem Witch * A listener’s Irish-Catholic family is falling apart * That fake Netflix fight...
Nov 19, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
