The Fifth Column

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**The Fifth Column**

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:

Episode 170: "Trump’s Best Week Ever, Iowa Pile Up" Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

Description:

- Kmele's Inner MAGA

- State of the Union Theatrics

- “Oh, God -- Fire the Media!”

- "The Big Lie" (and other nonsense)

- Mitt Romney’s Moment

- Trump’s Criminal Justice Reform

- Iowa Fiasco

- Waiting for Bernie to Turn on MSNBC

- Preview of Upcoming Patreon Episodes

Recorded: February 5th, 2020

Released: February 6th, 2020

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

Episode 169: "I'm so sorry this is happening to YOU" Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

Description:

- When the mob came for the Fifth

- Hong Kong: Proto Police State

- The Democratic Field

- Bernie's Got a Shot, The Joe Rogan Bounce

- Criminalizing Disinformation

- Watching Lou Dobbs

- Fearing the Bern

- Truthy Skepticism

- An Impeachment Drive-By

- Eli on the FBI

- Some Idiot Wrote This (and this... and this...)

Recorded: January 29, 2020

Released: January 30, 2020

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

Episode 168 w/ Miriam Elder: "Does Anything Matter Anymore?" Jan 18, 2020

Show notes

GUEST:

Miriam Elder, senior political reporter for BuzzFeed News and former Russia correspondent for The Guardian. (@MiriamElder)

DESCRIPTION:

Our fake bios

Miriam's seven years in Moscow

Get Shorty, Alex Jones, and the D-list bullshit artists

Matt’s Russophobia isn’t as bad as MSNBC’s

Political theater provides cover to Putin’s authoritarianism

Moynihan and Elder throw down over Bernie's alleged sexism. Plus: Is believing Warren or Sanders a #MeToo lesson?

Who is the nihilist candidate?

Banning lies on Facebook

Can a bully be funny?

The “Independents” couple forever

Recorded: January 16, 2020

Released: January 18, 2020

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

Episode 167 w/ Noah Rothman “ The Case for F*ckin Iran Right Up” Jan 08, 2020

Show notes

GUEST: Noah Rothman

Associate Editor@ Commentary -- Contributor @ MSNBC/NBC News

Author: “Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America” (Jan 2019)

DESCRIPTION:

- Why the Washington Bullets became the Wizard

- Bomb Iran?

- Will Americans ever support another Middle East War again?

- International commerce —> global middle class —> less war

- Trump thinks China should police the Strait of Hormuz

- What if we did NOTHING?

- Brian Stelter praises Tucker Carlson

- John Bolton might testify

- Moynihan shows up late

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

- Facebooks deep fake 'Problem'

- Thanks for the swags, and the booze

Recorded: January 7, 2019

Published: January 8, 2019

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

Episode 166: “Buttigieg Loves Drugs, Soleimani Canceled, Media Malpractice” Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

DESCRIPTION:

- Neighborhood Watch

- Moynihan’s Anti-Brit Streak

- Bernie’s Fundraising Clout

- Ron Paul’s Newsletters and Everlasting Ice Cream

- Buttigieg Wants to Decriminalize All Drugs

- Iran’s Quds Force commander Soleiman Killed in Iraq

- Media Malpractice on Vaping

- Chuck Todd's Fake News special

- About That Memo

Recorded: January 2, 2020

Published: January 3, 2020

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

UNLOCKED - Patreon Dispatch #4 🎁 Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

Happy Kwanza -- We've UNLOCKED a Patreon Only dispatch just for you (and everyone else)! Enjoy it, but don't get used to it.

The Williamsburg Tapes (Dispatch #4)

"Losing Our Religion"

DESCRIPTION

It's a pre-Christmas miracle! The Fifth Columnists are back at the stammtisch (stupid table) in Williamsburg for a long-ass special dispatch, mostly discussing things distant from the news cycle. Kmele watches "Mandingo" and, to the shock of both Welch and Moynihan, is slack-jawed by how racist it is. The lads answer some reader mail and discuss Michael Collins, the Pete Best of Apollo 11; offer some meandering thoughts on Catholicism and Seventh Day Adventism; ruminate on tragedy and loss; blather about the Richard Jewell movie nontroversy; recommend books about Israel; and provide two-plus hours of assorted other nonsense.

Recorded: 12/??/2019

Published: 12/25/2019

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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

165 w/Conor Friedersdorf “Mayhem in Jersey City, Foreign Affairs, Gesture Politics” Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

GUEST: Conor Friedersdorf

Staff Writer @ The Atlantic

DESCRIPTION:

- Patreon-only Preview

- Chapo Trap vs Conor

- An Underreported Attack in Jersey City

- Afghanistan Mea Culpa

- Something About Impeachment

- Reauthorize Every War, Every Year

- Biden, Dove of the Obama Administration

- Complicated Brexit voters

- Gesture politics

- The Paternalism of Blooombergism

- The Pronoun Talk

- Civility, Without Obsessing Over Identity

Recorded: December 17, 2019

Published: December 18, 2019

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

164 "UK Elections, Afghan Papers, Prophylactic Impeachment" Dec 14, 2019

Show notes

Description:

- Kmele’s Dog Ate His Own Tail

- Debunking mediums and magicians

- UK elections, the problem with Jeremy Corbyn

- WaPo’s “Afghanistan Papers”

- IG report and the FBI's no-good, very bad behavior

- Mispronouncing Nunes

- Acela Wars

- Greta Thunberg: Person of the Year

- The case against Welches Case Against Impeachment

Recorded: December 12, 2019

Published: December 14, 2019

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

163 "Kamala Quits, NATO Splinters, Impeachments for All" Dec 08, 2019

Show notes

Description:

- [ GRRT, BAOW ]

- Dragonball Z

- Kamala Drops Out, A Narrative Quickly Take Shape

- A De-platforming in South Bend

- 1619 and Historical Skepticism

- Are the Democratic Primaries Racist? (Can We Call It Seeding or Naw?)

- A Farewell to NATO? And the WTO? And the EU too?

- "Impeachment", The Board Game

- "The Irishman", A Review

Recorded: December 6, 2019

Published: December 8, 2019

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

162 w/ Errol Morris "Steve Bannon, American Dharmam" Nov 30, 2019

Show notes

The director of classic documentaries "The Thin Blue Line," "Fog of War," and "Standard Operation Procedure," Errol Morris has long been the doyen of critics...until he made "American Dharma," a film exploring the worldview and influence of former Breitbart boss and Trump campaign chief executive Steve Bannon. Predictably, Morris was accused of "platforming" Bannon and, for the first time in his career, America's most famous documentarian couldn't find a distributor for his film. On the day "American Dharma" opened in New York, Morris sat down with Michael Moynihan to discuss the controversy, whether or not Bannon is a "fascist," and why he thinks his most controversial movie is also his best.

Recorded: November 1, 2019

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

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