The Fifth Column

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com (Note: For those of you that want to stare longingly at Damon Root, don’t despair…the video version is forthcoming!) * Damon Root’s book Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court * Basic civics, reintroduced * Root’s mood in five words * What becomes of this useless Congress? * Why not 9–0? Root on the three dissenters * The “major questions doctrin…

-The dork Star Wars cantina of famous biographers -Jefferson’s hypocrisy and the impossibility of paragon standards -Lincoln was not an abolitionist -The Howard Zinnification of American history -Ambiguity as the ideological propagandist’s mortal enemy -The true (New Testament) saint of America -George H.W. Bush’s blunt admission -This president would cut your throat for a vote, then be the first to call 911 -Exhaustion as a strategy, and the establishment’s failure to meet the moment -Autocratic narcissism and the turn toward political sadism -Despair is a sin -Political loss as seasonal, not existential -What will the next side do with inherited expanded executive power? -14th Amendment redemption clauses as high-level nerd porn -Amusing ourselves to death in a visual-media politics -Katie Britt’s private doubt, and the ecosystem that manufactured it -Lincoln couldn’t write a bad sentence; Reagan could land the line Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. Buy Jon Meacham’s anthology, American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (Bookshop | Amazon) Thanks for reading/watching The Fifth Column (A Podcast)! This post is public so feel free to share it. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Please say hello to our new Sunset Park neighbor -The American Chávez -The Nobel Prize Grudge -The Dictatorship That Remained -Political Pilgrims and Failed Experiments -Maria the Maid and the, “Gay Marriage Lady” slur -A Masterclass in Macro-Failure -The Media Pioneer -The Illusion of Democracy -Economic Voodoo -The “Police” StrategyGet William’s book, Things …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com For Christmas 2024, I was gifted Robert Sullivan’s delightful My American Revolution: A Modern Expedition Through History’s Forgotten Battlegrounds. I devoured it within 24 hours. It is no exaggeration to say that the book is responsible as anything else for this little Semiquincetennial miniseries you are (hopefully!) enjoying. As you will hear in this …

-John Bolton, Olympic Curling Hawk -Arguing with the 60s Since 1970 -I’m kind of a Libertarian (Minus the Defense Part) -Iraq was actually kind of perfect -Federalist Papers as Foreign Aid (or maybe porn would suffice) -The Arab Spring Brain-Break -Afghanistan is Not Exactly a Nation -Regime Change, Case-by-Case -The Forward Defense of New Jersey -Ukraine and the Gray Zone Trap -The Nuclear Press Release -Tucker Carlson wants you to be scared of this man -Trump’s Real Estate Foreign Policy -The Face of the Regime in Venezuela -The President’s Retribution…. and how worried should the Ambassador be right now? -Who Will Take Him Down First? -Tulsi Gabbard’s Intelligence Clown Show Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -The Invertebrate Caucus -The New Tax Party -Ruby Ridge and Waco Redux -The Last Man Standing -The Crypto Appearance Problem -Government as a Mob Vig -The Fairness Trap -The Colombia Save, or how Rand prevented a military escalation by sending a quick text message to the President. -Epstein Transparency Collateral -Is Trump still “the best president of his lifet…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com A deeply serious and important conversation over some listener-provided Scotch about the Super Bowl halftime show(s), the death of ad copywriting, dunking in the WNBA, pond skating, and the other Moynihan Report. •Oh good, Kmele started drinking early •About that game… •The horrible stereotypes in that halftime show •He bangs •The Canadian caravan •Malfunctio…

John Avlon stops by only to learn he’s also in the Epstein files, why the Daily Beast should’ve sold dick pills, and why we need to rebuild guardrails on what some call “stolen land” * Where John is surprised to learn he’s in the Epstein files and suddenly remembers he has plans not to be here * The Ceaușescu of Long Beach * Moynihan actually voted for this guy! * Georgia, the FBI, and the Trump 2.0 purity test industrial complex * Asking for a friend who keeps wondering, “are US elections legit?” * This is not a libertarian podcast * The original sin is hyperpolarization * Tucker at CPAC, the heretic hunters, and the sound of the crowd turning * Give the left/right base what it wants and watch your incentives rot * We should have sold dick pills at The Daily Beast and funded a small country * The hell with the guardrails, we want our conspiracies god dammit! * Oral culture wins, written culture loses, and the Washington Post dims the lights * How can we do this podcast “on stolen land?” * What happened to Rudy Giuliani? * The Traveling Wilburys of Government * Asymmetric polarization and why the crazies are not equally distributed Get John’s latest book, Lincoln and the Fight For Peace (Bookshop | Amazon) Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com • Moynihan and Welch are in the Epstein files • A very indiscriminate and humiliating dump • Bannon & Epstein • Black boxes over kids, and the express train to Satanic Panic • Embarrassment is no reason • Moynihan’s Melania Review • Billie Jean is not my brother, but Jimmy Carter is my mother • That’s an awfully small ring to kiss for such a wealthy man • Move …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com What if you’re just … born wrong? (No, I don’t mean the darling little girl to the right.) You may know Bill Schulz through his years toiling as Greg Gutfeld’s “repulsive sidekick” on ye olde Fox News late-nite WTF show Red Eye (on which all of your co-hosts, and several of our guests, got some valuable reps back in the day). You may know Bill through hi…

-The NYC Rolling Hobo Express -An Enthusiastic Armada Full of Speed and Violence -Iranian Death Toll Discourse and Roger Waters Still Sucks -The Donroe Doctrine and the Near Abroad Dodge -Everyone’s Favorite Powder Keg -A Norwegian, A Rat Bag, and a Lunatic -A disgusting thing to say -Noem’s Bellebolent Hypotheticals -Stephen Miller’s Basement Lotions and the Little Rogaine Carpet -Fingerers, Reach-Arounds, and Reaganite as a Slur -Anne Cool-ter -Fuck You Jonathan -Mehmet Oz, P.I. -Ye’s apology ad and the uncanny valley of writing -One from the Mailbag Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifthdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. The Fifth Column (A Podcast) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -A huge TACO Tuesday -Survival of the Spineless -Low-level insurgency infrastructure -Astroturf panic and the suspicious run to Walgreens -The problem with punching Nazis -Walz and Trump finally talk -Fuck you, Ted -The Great American Slur Revival -Short king Bovino and the self-inflicted smoke bomb -Democracy Dies in Payroll -World’s Biggest Russophobe Longs for…

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 back to the Fifth Column One Hitter! In the hours after ICE shot and killed Alex Pretti, we gathered at the studio to sit down with Peter Moskos: former police officer, current John Jay…

•Don Does Davos•I Would Do Anything for Greenland (But I Won’t Do That)•Even MAGA Thought the Norway Text Was Fake News•The Danes’ Historical Resistance to Fascism•A Lament for the Belgian Congo•Cutting a Greenland Cake, and the Epidemic of Stupidity•Who the Fuck Is “We”?•Congress Could Do Something That Isn’t Impeachment•Shame Doesn’t Work•Past the Point of Passivity•Punching a Transtifa Baby•Macron and Those Beautiful Sunglasses•Carney Invokes Václav Havel: Rupture, Not Transition•Middle Powers, Beta Powers•Soleimani in Iceland•China Is Asshole•The Man Is Fucking Old and Loves His Prizes•Breaking: Strange Victory, Strange Defeat•Letter Bag: Minneapolis•Get Out of the Fucking Churches•The Abbott & Costello Theory of Government Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifthdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 8PM EST. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Chuck Klosterman’s new book, Football is out now! (See also The Nineties, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs) -The music-doc cinematic universe, featuring Billy Joel and Japanese Jimmy Page -Moynihan missed the Morrissey cover-band boat -How to actually say Klosterman -From pop culture to America’s most popular TV show -It had to be football: the one exception …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com Two hundred and fifty years ago this very day, a gallant-strolling cat named George Washington convened in Cambridge about as high a level Patriot meeting as you could muster: John Adams, two major generals, five brigadier generals, and arguably the most connected man among the Boston rebels, Joseph Warren. There, the commander in chief persuaded his Wa…

-Good Movies We’ve Never Seen -Raw Dog Minerals -Moynihan Responds to a Cunty Troll -The Reckoning We Didn’t Have -Renee Goode, a Week Removed -These People Have No Constitutional Knowledge -The MST3K Theatre of ICE Videos -The Sanctuary City Devaluation -Iranian Violence Spectacle and thoroughly verifying the dead -Weaponized DOJ: Now Featuring Powell and a Reporter Raid -The Walter Cronkite of This Generation -Low-Bar Journalism Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifthdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com -Who Remembers the Armenians? (The Fresno ones) -The One Good Decision Gavin Newsom has made -Who Remembers Amy Cooper? (The Central Park one) -When Facts Become Partisan Coded -Journalism vs. Activism -Matt Welch Is Buffy St. Marie -Broken LA Dreams -The Actual Way to Pronounce Cenk Uygur -ICE’s Shock and Awe Theater is no longer an act -The Pendulum on Immigra…

We’re joined by Josh Barro, contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and host of the Very Serious and Central Air Substack -Feldstein, Leibowitz, Berkowitz, and White Nationalist Moynihan -The Nancy Pelosi Riot, 5 years later -An ICE shooting in Minneapolis -Morally disgusting and electorally advantageous -Marco Rubio’s Spine Transplant -Memory-Holing Anarchy -The Warmth of Collectivism -Rent Control Suicide -Affordability In Davos -The NY John Lindsay Pretty Boy Republican Problem -Greenland Extortion -Maduro Snatch and Grab -Black Elliott Abrams -Are straight people okay? Prefer to watch & chat live with other members of the Fifthdom? This episode premieres over on our YouTube channel at 12PM EST. Thanks for reading The Fifth Column (A Podcast)! This post is public so feel free to share it. Follow The Fifth Column YouTube: @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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.wethefifth.com •Belated Christmas gifts from Matt •Who’s got the biggest war boner? •Lysander Spooner, still bringing people together after all these years •Kevin’s had four kids in 19 months. You do the math. •How to tell the kids apart? Tattoo ‘em! •Build, Baby, Build •Romney the virile tribal chieftain •Trump’s faux presidential run •Venezuela and the subtle differences be…