The Megyn Kelly Show
Episode Summary: "Chicago Mayor Rejects Crime Help, Trump vs. Fed Gov, and Taylor Swift Engaged, with The Fifth Column"
Date: August 26, 2025
Guests: Camille Foster, Michael Moynihan, Matt Welch (The Fifth Column)

Overview

In this episode, Megyn Kelly is joined by the hosts of The Fifth Column podcast—Camille Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch—for an energetic, irreverent discussion on major political and cultural stories. Topics include the DNC's land acknowledgment and "performance politics," the crisis of crime in Chicago and progressive approaches to public safety, Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook amidst mortgage fraud allegations, the cyclical dangers of "lawfare" in politics, progressive identity rhetoric in the media, and the headline-grabbing engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. DNC Land Acknowledgment and Cultural "Performance"

• DNC Opens with a Land Acknowledgment ([01:01–09:00])

  • Megyn ridicules the DNC for opening with a land acknowledgment instead of practical policies to win back disaffected voters.
  • Guests agree such rituals have become performative, meant to signal virtue without substantive change.
  • Matt Welch: “Doing battle over history constantly is never a vote getter. People get annoyed by it. I get annoyed by it.” ([09:11])
  • Michael Moynihan: “It is in a way to show maximum penance and minimum action.” ([08:08])

• Political Hypocrisy:

  • Numerous jokes at the expense of Democratic leaders and celebrities who enact symbolic gestures but avoid material sacrifices or policy responses.

2. Crime Crisis & Chicago Mayor's Approach

• Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Crime Response ([14:19–19:10])

  • Audio played of Johnson refusing to unequivocally support more police, instead pivoting to social programs as the solution.
  • Matt Welch: “Why not just say yes to that question [on accepting federal policing help]? Well, the answer is because he doesn't like the police.” ([16:21])
  • Kelly and guests argue that policy focus on “affordable housing” is a deflection from addressing gang violence.
  • Discussion on gang violence and the political costs of acknowledging its real causes.
  • Megyn Kelly: “There is no law and order. There is none. Because Brandon Johnson doesn’t want to send police in there even if they’re free.” ([17:22])

• Broader Democratic Policy Failures

  • Guests critique urban leadership in blue cities for ideological intransigence, union capture, and abysmal city services.
  • Michael Moynihan: “Chicago ... is arguably the worst governed big city in the country.” ([19:10])

3. Debate on Federal Intervention & State Authority

• National Guard & Federal Policing ([20:52–25:04])
  • Concerns raised about deploying federal troops in local crime situations—overreach vs. necessary support.
  • Emphasis on the importance of federalism and the “50 state experiment.”
  • Megyn Kelly: “…it kind of F’s up the 50-state experiment that is really at the bedrock of our foundational principles.” ([21:54])
  • Camille Foster: “There’s a bit of a kind of strange dynamic when National Guardsmen are coming from states that may…have higher crime rates to patrol the streets of D.C.” ([23:02])

4. Crime Trends, Police Funding & Progressive Attitudes

• Data and Narrative Manipulation ([30:27–34:27])

  • Responding to commentary that “red states are more dangerous,” Kelly lists Democratic mayors of those cities to argue it’s a crime of urban mismanagement.
  • Matt Welch: “If you don’t have a robust police force… then you have—I mean, there’s not a lot that…a Republican governor or a Republican mayor…can do about a city that has 95% fatherlessness in certain neighborhoods.” ([33:07])

• Law and Order vs. Social Workers

  • Sarcastic take on progressive insistence that social workers can substitute for police.
  • Megyn Kelly: “the social worker’s going to go onto the south side of Chicago and put herself in between the drive-by guy and the porch and do an intervention so we can center blackness…” ([25:04])

5. The Problem with Performance Patriotism & Identity Politics

• Patriotism & Culture Wars ([36:52–49:05])
  • Spirited disagreement about whether a “crisis of patriotism” exists.
  • Megyn Kelly: “There is a massive problem with lack of patriotism and love of the country. It’s all on the left.” ([37:28])
  • Michael Moynihan: “We are trying to do what we always do in politics, which is to organize our hatreds.” ([37:48])

6. Trump vs. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook

• Firing Lisa Cook ([56:49–75:06])
  • Trump posts on Truth Social that Lisa Cook is “toast,” firing her over mortgage fraud allegations; Cook refuses to leave.
  • Examination of the legal and ethical rationale for removal and the precedent of “lawfare” retaliation.
  • Camille Foster: “…the defense of this particular woman has not been particularly glorious. The profile that the New York Times wrote up over the weekend really does have…comedy.” ([57:47])
  • Kelly’s argument: Democrats must “suffer” the consequences of their own lawfare, or it will never stop.
  • Megyn Kelly: “They must suffer or we're just going to go through this again, but only with Republicans. So, I think really you have to take the nose and rub it in the…crap in order for these people to learn.” ([62:32])
  • Libertarian caution against new cycles of partisan prosecution.
  • Matt Welch: “If we keep doing this forever, where does it stop? Does it ever stop?” ([73:13])

7. Progressive Identity Rhetoric & Media Bias

• MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross ([78:57–81:43])

  • Cross labeled Stephen Miller a “white supremacist” as “fact.”
  • Camille Foster: “It is not an objective fact. I am not aware of The Wall Street Journal publishing that. And I do not think it is a winning strategy for progressives or Democrats…to simply go on making the most extreme, absurd claims about the other side…” ([79:04])

• Abby Phillip and "Mainstream" Liberal Media

  • Brief defense and criticism of CNN’s Abby Phillip for trying to appear centrist while showing left bias.

8. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Engagement

• Swift/Kelce Engagement Announcement ([87:55–103:56])
  • Megyn congratulates them, expresses hope that Swift learns to “stay in her lane” and avoid politics.
  • Panel debates “real man” archetypes, celebrity obsession, and the durability of high-profile relationships.
  • Megyn Kelly: “...as an American billionaire…who's like, not even 40. I think it's great she finally found love.” ([87:55])
  • Matt Welch (joking): “Those of us who don’t read very manly, you know, sometimes…are our own Travis Kelces.” ([90:17])
  • Commentary on broader societal obsession with celebrity romance.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Land Acknowledgement Performative Politics:

  • “It's always unidirectional…in a way to show, you know, maximum penance and minimum action.” —Michael Moynihan ([08:08])
  • "What is the land acknowledgement, other than to say we live in a kind of a crappy country that did something crappy to become what it is today?" —Matt Welch ([45:51])

• On Chicago Violence & Democratic Mismanagement:

  • “The murder rate in Chicago…is from the south side of Chicago where it’s gang ridden…It’s not about affordable housing, right? There is no law and order. There is none.” —Megyn Kelly ([17:22])
  • “Brandon Johnson would rather see everyone shoot each other. He does not give a shit about the 3 year old girl who got shot…” —Megyn Kelly ([17:22])

• On Lawfare and Political Retribution:

  • “If these cities would have—would elect more Giuliani's or Bloomberg…they would do better. They would have…a turnaround.” —Megyn Kelly ([34:27])
  • “They must suffer or we're just going to go through this again, but only with Republicans.” —Megyn Kelly ([62:32])
  • “…when you respond to the expansion of executive power…with the massive expansion…then you see where it’s gone. It keeps on going, keeps on going. And my concern with this is that we become Latin American.” —Matt Welch ([73:13])

• On Identity & Media:

  • “Anytime that we play something from Stephen Miller, it would be journalistic integrity to point out that he is a white supremacist…and he is the brainchild behind this policy. That’s not my opinion. That’s actual fact.” —Tiffany Cross ([78:57])
  • “It is not an objective fact. I am not aware of The Wall Street Journal publishing that.” —Camille Foster ([79:04])

• On Taylor Swift and Culture:

  • “I think it’s great she finally found love. I really do. I am rooting for them…As an American billionaire…who’s like, not even 40.” —Megyn Kelly ([87:55])
  • “She’s one of our last pop stars. We really don’t have that as a category anymore, I guess.” —Michael Moynihan ([94:24])

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:01] – [09:00] — DNC Land Acknowledgment/Critical Commentary
• [14:19] – [19:10] — Chicago Mayor Rejects Federal Policing/City Crime
• [20:52] – [25:04] — Federalism & Debate on Policing, National Guard
• [30:27] – [34:27] — Partisan Debates on Crime Data, City Mismanagement
• [36:52] – [49:05] — Patriotism in Culture Wars/Evolutions in Political Affinity
• [56:49] – [75:06] — Trump Fires Lisa Cook; Lawfare, Precedents, and Prosecution
• [78:57] – [81:43] — Identity Politics in Media; Tiffany Cross on Stephen Miller
• [87:55] – [103:56] — Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Engagement; Celebrity Obsession

Flow & Tone

The show is fast-paced, lively, often caustic, and heavy on sarcasm and interruption—true to Megyn Kelly’s “no BS, no agenda, no fear” branding. The Fifth Column guests meet Kelly’s energy, trading jabs, recounting personal stories, and pivoting quickly between frank policy critique and cultural lampooning. They alternate between exasperation with performative politics and earnest concern for lasting institutional health—whether in the law, media, or city government.

Summary prepared for listeners who missed the episode and want a comprehensive, color-rich briefing with direct speaker attribution, essential quotes, and structural clarity.