Pardon the Politics

LXI Studio

You didn't ask for the most chaotic political era in modern American history. But here you are watching executive orders fly, whistleblowers get silenced, world leaders get bombed mid-negotiation, and a president who apparently thinks Greenland is the size of Africa. Somebody's got to make sense of it. That's where Pardon the Politics comes in. Every week, co-hosts Jeezy and Manny, joined by the Chairman of Chaos himself, Chuck, bring you an unfiltered, unscripted breakdown of the biggest stories in U.S. and NC politics with the kind of honesty, humor, and cultural fluency you won't find anywhere on cable news. These are three brothers from North Carolina who cut their lawns, cheer for their kids, argue about the Patriots, and also happen to do their homework. Deeply. Season 3 has already taken listeners through it all: Trump's bizarre Davos appearance, the Epstein files and the accountability that still hasn't come, the Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower scandal, tariff chaos in the courts, the last MLK Day we may ever see, a world that went to war without a Congressional vote, and the death of a Supreme Leader while diplomats were still at the table. And they're just getting started. This is not a show for people who want to be told what to think. This is a show for people who want the context, the history, the real questions nobody's asking, and three real perspectives from people who live in the same America you do. Where chaos meets clarity. New episodes every week. 🎙️ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics

  1. Sep 28

    100 Episodes: Texas, Michigan, And Who Gets The Final Say?

    Got a question for the boys?!? Episode 100. A lot of folks didn't make it here. We did. Jeezy, Manny, and Chuck hit a milestone, and the listeners finally get a name: the PAC, Politically Active Citizens. Then it's a midterm double-header, Texas and Michigan, plus the $810 million Pickle of the Week and three Spotlights. TEXAS Talarico vs. Paxton for the Senate, and Abbott vs. Hinojosa for governor. The hosts go through Paxton's file, the turnout math, and Chuck's question for both governor candidates' tax plans: where's the money coming from for schools? Manny puts his Texas prediction on the record. MICHIGAN El-Sayed vs. Rogers for the open Senate seat, and Benson vs. James for governor. The hosts cover the Israel and Iran tightrope, the Trump factor, and Manny's calls, including which county to watch on election night. MARK YOUR CALENDAR Texas voter registration closes Oct. 5. Michigan registration closes Oct. 19 (online or mail). Election Day is Nov. 3. ALSO THIS WEEK The UN General Assembly (diplomacy, then threats) and a rumored driver strike over diesel prices. PICKLE OF THE WEEK The $810 million pocket rescission. Congress approved the money, a request sent five days before the fiscal year ends means it can expire before Congress gets its full review, and Jeezy asks who gets the final say. SPOTLIGHTS Manny: taxpayer-funded White House TV ads ("Paid for by the U.S. Government") Chuck: TikTok's settlement with Alabama Jeezy: the Supreme Court and the SAVE voter database Official merch: Etsy store, link in the Linktree. Linktree: linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics Website: pardonthepolitics.com X: @PardonPolitics | Bluesky: @pardonthepolitics.bsky.social Reach one, teach one. New episodes every Monday. Support the show 🎤 Listen: https://pardonthepolitics.com/  | linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

    100 Episodes: Texas, Michigan, And Who Gets The Final Say?
  2. Sep 14

    What Does Winning At AI Even Look Like?

    Got a question for the boys?!? Two years ago, this show was two guys and a Zoom link. This week we hit Episode 99 on our 2-year anniversary, and it's the longest one yet, because there was too much to leave out. The centerpiece: a full down-ballot breakdown of North Carolina's 2026 midterms, the open Senate seat (Cooper vs. Whatley), the Supreme Court race (Earls vs. Stevens), the Don Davis rematch in CD-1, and the General Assembly races that actually draw the state's maps, including Senate Leader Phil Berger's primary loss. If you live in NC, this episode is basically your ballot guide: early voting runs October 15–31, and the registration deadline is Friday, October 9. Then things got weird: the heads of OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI publicly aligned this week on slowing AI development, days after a whistleblower report. Chuck and Manny walk through why that alignment is either a genuine warning sign or a very convenient ask for government money, and why it matters either way. We closed with the GOP's first-ever midterm convention and the $5,000 "tariff dividend" promise that needed a walk-back before the week was out. Jeezy does the math on what $5,000 actually buys once gas, groceries, and rent take their cut. Pickle of the Week goes to Sen. John Fetterman. Spotlights cover the Fed's rate-hike odds, a lab-grown biological computer out of Singapore, and Mitch McConnell's expected return to the Senate floor. Thank you for two years. We started this on a whim and you're the reason it's still going. Support the show 🎤 Listen: https://pardonthepolitics.com/  | linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

    What Does Winning At AI Even Look Like?
  3. Sep 8

    Let My People Vote

    Got a question for the boys?!? This week it's just Manny and Chuck holding it down. With the mic split two ways, the guys build the hour around Manny's lane: constitutional authority, federal rulemaking, and the courtroom back-and-forth behind the fastest-moving voting-access story of the midterm cycle so far. Three storylines, one converging Friday, Trump's Executive Order 14399 and the USPS's brand-new mail-ballot verification portal (which, per a whistleblower, was built by two teams who each built their own kill switch without knowing the other team existed), North Carolina's State Board of Elections quietly rewriting four mail-ballot rules the same morning ballots hit mailboxes, and a fresh round of FBI voter-data subpoenas out of Nevada. Plus: the guys announce a four-state midterm special arc starting with North Carolina and Georgia, tease PTP's 100th episode and 2-year anniversary coming up in the next couple of weeks, and close with Spotlights on a new North Korea–Russia bridge and a scary weapons incident at an Ohio governor's-race campaign event. Topics covered: The national mail-in ballot fight: EO 14399, the USPS's 95-page final rule, a whistleblower's account of the portal build, and the injunction-court-injunction pattern headed to a September 8 Supreme Court briefing deadline North Carolina rewrites its own mail-ballot rules: signature mismatch, unsealed inner envelopes, multiple ballots in one envelope, and who's allowed to hand-deliver, all passed as memos, not formal rules, on a party-line vote DOJ/FBI subpoenas in Nevada: 7 subpoenas over 9 months, a DHS nine-state voter-fraud “surge,” and a claim of nearly 16,000 non-citizen registrations that DHS itself walked down to 185 “potential” cases Manny's Spotlight: an armed man rushes a candidate event in Ohio, and the real cost of political security, including former Gov. Cooper's quarter-million-dollar security bill Chuck's Spotlight: North Korea and Russia open their first road bridge Support the show 🎤 Listen: https://pardonthepolitics.com/  | linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

    Let My People Vote

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

You didn't ask for the most chaotic political era in modern American history. But here you are watching executive orders fly, whistleblowers get silenced, world leaders get bombed mid-negotiation, and a president who apparently thinks Greenland is the size of Africa. Somebody's got to make sense of it. That's where Pardon the Politics comes in. Every week, co-hosts Jeezy and Manny, joined by the Chairman of Chaos himself, Chuck, bring you an unfiltered, unscripted breakdown of the biggest stories in U.S. and NC politics with the kind of honesty, humor, and cultural fluency you won't find anywhere on cable news. These are three brothers from North Carolina who cut their lawns, cheer for their kids, argue about the Patriots, and also happen to do their homework. Deeply. Season 3 has already taken listeners through it all: Trump's bizarre Davos appearance, the Epstein files and the accountability that still hasn't come, the Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower scandal, tariff chaos in the courts, the last MLK Day we may ever see, a world that went to war without a Congressional vote, and the death of a Supreme Leader while diplomats were still at the table. And they're just getting started. This is not a show for people who want to be told what to think. This is a show for people who want the context, the history, the real questions nobody's asking, and three real perspectives from people who live in the same America you do. Where chaos meets clarity. New episodes every week. 🎙️ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | linktr.ee/pardonthepolitics