Shake It Off with Mert & Lucas Live

In the second hour, the hosts examine how Smithsonian curators have shifted from evidence toward ideology—most sharply illustrated by an exhibit that cast Benjamin Franklin as a speculative villain (including unsupported claims about electroshock on enslaved people) and by the museum director’s public “no regrets” stance. The controversy is framed as part of a larger pattern in which a national museum increasingly presents America’s origins through suspicion and indictment rather than the full, complex record of both failures and achievements. The show then wraps with Dave Rossi, author of the international bestseller Alphas Die Early, which dismantles the toxic “alpha male” myth and offers a blueprint for building strength through humility, purpose, and emotional intelligence.

Episode 108 opens with a look at Hasan Piker as a magnetic yet deeply polarizing force in progressive politics—a streamer whose large influence among young men collides with a record of incendiary rhetoric frequently criticized as anti-American and antisemitic. The hosts examine how his moralized, all-or-nothing style energizes some candidates while injecting heightened contempt and division into the broader political culture. The hour then turns to an interview with Lanny Davis, the veteran Washington attorney, crisis-management strategist, and longtime political adviser. His latest book, Finding the Third Way: Lessons in the Politics of Civility from My Journey Through History, explores how leaders can reclaim civility, compromise, and democratic trust amid escalating polarization.

Our second hour begins with a sharp, fact‑driven examination of election integrity — from Trump’s declassified claims and Secretary Mullin’s warnings to polling that shows polarized national trust but consistently strong confidence in local election officials. The hosts break down expert reactions, documented fraud rates, and shifting GOP voter loyalty, revealing a republic grappling with vulnerabilities, perception, and turnout intensity.  The show then wraps with Leslie Lee Sanders, author of Ready to Listen?, who shares the personal journey behind her spiritual self-help memoir and the lessons it offers on reclaiming one’s inner voice, trusting intuition, and navigating conflict and connection. Her conversation brings a thoughtful, human close centered on the book’s themes of listening, self-discovery, and renewed purpose.

Episode 107 opens with a hard look at the Democratic Party’s accelerating shift toward socialism — driven by Zohran Mamdani’s New York City victory and a platform built on wealth taxes, expanded government control, and deep structural overhaul — despite blunt warnings from Trump, Vance, Manchin, and other national figures. The hosts trace the causes behind this surge and argue that the movement threatens the American Dream by replacing merit and opportunity with rationing, envy, and bureaucratic power.  The hour then turns to Steve & Dr. Kathy Boyls, authors of I’VE BEEN TO HEAVEN, who share their extraordinary story and the insights that shaped their new book. Together, they bring a powerful, personal perspective that shifts the conversation from politics to faith, hope, and lived experience.

In our second hour the hosts examine the decision by Turkey and Egypt to bar the LGBTQ+ chartered cruise ship Scarlet Lady from their ports, tracing the incident across four fault lines: the cynical use of religious doctrine as political cover, the deafening silence of a U.S. government that funds Egypt and arms Turkey through NATO, the civil rights dimensions of identity-based exclusion of eleven hundred American citizens, and the deepest irony of all — that the very community turned away at sea has been among the loudest defenders of Muslim civil rights on American soil. The show then wraps with an interview with Alicia Scovill, retired U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant, President and owner of Scovill Construction & Contracting Services, LLC, and a passionate veterans advocate and keynote speaker who works to build veteran-friendly workplaces and stronger support systems for those who have served our country.

Episode 106 opens with a critical look at a Texas hospital’s discounted “birth packages” for foreign nationals — a move that ignited a political firestorm, triggered a state investigation, and thrust birthright citizenship back into the national spotlight. The issue now sits squarely inside a larger constitutional and immigration clash as leaders battle over the 14th Amendment, birth tourism, and what reforms, if any, should come next. The show then shifts to an interview with Col. Kurt Schlichter — he’s a retired Army Infantry colonel and seasoned trial lawyer whose practice focuses on winning complex civil litigation for business and insurance clients.  He’s also a nationally known commentator, bestselling novelist, and upcoming author of American Warlord, appearing frequently on Fox News, Newsmax, and major media outlets, and he breaks down how we should think about power, conflict, and the future of American resilience.

Our second hour opens with Pete Najarian, co‑founder of Market Rebellion. Najarian delivers the kind of clarity Wall Street rarely offers: direct, unvarnished, and grounded in real‑world experience. He cuts through volatility, opportunity, and the psychological traps driving today’s markets. No jargon. No mystique. Just a straight look at what’s moving, why it’s moving, and what everyday investors keep getting wrong. From the financial trenches, we shift to the workplace battlefield with Dr. Lois P. Frankel, bestselling author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. Her work is a cultural touchstone for women navigating professional power structures. She doesn’t tiptoe around the habits, expectations, and biases that still shape workplace dynamics. She names them, dissects them, and gives listeners tools to challenge them. It’s part coaching session, part cultural critique, part wake‑up call — delivered with the wit and authority that made her book a global phenomenon.

Episode 105 opens with a stark truth: America is living through a loneliness epidemic so widespread that the Surgeon General warns it harms both individual and societal health. From collapsing social infrastructure to the rise of AI companions, the hour traces how isolation became a national crisis — and why millions now turn to machines for the connection they can’t find in each other.  The show then shifts to Terrlyn L. Curry Avery, Ph.D., MDiv., whose work bridges spirituality, psychology, and racial healing. Her book Dismantling Racism: Healing Separation from the Inside Out examines prejudice as a lived experience shaping families, communities, and institutions. Rev. Dr. Avery brings pastoral warmth and analytical rigor, guiding listeners through the emotional and moral architecture of racism with clarity, compassion, and unflinching honesty.

Our second hour opens with an interview with Dr. Ranier Zitelmann, author of New Space Capitalism: The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars. A German historian and sociologist, Zitelmann is an internationally published author whose work dissects entrepreneurship, wealth creation, and the private‑sector forces propelling humanity into space. From the future of innovation, we pivot to the pulse of American politics with attorney, political analyst, and veteran commentator Carol Platt Liebau.  Carol is known for her crisp, accessible takes on policy, culture, and national trends, and she serves as president of the Yankee Institute, advocating for government transparency and free‑market principles.

Episode 104 opens with a sharp look at how a small Nantucket church politicized a unifying civic tradition by canceling its annual July 4th reading of the Declaration of Independence to “reflect on our own whiteness” — a move that turned a quiet island ritual into a coast‑to‑coast argument over patriotism, race, and who gets to define America at 250 years. From there, the hosts pivot to a conversation with Craig Shirley — the New York Times bestselling presidential historian and definitive Ronald Reagan biographer, whose body of work spans Reagan’s campaigns and legacy as well as WWII histories including the bestsellers December 1941 and April 1945.

Graham Platner’s rapid rise collapses under a verified sexting scandal and a years‑old tattoo that ignites a political firestorm, splitting Democrats, supercharging the media, and turning a once‑viable Senate bid into a cautionary tale. The hosts track how party panic, relentless partisan attacks, and a credibility‑shaking news cycle expose deeper fractures in modern politics than in Platner himself. The show wraps with an interview featuring Dr. Isik Abla, a former Muslim, global Christian voice, and author of the new devotional Heavenly Whispers. She breaks down how sharia, religious authority, and ideological control shape life inside Iran’s clerical regime, and explains how the regime uses theology to justify power, suppress dissent, and maintain its grip even as more Iranians quietly reject its claims.

Episode 103 opens with a hard look at the Belfast riots — a city jolted by a single stabbing that spiraled into nights of street violence fueled by fear, misinformation, and opportunistic extremists. The hosts break down how one isolated act collided with immigration pressure, political manipulation, and a community already stretched to its limit. The show then pivots to Nunzia Mondo, author of My Silent Prison, to discuss her stark memoir of surviving decades of hidden abuse behind a façade of wealth and perfection. She lays bare the psychological traps that keep victims silent — and the moment that finally forced her to reclaim her life

The second hour tracks how emotional support animals grew from a legitimate mental‑health accommodation into a sprawling cultural and regulatory landmine spanning airports, housing law, generational behavior, and the booming ESA industry. The hosts note that while animals can steady us, they cannot carry the emotional burdens we keep shifting onto them — prompting a sharper question: Is the problem the animals, or our growing reluctance to shoulder our own weight?  The hour closes with Barry Hoffner — global traveler, former international investment banker, and founder of Caravan to Class, the nonprofit expanding educational access in West Africa. His book Belonging to the World chronicles his journey to every country on Earth and explores healing, connection, and renewed purpose after profound personal loss.

Episode 102 opens with New York’s move to replace “mother” and “father” with gender‑neutral parentage terms — a technical tweak that instantly ignited a political and cultural fight far beyond Albany. The hosts trace how a bureaucratic update became a national flashpoint over identity, tradition, and the meaning of family, ending on a harder truth: language can shift, but the emotional weight people attach to “mother” and “father” is not easily legislated away. The hour then turns to therapist and author Joe DeNicholas, MBA, LCSW, whose work bridges science, spirituality, and healing. His book Seeking Sanity offers a direct, practical framework for reclaiming clarity and emotional steadiness in a world that constantly pulls people off center.

Our second hour reviews the surging national debate over age limits for politicians, breaking down the polling, medical research, and high‑profile public statements that have pushed this once‑taboo question into the mainstream. It’s a data‑driven look at why nearly four out of five Americans now say it’s time to rethink who’s old enough to lead — and what that shift means for the future of political power. The show then wraps with an interview featuring Ela Thier, author of How to Fail as an Artist, a candid, craft‑sharp examination of why creative careers stall and how to build a practice rooted in honesty rather than hype. Thier’s blend of memoir and tough‑minded guidance reframes “failure” as a necessary — and often liberating — part of making real art.

Episode 101 begins with a look at the modern “etiquette wars,” where phones, tipping screens, and collapsing social norms have turned everyday life into a battlefield of clashing expectations. From speakerphone offenders to airplane meltdowns, the hosts explore how technology, burnout, and shifting boundaries are reshaping what we consider basic decency — and why everyone thinks they’re the polite one. The show then pivots to an interview with Dr. Laura Dabney, author of I Need You … Now Go Away!  Her book distills decades of psychiatric practice into a sharp, accessible guide to the messy push‑pull of modern relationships, where craving closeness and demanding distance often collide.

The second hour begins with an analysis of the Justice Department’s historic indictment of Raúl Castro for the 1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue, grounding the story in verified quotes, the human cost, and the decades‑long fight for accountability. It then widens to the national and South Florida polling divide on Cuba policy, exploring how justice, memory, and public sentiment collide as the U.S. confronts a regime accused of murdering Americans — and what that means going forward. The show wraps with an interview featuring Nick Kessler and Brian Fulmer, hosts of Road Trip Masters, the travel‑adventure series that highlights the people, towns, and hidden gems along America’s backroads. Kessler and Fulmer bring an easygoing chemistry and a deep love of Americana, turning every journey into a celebration of local culture, food, and the open road.

Episode 100 begins with a sharp look at the DNC’s bruising, disowned 192‑page post‑mortem on the 2024 election and the data showing how rural collapse, demographic slippage, and economic anxiety helped crack the Democratic coalition. It’s a tight, fact‑driven breakdown of what the polls actually say went wrong — and what the party must confront heading into the 2026 midterms and beyond. The show then transitions to an interview with Danny “The Count” Koker, the musician, businessman, and television personality best known for Counting Cars and Pawn Stars, and the longtime owner of Count’s Kustoms in Las Vegas, where his custom‑car empire and on‑air charisma have made him a fixture of American automotive culture.

The second hour opens with Bishop Alfred L. Phillips, pastor of Sheepshead Bay United Methodist Church and founder of the Sheepshead Bay Community Development Center, reflecting on faith, community, and decades of hands‑on work supporting youth and neighborhood stability.  The show closes with Beth Heller Gelles, author of Crazy for College, who unpacks the pressures, myths, and modern realities shaping today’s college admissions landscape.

Episode 99 opens with the explosive, nationwide backlash as 2026 graduates boo commencement speakers who praise artificial intelligence — turning ceremonies into viral flashpoints of frustration. It’s a generational revolt fueled by a shrinking entry‑level job market, rising debt, and the sense that elites are celebrating the very technology these students believe is undermining their future. The hour then shifts to the Hon. Shahar Azani, veteran Israeli diplomat and former Spokesperson and Consul for Media Affairs at Israel’s Consulate General in New York. Drawing on deep experience in public diplomacy and strategic communications, he tackles rising antisemitism head‑on, exposing its modern forms. Azani frames antisemitism as a “canary in the coal mine” for democratic societies and calls for education, factual advocacy, and bold action to protect Jewish communities and the values that sustain free societies