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PODCAST

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies, Hilarious History

China Shop Productions

The Buck Starts Here—where U.S. presidential history gets a spicy makeover. Join no-nonsense economist Eric Mason and history-obsessed wild card Kyle Hedman as they dig into the messy, mind-blowing, and often WTF moments that shaped America’s commanders-in-chief. This is history served hot, with side-eye, deep dives, and sharp commentary that brings the past to life. From bad decisions and bigger egos to the policies that still echo today, we’re naming names and spilling presidential tea. Hit follow

history

All Episodes

00:55:20

Frederick Douglass: Read, Wrote, Won

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2026/01/30

This is not a full biography.This is a Buck Wild sprint through 13 facts about Frederick Douglass that explain why he kept outplaying everyone who tried to underestimate him.Born enslaved and denied education, Douglass figured out early that literacy was power and silence was the trap. He learned to read anyway. He learned to write anyway. And then he used both to dismantle pro-slavery arguments, embarrass powerful people, and force America to listen whether it wanted to or not.In this Buck Wild

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00:46:34

Buck Wild: We Regret Nothing (Except Some Scores)

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2026/01/23

This is what happens when you rank presidents for a year and then actually think about it.In this Buck Wild episode of The Buck Starts Here, Kyle and Eric hit pause on the timeline to revisit their presidential ranking system and ask the uncomfortable question: are we even being consistent anymore? What started as “judge the presidency only” has slowly turned into “well, but what happened later though,” and now it is time to sort it out.They reexamine scores for John Quincy Adams, Zachary Taylor,

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00:51:33

Franklin Pierce Part II: So That Went Poorly

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2026/01/16

Franklin Pierce finally gets the presidency and walks into the White House like the friend everyone trusts to keep things calm. You know the type. Reasonable. Even-tempered. Not going to rock the boat. Which is a bold strategy when the boat is already taking on water and half the passengers are lighting matches.In this episode of The Buck Starts Here, Pierce tries to govern with balance, restraint, and vibes. He builds a cabinet designed to keep everyone happy. He rotates offices like it is a team

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00:43:09

Franklin Pierce Part I: The Calm Before the Presidency

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2026/01/09

Franklin Pierce is the guy everyone agrees is a great choice... right up until reality shows up with a chair and starts swinging. In this episode of The Buck Starts Here, Kyle and Eric introduce you to Pierce before the presidency, back when he is smart, likable, well connected, and absolutely crushing the 19th century political ladder.Pierce does everything correctly. He rises fast in New Hampshire. He glides through Congress. He builds a reputation as the Democratic Party’s most dependable team

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00:48:40

Millard Fillmore Part II: Compromise Is a Hell of a Drug

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2026/01/02

Okay, so Millard Fillmore finally gets the presidency... and immediately chooses the most stressful possible way to use it. Kyle and Eric break down Fillmore’s term in office, the Compromise of 1850, and the moment he decided that preserving the Union mattered more than literally anything else.This episode covers California’s admission, congressional meltdown season, popular sovereignty nonsense, and the Fugitive Slave Act - aka the law that made Fillmore historically radioactive forever. He thought

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01:01:24

Millard Fillmore Part I: History’s Most Forgettable...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/12/26

Alright, let’s talk about the president nobody remembers, before he even becomes president. In this episode of The Buck Starts Here, Kyle and Eric introduce you to Millard Fillmore: born poor, raised rough, powered entirely by grit, spite, and an unhealthy love of rules.This is Fillmore’s origin story. Frontier childhood, child labor, self-education, law school by vibes, and a political rise fueled not by charisma but by competence. He’s a Whig’s Whig: anti-Jackson, pro-Congress, deeply suspicious

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00:58:30

Mexican–American War Part II: This Escalated Immediately

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/12/19

If Part I was the awkward diplomatic buildup, Part II is where everyone stops pretending this wasn’t inevitable. Kyle and Eric dive straight into the shooting phase of the Mexican–American War, where artillery rewrites the rules, generals improvise at scale, and the U.S. military realizes it might be way better at this than anyone expected.This episode covers the rapid escalation of the war: Zachary Taylor digging in and daring anyone to move him, flying artillery absolutely wrecking traditional

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00:54:58

Mexican–American War Part I: Border? Never Heard of Her

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/12/12

Kyle and Eric kick off this two-part Buck Wild saga with the absolute chaos leading up to the Mexican–American War; geopolitical dumpster fire powered by bad maps, worse communication, and two nations acting like the group project was someone else’s problem.In Part I, we’re talking Mexico trying to run a brand-new country, American settlers arriving in Texas with an energy best described as “uninvited plus one,” Santa Anna rewriting the government structure every time he sneezes, and President Polk

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00:53:08

Zachary Taylor Part II: Secession? Try Me.

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/12/05

Kyle and Eric break down the short, spicy, absolutely unhinged presidency of Zachary Taylor — the reluctant leader who walked into Washington like it was a battlefield and handled Congress with the same stubborn, no-frills logic he used in the army. Yes, he was a slave holding southerner. Yes, he also threatened to personally deal with any state that tried to secede. It’s complicated.This episode unpacks Taylor’s entire frontier-brained approach to governing: his die-on-this-hill stance on

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01:07:35

Zachary Taylor Part I: The Man, The Myth, The Malaria

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/11/28

Kyle and Eric dive into Zachary Taylor’s wild, fever-drenched military career : years of mud, malaria, and miraculous battlefield luck. This is Taylor before politics: a stubborn, dust-covered commander who kept winning fights through sheer force of will and a total disregard for strategy.From early frontier chaos to the near-disaster-turned-victory at Buena Vista, the guys break down how Taylor’s “just send it” approach shaped his entire legend. It’s messy, unpredictable, and extremely on brand for

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00:43:24

Buck Wild Bonus: States Rights: America's Original...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/11/07

Kyle and Eric go Buck Wild in this bonus episode about the biggest historical cop-out of all time: states’ rights. You’ve heard the phrase, now hear the chaos behind it. From the 10th Amendment’s “you’re not my real dad” energy to John C. Calhoun’s compact theory meltdown, the guys trace how a constitutional clause got twisted into America’s longest-running excuse for bad behavior.We’re talking nullification drama, Andrew Jackson’s federal power flex, slavery masquerading as “liberty,” and the

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00:56:21

James K. Polk Part II: Polk Harder

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/10/31

The overachiever president is back, and he’s not here to relax. Kyle and Eric break down how James K. Polk took the Oval Office like it was a four-year challenge round: start a war with Mexico, threaten Britain over Oregon, cut tariffs, expand the country by a third, and burn himself out in record time.It’s Manifest Destiny, micromanagement, and moral mayhem: the ultimate story of a man who did everything and enjoyed none of it.🎙️ The Buck Starts Here — where history meets sharp wit, brutal

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00:40:32

James K Polk Part I: A Whig in A Poke

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/10/24

Kyle and Eric fire up the mics to roast President #11 — the guy whose greatest achievement might’ve been getting cut open without anesthesia and still somehow making it to the White House. From his “industrious” slave-owning dad (eyeroll) to his math-nerd grind at UNC Chapel Hill and his fanboy obsession with Andrew Jackson, this episode dives deep into how Polk turned being forgettable into a political superpower.We’re talking early Tennessee politics, suffrage for white men only (wow), the birth

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00:58:43

John Tyler Part II: Whigging Out

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/10/17

John Tyler is back and Whigging Out. He’s vetoing everything that moves, picking fights with Congress for sport, and casually dropping foreign policy hot takes about Hawaii. Tariffs? He’s mad. The Whigs? They’re furious. Daniel Webster? Probably stress-drinking tea somewhere.This episode’s got it all: tariff tantrums, Florida joining the Union, Texas waiting in the wings like a messy situationship, and the Tyler Doctrine arriving out of nowhere like that guy who crashes every party. Manifest Destiny

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00:46:02

John Tyler Part I: A Masterclass in Financial Illiteracy

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/10/10

John Tyler didn’t just distrust banks — he hated them. This man looked at paper money like it was a con artist, treated gold like a personality trait, and talked about fractional reserve banking like it was a demonic ritual.In this episode, Kyle and Eric introduce you to the Whig Party’s resident chaos agent — a man who managed to unite people he didn’t even agree with, all while loudly yelling “NO” to basically everything. He was the political equivalent of a live grenade in a powdered wig.So

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00:43:50

William Henry Harrison Part III: The Battle That...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/10/03

Before Harrison was slinging hard cider and log cabin merch, he was out in the Indiana wilderness starring in his own chaotic war story: the Battle of Tippecanoe.Kyle & Eric break down the buildup — broken treaties, Tecumseh’s growing confederacy, and Harrison marching his troops right up to Prophetstown. Then the fight kicks off: a surprise night attack, soldiers firing into the dark, officers scrambling, and Harrison barely holding the line.The aftermath? Far from perfect. But here’s where the

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00:50:53

William Henry Harrison Part II: Who Doesn’t Like Log...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/09/26

1840 wasn’t just an election, it was the first American political rager. The Whigs rolled out log cabins, Tippecanoe clubs, parade floats, and barrels of hard cider until the whole country was drunk on Harrison hype. It was the original meme campaign, and it worked.Kyle & Eric are here for all the chaos:🍎How Harrison became the first viral candidate (no Wi-Fi required)🏛️The 8,445-word inaugural speech that doubled as cardio📅Calling Congress into special session like, “Hi, I’m in charge

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01:03:10

William Henry Harrison Part I: America’s Forgotten...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/09/19

Think Harrison was just “the president who gave a speech, caught a cold, and died”? WRONG. This man was a walking PR machine, a frontier general, and the guy who basically put Ohio on the map (you’re welcome, Buckeyes).Kyle and Eric are here to drag him out of history’s meme bin and show you:⚔️How Harrison went from 18-year-old ensign to field-promotion legend🍎Why the Whigs turned “hard cider and log cabins” into the first viral campaign slogan📜 How Detroit was saved with logistics, not cannon

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00:39:45

Buck Wild: Unfiltered, Unhinged, Unnecessary (But...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/09/05

No one asked for chaos, but here it is anyway: the unedited, unhinged mid-season interlude. Jackson slander? Check. Van Buren’s Darth Vader redemption arc? Check. A half-baked plan to score presidents on morality? Check. Hurricane Katrina, Soviet planes, and Eric inventing new words? Also check.This is what happens when Laura doesn’t edit out 25% of the nonsense. You’ve been warned.🔥 Don’t just lurk —👍 Follow the show🌐 chinashopproductions.com📜 buckstartsherepodcast.com📩

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01:07:16

Martin Van Buren Part II: Surviving Panic, Divorce,...

The Buck Starts Here - Presidents, Policies,... ·

2025/08/29

Martin Van Buren walked straight into the Panic of 1837like, “Hey y’all, I’m here to ruin your economy.” But plot twist — the guy actually invented some modern banking practices, called Congress back on their day off (rude but effective), and even gave us the ten-hour workday. We’re talking the Divorce Bill, boiler explosions, and a redemption arc thatalmost makes you forget he enforced the Trail of Tears. Almost.👉 Want the full meltdown?Check out our deep dive on the Panic of 1837: Listen here💌

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