The P.A.S. Report

Hugh Mercer: Washington’s General Who Died at Princeton

August 27, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

Episode Description

How did Hugh Mercer, a 20-year-old Scottish fugitive who survived the Battle of Culloden, become one of George Washington’s generals and die at the Battle of Princeton? Discover the forgotten American Revolution story of Hugh Mercer and how his extraordinary second chance reveals something fundamental about America itself.

In this episode of America’s Founding Series on The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano uncovers the remarkable story of General Hugh Mercer. From a hunted Jacobite rebel who escaped the British crackdown after Culloden to a frontier physician, French and Indian War veteran, respected Virginia leader, and Continental Army general, Mercer’s life embodies a timeless American truth: your past does not have to determine your future.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

The Fugitive Physician: How Hugh Mercer survived the Battle of Culloden in 1746, escaped the British crackdown on Jacobite rebels, and found a second chance in colonial Pennsylvania.
The Crucible of Reinvention: How Mercer rebuilt his life as a physician, earned the respect of his community, served in the French and Indian War, and developed a close relationship with George Washington.
The Ultimate Gamble of 1776: Why a 50-year-old doctor who had already survived one failed rebellion chose to risk his family, fortune, and life on the American Revolution.
The Stand at William Clarke’s Orchard: What happened at the Battle of Princeton when British troops surrounded Mercer, reportedly mistook him for Washington, and left him mortally wounded after he refused to surrender.
The Lesson for Today: Why the American story is not about perfection, but redemption, and why America must preserve the belief that failure, background, and past mistakes do not have to dictate a person’s future.

Hugh Mercer never lived to see American independence. He never saw the Constitution, George Washington become president, or the republic his sacrifice helped create. Yet his life captures something essential about the American experiment: America does not require perfect people. It offers people the opportunity to rise, rebuild, and redeem themselves. But a second chance also carries responsibility, and every generation must decide what it will do with the opportunities America provides.

⭐ Help Keep Real American History Alive: If you value authentic history, subscribe to The P.A.S. Report Podcast, leave a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share this episode with 3 to 4 friends and family members. Every share helps bypass big-tech algorithm filters and preserves our national heritage.

Trump’s Golden Age? Todd Starnes Explains

August 26, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Is Trump’s Golden Age already at risk? Todd Starnes confronts the Iran war, the rise of the DSA, and GOP strategy for the 2026 midterm elections.

In this episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano sits down with conservative commentator, radio host, and author Todd Starnes to discuss his book, The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America. They examine why the Republican Congress has failed to codify key Trump reforms, how the Iran war threatens the domestic agenda, why civic literacy has collapsed, and why attacks on socialism alone will not save Republicans at the ballot box. The conversation asks whether America has entered a true Golden Age or merely received one final chance to secure the Republic.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why Congress has failed to codify Trump’s agenda and protect key reforms
How the Iran war threatens domestic priorities and divides the MAGA coalition
Why the DSA platform challenges the Constitution, checks and balances, and the oath of office
How failed schools, student debt, and anti-assimilation ideas push young voters toward socialism
What Republicans must offer voters to win the 2026 midterm elections

⭐ Support the Show: If you value principled constitutional analysis, follow The P.A.S. Report on Apple Podcasts, leave a five-star rating wherever your platform allows it, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

Do Conservatives Still Believe in Limited Government?

August 24, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Have conservatives abandoned limited government to build their own administrative state? In this episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano challenges Matt Walsh’s argument that every conservative wants to expand federal power.

Professor Giordano exposes the federal power trap and shows why control of Washington’s machinery doesn’t defeat the progressive state. It merely preserves that machinery for the next administration. Discover why real conservative power requires Congress to dismantle unnecessary agencies, defund the bureaucracy, repeal open-ended statutory authority, and restore Tenth Amendment federalism.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

The Power Distinction: Why political power that reduces government control differs from federal power that advances a partisan agenda.
The Constitutional Stress Test: How a national abortion ban, federal education curricula, Big Tech speech boards, and corporate retaliation test limited-government principles.
The Bureaucracy Trap: Why conservative agency heads change little when statutory authority, surveillance power, and federal appropriations remain intact.
The Power-Reversal Test: The essential question every conservative must ask before support for new federal authority: Would you trust Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gavin Newsom, or Elizabeth Warren with this power?
The Blueprint for Restoration: What Congress must do to reclaim Article I power, repeal open-ended statutory authority, reduce the federal bureaucracy, and return power to the states and the people.

The Immigrant Baker Who Risked Everything for America

August 19, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

How did Christopher Ludwick, a 55-year-old German immigrant and Philadelphia gingerbread baker, become George Washington’s “Baker General” and save the Continental Army from starvation?

In this episode of America’s Founding Series on The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano uncovers the extraordinary, forgotten story of Christopher Ludwick. From a dangerous mission behind enemy lines among Hessian soldiers to the sacrifice of his own wealth and expertise to feed and support Washington’s army, including the darkest days of Valley Forge, Ludwick’s life proves that American liberty was built on personal sacrifice and civic responsibility. This is what citizenship is all about.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

The Baker Behind Enemy Lines: Why George Washington sent a 55-year-old German immigrant on a perilous mission to Hessian camps on Staten Island in 1776.
The 135-Pound Principle: How Ludwick refused to profit from wartime corruption and guaranteed the Continental Army 135 pounds of bread for every 100 pounds of flour.
Washington’s Baker General: How Ludwick organized mobile ovens and managed vital supply logistics from the 1777 campaigns through the victory at Yorktown.
A Fortune Sacrificed at Valley Forge: Why an immigrant tradesman used his own money and sold personal property to keep starving American soldiers alive in the snow.
A Legacy That Still Lives: How the Christopher Ludwick Foundation continues his mission more than 200 years later by funding education for disadvantaged children.

Christopher Ludwick never inherited America as an accident of birth. He chose America. When the Revolution threatened the freedom that allowed him to prosper, he didn’t ask what America owed him; he asked what he could give America.

As our nation marks its 250th anniversary, Ludwick’s life leaves us with an urgent question: Do we view citizenship as an endless list of benefits and entitlements, or as an inheritance we have a sacred obligation to preserve?

2026 Midterm Elections: Why Republicans Could Lose

August 17, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Republicans won unified control in Washington, but they are walking straight into a brutal 2026 midterm election trap. Historical precedent, broken promises, economic anxiety, the Iran war, and the absence of an affirmative conservative agenda could cost the GOP its House majority.

President Trump secured the border and Republicans preserved key tax cuts, but they have failed to enact durable reforms of the federal bureaucracy, restrain $7.4 trillion in federal outlays, or force decisive votes on election integrity. This episode explains why Republican voter apathy presents a greater threat than Democratic enthusiasm and what the GOP must accomplish before November.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why historical midterm trends and narrow House margins place the Republican majority at risk
How the Iran war, energy costs, and economic anxiety could weaken Republican turnout
Why firing a few dozen federal employees and holding hearings does nothing to stop the administrative state without permanent statutory reform.
How Republican neglect of deep-blue districts allows DSA candidates to expand their power, including in NY-13.
What the Reform, Restrain, Rebuild agenda and the actionable solutions from the New Contract with America offer voters beyond “Democrats are worse”

Read the New Contract with America at pasreport.com, share this episode, and demand that Republican leaders explain what they intend to accomplish before November.

📲 Support the Show: Follow The P.A.S. Report, leave a 5-star rating and review, and share this episode with someone who still believes the Constitution is worth defending.

Pasquale Paoli: The Forgotten Revolutionary Who Inspired the American Revolution

August 13, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Pasquale Paoli inspired the American Revolution long before 1776. Discover how this forgotten Corsican patriot gave the Sons of Liberty a model of resistance, constitutional government, and national courage.

Long before the Founding Fathers declared independence, Pasquale Paoli led the Corsican Republic against imperial power and proved that constitutional self-government was possible. In this episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano explores the Corsican Revolution, Paoli’s influence on colonial America, and why his defeat still warns us about the fragility of constitutional liberty.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

The Pre-1776 Blueprint: How Pasquale Paoli established a constitutional republic two decades before the Declaration of Independence
The Sons of Liberty Connection: Why American colonists and patriot leaders celebrated Paoli as a symbol of resistance to tyranny
The Battle of Ponte Novu: How France crushed the Corsican Republic and reinforced colonial fears about imperial power
The Paoli Massacre Connection: How Paoli’s name traveled from Corsica to a Pennsylvania battlefield during the American Revolution
A Warning for Modern America: Why no constitution can preserve liberty without informed and engaged citizens

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Josh Hammer on DSA Constitutional Subversion

August 12, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

The Oath of Office requires public officials to support and defend the Constitution. But can DSA officials honor that pledge while they seek to dismantle its core structure?

Josh Hammer joins The P.A.S. Report Podcast with Professor Nick Giordano to examine the conflict between the Democratic Socialists of America and the United States Constitution. Hammer, author of Israel and Civilization, host of The Josh Hammer Show, and senior counsel at the Article III Project, explains why proposals to abolish the Senate, weaken the courts, and eliminate constitutional safeguards raise serious questions about the oath under 5 U.S.C. § 3331.

The conversation also explores the collapse of civic education, the difference between constitutional reform and constitutional subversion, the Islamist-Marxist alliance, and the political divide over Israel.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why the DSA agenda threatens separation of powers and constitutional government
Whether officials can reject the Constitution’s structure yet swear to defend it
Where legitimate constitutional reform ends and constitutional subversion begins
How poor civic education leaves Americans unable to recognize constitutional threats
Why opposition to Israel now spans the progressive left and parts of the populist right

📲 Connect with the Show and take a moment to share this episode with friends, family, and colleagues, and leave a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

What Would a Socialist America Actually Look Like?

August 10, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Most people think that socialism will come to America suddenly through either a violent revolution or in some other dramatic fashion, but what if Americans simply voted for it one entitlement, one regulation, and one government guarantee at a time?

In this episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano takes the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform at its word and follows democratic socialism to its logical conclusion. From rent control, social housing, and single-payer healthcare to public ownership of major industries and a new constitutional system, this episode examines how socialist policies could transform private property, the economy, individual freedom, and the relationship between American citizens and government.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

The Road to Socialist America: How democratic socialism could advance through incremental policies, government guarantees, and greater dependency without a violent revolution
Private Property and the Housing Crisis: How rent controls, government housing policies, and restrictions on landlords could weaken private property rights while driving greater government control of housing
Healthcare, Redistribution, and Government Dependency: Why single-payer healthcare and wealth redistribution could expand bureaucratic power without eliminating inequality
Nationalization and the American Economy: What DSA proposals for public ownership of major corporations and essential industries could mean for investment, innovation, economic growth, and prosperity
The Constitution and a Democratic Socialist Republic: Why the DSA calls for a new constitution, abolition of the Senate, and fundamental changes to the presidency, Supreme Court, federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances

Follow The P.A.S. Report, leave a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and share this episode with someone who believes socialism simply means free healthcare and higher taxes on billionaires.

📲 Support the Show: Follow The P.A.S. Report, leave a 5-star rating and review, and share this episode with someone who still believes the Constitution is worth defending.

Fauci Pleads the Fifth, RFK Media Takedown, and the Death of a Free Press

August 6, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

Anthony Fauci pleads the Fifth more than 100 times, raising one unavoidable question: Why won’t the media ask the questions every American should ask? RFK Jr.’s confrontation with CNN exposed far more than a disagreement over COVID. Together, these moments reveal a deeper crisis: the death of a press that once held government accountable.

Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times after receiving one of the broadest presidential pardons in modern history, yet much of the legacy media showed little interest in examining the constitutional, legal, and political implications. At the same time, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s exchange with Dana Bash exposed how many journalists now defend government authority instead of challenging it.

This episode goes far beyond COVID. It examines what happens when the media, bureaucracy, politicians, and powerful institutions stop holding one another accountable. Professor Nick Giordano breaks down the constitutional questions surrounding Fauci’s testimony, the media’s role during the pandemic, the collapse of journalistic skepticism, and why every American—Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike must demand accountability before the next national emergency.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

Why Anthony Fauci’s Fifth Amendment testimony raises major constitutional and legal questions.
How RFK Jr.’s CNN interview challenged the media’s COVID narrative and exposed the collapse of journalistic skepticism.
Why emergency powers, censorship, and bureaucratic overreach threaten constitutional government and individual liberty.
How the media, bureaucracy, politicians, and Big Tech reinforced one another instead of holding each other accountable.
What concrete reforms can restore constitutional guardrails, government accountability, and a truly independent press.

If you care about the Constitution, freedom of the press, government accountability, and the future of self-government, this episode is for you.

📲 Support the Show: Follow The P.A.S. Report, leave a 5-star rating and review, and share this episode with someone who still believes the Constitution is worth defending.

John Hart: The Declaration Signer Who Defined American Grit

August 6, 2026 by Nicholas Giordano

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Episode Description

John Hart signed the Declaration of Independence knowing it would make him one of Britain’s most wanted men. His extraordinary story reveals the true meaning of American grit and the sacrifices that built the United States.

Most Americans have never heard of Declaration signer John Hart, yet his life captures the courage, resilience, and unwavering conviction that made American independence possible. As British troops and Hessian mercenaries swept across New Jersey during the Revolutionary War, Hart fled his home, lost his wife, watched his thirteen children scatter, and saw his livelihood destroyed. Rather than surrender, he rebuilt his farm, returned to public service, and even hosted George Washington and 12,000 Continental soldiers before the Battle of Monmouth.

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, this episode of the America’s Founding Series on The P.A.S. Report Podcast uncovers the remarkable story of one of America’s most overlooked Founding Fathers while exploring why his example of character, resilience, self-reliance, and civic responsibility remains just as relevant today. Discover how John Hart’s story reveals the qualities that built the American Republic and why preserving freedom still depends on ordinary citizens willing to stand by their convictions. Our independence did not rest solely on famous figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

Why John Hart risked everything by signing the Declaration of Independence
How the Revolutionary War transformed a respected New Jersey farmer into a hunted fugitive
The heartbreaking personal sacrifices Hart endured, including the loss of his wife while living in hiding
What American grit truly means and why conviction only matters when it faces real tests
How ordinary citizens, not just famous Founding Fathers, built the foundation of American self-government
Why John Hart’s life offers timeless lessons about resilience, self-reliance, civic responsibility, and preserving freedom