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At a time when Americans are tired of scripted outrage and elite-approved talking points, Three for the Founders is doing something different—speaking freely and living with the consequences. In Episode 30, the hosts look back on Season One and tell the truth about what happens when you stop chasing applause, stop curating a “target audience,” and start saying what you actually think. The result? Real conversations, real pushback, and real growth.

This retrospective pulls no punches. The hosts reflect on early episodes that played it safe—and later ones that didn’t. They talk candidly about faith, race, gun culture, family, language, and power, including moments that made listeners uncomfortable and moments that made the show stronger. Along the way, they honor influential voices, remember friends lost too soon, and acknowledge where they got it wrong—and why owning that matters more than managing optics.

There’s humor, too—phones buzzing mid-recording, debates about bathroom doors at home—but the message is serious: authenticity beats approval every time. Three for the Founders isn’t here to preach or please. It’s here to have the conversation others won’t—and trust the audience to decide what to do with it.

Episode 30 drops December 29.

Season One ends. Season Two begins in 2026.

Listen—and judge for yourself.

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We know something about endings. We know when a beloved teacher hangs up the chalk, when the church mothers finally step down from the usher board, when a job no longer fits, or when a season of our own lives is quietly tapping us on the shoulder saying, “Baby, it’s time.”

That’s why this week’s episode of Three for the Founders feels like it was recorded for every one of us.

Episode 29 closes out the podcast’s first season with an unflinching conversation about endings: the kind we invite, the kind we delay, and the kind the country may be drifting toward whether we admit it or not.

The brothers anchor their discussion against the backdrop of a “capitalist Christmas” and corporate rollbacks of DEI—even as those same companies cash in on Black Friday. The hosts push us to see how justice, clarity, and honesty should shape how we exit, not just how we begin.

When Personal Seasons Shift

Antonio speaks for many of us who stayed too long at a table we loved. After four and a half years on a working board—and two and a half knowing he needed to go—he finally chose health, purpose, and peace over obligation. That’s a sermon in itself: you don’t have to keep showing up when showing up hollows you out.

Jon opens up about career pivots, calling, and faith transitions. From leaving ministry nearly two decades ago to stepping fully away from Christianity more recently, he names the fear of letting people down—and the quiet ego underneath it. His story reminds us that spiritual and professional shifts aren’t failures; often they’re freedom.

And Lybroan continues to be the patron saint of planned exits. Whether navigating teaching, real estate, or academia, he shows the power of intentional endings—of seeing the season before it sees you. He’s already got eyes on a doctorate next.

But this episode isn’t just about personal lives—it’s about national ones. The hosts wrestle with a heavy question: Is America ending?

Lybroan and Antonio say yes: powerful interests are already drafting the blueprint for a redesigned nation, and the signs—Project 2025 and constitutional choke points—are all around us. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower reminds us that scarcity has always been used to justify walls, surveillance, and the rearranging of democracy.

Jon hopes the Trump era is what’s ending—and admits the optimism may be wrapped in the comfort of privilege. If nothing else, he argues, the young people are watching, questioning, pushing. And that has always been the seed of American rebirth.

What emerges is what folks in our community have long understood: endings are not the enemy. Denial is.

Some of us plan. Some of us surrender. Some of us delay. But all of us have to face the moment when what once fit… doesn’t.

This first season of Three for the Founders ends the way a family gathering does—full of gratitude, good sense, and a reminder of unity: “We represent the United States and its principles and everything it’s supposed to be.”

And then, true to form: “Left on Founders, we out.”

Season 2 is expected around February 1, with episodes every two weeks. And yes—Bryan Stevenson is on the dream list.

Until t

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The Power and Politics of What We’re Called
December 15, 2025 • 1 hour, 19 minutes

On this episode, Three for the Founders are taking on a single idea—names—and stretching it across culture, politics, history, comedy, and the intimate corners of family life.

Reynaldo Antonio Macias, Lybroan James, and Jon Augustine open with the spark: pop culture and present-day politics giving them déjà vu. Succession’s slime, a debate-night “empathetic” performance from J.D. Vance, and the Hillbilly Elegy-to-DC pipeline all raise the same question: How much of identity is real, and how much is branding? From there, the episode shifts into something deeper—and a lot more personal.

Lybroan tells the now-legendary Nike Town story, recalls decades of bureaucratic friction over his name, and tracks the three-generation lineage of “Lybroan.” Antonio walks through his own evolution from “Antonio” to “Tony” to “Reynaldo,” mapping how school, family, culture, and professionalism each tried to rename him. Jon traces Ellis Island edits, the tale behind “JON without the H,” and the family threads behind his kids’ names.

Together, they explore why Black naming traditions are creative, historical, and political—born from a legacy where Black people were once denied literacy, self-definition, and even the right to name their own children. They unpack patriarchy in surname traditions, the emotional calculus of naming kids, the chaos and comedy of names that sound gentle versus names that clap like a snare drum, and the everyday politics of mispronunciation—from Kamala to Zohran Mamdani to your kid’s classroom roll sheet.

Along the way, they drop a Rams-game field trip story about gentle authority, salute students, supporters, and producers (Sabah James, Daniela Macías, Wil Gatuda), and put out the ongoing call: Popeye’s, let’s talk sponsorship—preferably live from the Underground Station at Tower of London.

The episode closes with a promise: this was just part one. Math names, Middle Eastern names, and a full decolonization of credit—yes, including Lybroan’s push to rebrand the Egyptian theorem—are coming next.

Thanks for joining us. Still got questions? Other things to say? Hit us up at Three for the Founders on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok and let us know. Til the next time...left on founders...we out!