Wooden teeth? No. Cherry tree? Probably not. Absolute unit of a leader? Undeniably.

Ben Thompson welcomes EpicLLOYD from Epic Rap Battles of History for a Presidents’ Day breakdown George Washington — the six-foot-two surveyor who became the most dangerous man in the British Empire.

Outnumbered. Undersupplied. Outgunned. Washington lost more battles than he won, but he never lost the war. From the frozen gamble at Trenton to resigning his commission when he didn’t have to, he pulled off something rarer than victory: he gave power back.

If monarchy was the expectation, Washington was the plot twist.

Ice. Starvation. Total darkness. And somewhere out there — a polar bear that would very much like to eat you.

On this episode, Ben Thompson is joined by producer Andrew Jacobs to break down the life of Fridtjof Nansen — Arctic explorer, record-setting skier, neuroscientist, diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the only man in history to drift across the polar ice cap on purpose.

Nansen didn’t just explore the Arctic — he weaponized it. He froze his own ship into the pack ice to prove a scientific theory. He skied farther north than any human had ever gone. And when he was done conquering the planet’s most hostile environment, he turned around and saved hundreds of thousands of refugees.

This one has frostbite, philosophy, and a man who genuinely believed the only way out… was further in.

Empires don’t begin with heroes — they begin with mothers who refuse to lose.

Olympias ruled from the shadows using fear, religion, and assassination, making sure history remembered her son as a god and forgot anyone who stood in his way. If Alexander conquered the world with a sword, Olympias conquered history with snakes, curses, and a body count. Hosted by Ben Thompson, with co-host Dr. Patricia Larash, this episode unpacks how power really worked in ancient Macedonia — and why Olympias may have been the most dangerous person in the room.