The Age Of Self-Optimization

自我优化时代

What A Day

2026-08-21

23 分钟
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Americans spend nearly $30 billion a year on plastic surgery procedures, including fillers and Botox. And there's probably no better example than the White House, where the "Mar-A-Lago face" – a very specific, very smooth, very… augmented appearance – runs rampant. But maybe that's starting to change. Faced with actors, actresses, influencers, and AI, some people are starting to forgo their pursuit of aesthetic perfection in favor of something a little more natural. But does that mean more people are going to go without Botox – or will more people want procedures that don't make them look like they had Botox? To find out, we spoke with Amanda Mull, senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek. And in headlines, the national debt surpasses a record $40 trillion, North Korea launches multiple short-range ballistic missiles, and the U.S. has sent 20 deportees to Liberia as part of a new deal. Show Notes: Check out Amanda's piece – tinyurl.com/33w2rm56 Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com
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  • You can get fake lashes and Botox and filler pretty much wherever, and it costs a couple hundred bucks.

  • So once these things have become much more widely available and much more widely adopted in an effort

  • for less culturally elite people to look like they have something in common with the very wealthy and powerful,

  • the very wealthy and powerful have to move on to something else to signal where they are in the hierarchy.

  • I'm Jane Koston, and this is What A Day, the show wondering if Treasury Secretary Scott Besant

  • is trying to stay employed or if Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is one of the dumber people alive.

  • Here he is today at the White House.

  • We've got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand.

  • Maybe that's the economic D-Day President Donald Trump was talking about.

  • On today's show, we talk about our faces.

  • Specifically, what it means that people are starting to ask for plastic surgery procedures

  • that don't make them look like they've had plastic surgery with Bloomberg Businessweek's Amanda Mull.

  • Before we face our fears of our own weird-looking faces, here's what we're following today, Thursday, August 20th.

  • The $40 trillion mark that we passed for the national debt, would you comment on that and how do we reverse that?

  • Yeah, look, the $40 trillion is a big number.

  • It is smaller when we look at the publicly traded amount

  • because our Social Security funds and other government entities hold a substantial amount.

  • And what we're going to do, we're going to have to grow our way out of this.

  • Scott Bessent, the gift that keeps on giving.

  • Maybe he should try blaming the Biden administration or something.