Presidentmaxxing

Presidentmaxxing

From Central Air by Josh Barro, Megan McArdle & Ben Dreyfuss

February 18, 2026 · 1h 6m

About this episode

The episode discusses the need for a more charismatic Democratic presidential candidate and explores the concept of 'fuckage' in politics.

On this week's show: Cartoons Hate Her joins us to make her argument that Democrats need a presidential candidate who “fucks.” First we try to figure out what this figurative sense of “fuck” means exactly — “fucking is in your heart,” says CHH — and then we apply the analysis to the field of politics. Some calls are easy — John F. Kennedy fucked; Michael Dukakis did not fuck — but there are closer calls, like Margaret Thatcher, who may have fucked in some weird British psychosexual way, and there are candidates who fucked too much , like Gary Hart. We look at the elephant in the room — Gavin Newsom, who obviously fucks but obviously should not be the Democratic nominee — and we scour the rest of the field for potential fuckage. Perhaps Josh Shapiro would fuck if we got him some contact lenses and a leather jacket? We consider all possible angles. Plus: We have a very special surprise guest who helps us understand the bizarre phenomenon of “looksmaxxing,” recently covered in a 2,800-word New York Times profile of Braden Peters , a.k.a. Clavicular, the famous 20-year-old moron who improves his bone structure by hitting himself in the face with a hammer. (Peters, unsurprisingly, is…

People in this episode

Hosts: Josh Barro, Megan McArdle, Ben Dreyfuss

Guest: Cartoons Hate Her

Topics covered

  • political candidates
  • presidential elections
  • Democratic party
  • looksmaxxing
  • cultural analysis
  • societal norms

Keywords

  • Democrats
  • presidential candidate
  • politics
  • charisma
  • looksmaxxing
  • Gavin Newsom
  • John F. Kennedy
  • Margaret Thatcher
  • Gary Hart

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