Trump's Busy Week, Hit Song's Extreme Themes, Wagner Group's Africa Aims
12:07 Share

Every time I cook, I set my smoke alarms. Oh, it's terrifying.

But that's a sign of good cooking. That's what i'm told anyone.

Or bad cooking.

intense to smoke. Maybe got one of those hood fans over.

I do. So now I turn that on and open windows. So I mean.

you should really try. You do that preemptively.

I do a timely.

You still like.

I got to air this .

out a hundred degrees. What are you?

Windows open? yes. Well, i'm cking. My meals are delicious with a tend of parkle. I'm kidding him. A great cook.

I believe. No, I believe IT. Donald trump posed for a mug shot and dodge the debate and set for an interview on social media.

It's been a really busy week for the former president. So what will you mean for .

his campaign? Step with law and this is up first from mp. R news. A musician has seemed to have come out of nowhere as a number one song that some extremists may like .

IT could potentially open up a wider audience that they might morally not have access to.

What does rich men north of riches men say?

And a mercenary leaders last act before his presumed death was to recruit for Operations in africa. Will the vagina group's influence continue to grow there? Stay with us. We have the news. You need to start your day.

This message comes from capital one offering their cash back rewards card. Quicksilver earn unlimited one point five percent cash back on every purchase everywhere. What's in your wallet terms apply, see capital one that come for details.

Support for N, P, R. In the following message come from good r. Rex looking for relief from cold and flu symptoms.

With good r rex, you can save an average of thirty four dollars on cold and flu patience, plus find savings on everyday prescriptions. Good arrets let you compare prescription Prices at over seventy thousand pharmacies and instantly find discounts of up to eighty percent. Even if you have insurance or medicare, good arrests may be your cope Price. Save on cold and flu pressure ripes and more at good r rex 点 com slash up first.

this message comes from A P, R. Sponsor, mint mobile from the gas pump ed to the grocery store, inflation is everywhere, so mint mobile is offering premium wireless starting at just fifteen dollars a month to get your new phone plan. For just fifteen dollars, go to mint mobile dog com slash switch from being .

an unseen presence on a malo, ky. Debate stage to opposing for a historic mugshot a shot hurt around the world, if you will former president donal trump has had a busy week.

Yeah, wednesday night. Eight of his rivals made a case for themselves, although most avoided direct criticism. But the front runner, they in theory you're trying to catch trump. 那 怎么 narrative in an interview on x， the former twitter and the last ninety was booked on thirteen felony counts related to election interference in georgia.

P. R, White house correspondent franco or donizettian, four time indeed, former president as well as the president currently in the oval office. And he's here to impact trumps week and the weeks ahead.

Good morning franco. Good morning later.

So let's talk about this week. Topped off with a mug shot, as we mentioned, what were the highs and the lows? Although I guess I can guess below there.

yeah, I mean, I was not really the best week for trump t at all. I mean, you can make the case that he made the right moves, skipping the debate. And tens of millions of people also watched his interview with former fox news host tucker carson.

IT really was a defined act of counter programing where he attacked several of his republican rivals on stage, also president biden and fox news itself. I mean, he argued that that was not worth IT to debate when he was so far ahead. But all of this, the debate, his interview was really, really over shadowed. But as you guys were saying, his georgia, entitled in the trip he took to the falling county jail yesterday to turn himself in.

and yet with the mug shot, the criminal indictment, the sets of fingerprints, he still in the lead for the top nomination. Can anything shake his support within the republic lan voting base? I mean.

he doesn't look that way, certainly not yet. I mean, at the debate, has Steve saying his top rivals really continue to largely stay away from directly attacking him? And those who tried were booed. I mean, any line of support for trump was widely cheered. I will note, though, that most on stage backed pants for his actions on january six, saying he did the right thing, rejecting trumps efforts to get him to stop the certification of the earth.

such a few busy few days, with rivals debating his relevance and a booking in georgia. What's coming up for trump in the .

weeks ahead mean, that s are just the beginning. Class night we trip to the jail. He got the mug shot.

As you noted, you know, this is just one of four entitles. The first hearing related to january six is on monday on federal charges. And he's not stopping run for president. I mean, within hours, his super pack was circulating his mug shot to stoke support and raise money and apparently he's returned to twitter or as its x as it's called now posting its mugshot. It's the first time he's posted in more than two years.

And pears Frankl or donis things Franko. Thank you. At the republican debate in wisconsin was playing before .

the candidates even spoke.

It's by Oliver Anthony y. He is the first musician ever of any genre to top the billboard one hundred chart without making the list beforehand. That is how quickly his fame is risen.

His song takes the perspective of a working man who thinks the rich take advantage of him. That's a familiar theme and country and all sorts of music. The song also noticed to some conspiracy theories, which has caught the attention of experts .

on extremism, so joining us now to discuss this P. S, domestic extremism corresponding. So why exactly is this song raising red flags or .

there's one line in IT um and IT goes, I wish politicians would look out for minors that minors within e and not just miners on an island somewhere and that second minors is within o um and this is a reference to the Geoffrey este scandal um and later you'll recall that abstinence, a sexual predator who died in jail twenty nineteen but the far right continues to circulate conspiracy theories about the circumstances of his death um an anthy appears to not to elements of the baseless q in on conspiracy theory that claims that powerful elites are sex trafficking children in some of his other online content so it's really remarkable to um hear these ideas in a song that's topping the charts uh and it's concerning to people who study the spread of conspiracy theories and extremist ideologies so .

tell us more about that. I mean, this is a song lots of people may simply like IT for its musical qualities how can I play a role in spreading extremism?

Um I spoke to jerd halt about this his with the institute for strategic dialogue and he says political movements always look for cultural artifacts like music movies that can help popularize their ideas. But the problem here is that the song has been seized on by some far right influencers, uh some of whom pedal and assamese sm and transformer .

a and if these fired figures are successful in associating themselves directly with the song, IT could potentially open up a wider audience that they might Normally not have access to all the time.

Okay, so concerned around opportunities latching onto the song to boost their own profiles. But is your concern that the song itself actually turn listeners into conspiracy theorists?

The concern is that mainstreaming this stuff helps to Normalize IT. Michael crunch a saw this when he was a black, anti racist skinhead in chicago forty years ago. He said that racist music from the U. K. Played a role in shifting the attitudes of people around him.

One day they would have a confederate flag patch or button, or they would have, uh, crew driver shared on. And sometimes they would still be nice to me. And so then I would have to sit there and figure out like this, two listens to music to talks about killing my people. But he's still acting like everything's okay.

So it's not like we're going to see um anything change overnight. But if we continue to see these messages mainstreamed over time, IT could shift people's beliefs and all know lyad npr did reach out asking to speak with Oliver Anthony y, but received no response.

N, P, R, oh, that you say.

thank you. Thank you.

U. S. Military officials think they know what happened to a russian mercenary leader. General pet writer is at the pentagon, where intelligence analysts have observed the plane crash that involved in afghanistan.

Goon tian assessment, that is likely progression, was killed.

Precaution left behind some unfinished business. Days before his death, he released a video that talked about recruiting strong men for Operations in africa. So what is his vocal group doing?

Her amp. As africa correspondent, a manual oko to join us from lagos. Good morning manual.

Good morning.

So how extensive is wager's presence in africa right now?

Well, wagers significant in a handful of african countries, and they become key, their providing support for some fragile states. But since the fail new a few months ago, there have been various interviews, various clips of precaution. Many of them are hard to verify, but they show us what vagina was trying to project about africa, and this continent being increasingly important to them going forward.

This video was released by telegram channels linked to vagina in the last week. And in the for goon implied he was in africa that fagg na was making russia great around the world and making africa more free, in his words. But of course, that was before this incident this week.

yeah. So at this point, what is the likely future of vaginal in africa, if we know at all, and the potential impact on countries where these private soldiers Operate?

Well, IT may have some impact, is likely to, but it's not clear yet. What we know is that in the last few years, this group has become more powerful in the central african republic, and mali, to a lesser extent, may be libyan sudan, you know, in the central african republic, theyve helped secure the government, their fighting rebel groups, and in exchange they've taken control of criminal resources. And rights groups have documented no systematic rights abuses and killings by Regina there and a government official from car recently, helium, ted precautions, death, but said their partnership was primarily with russia. So you can infer that russia's is going to determine if and how things change there.

Okay, so how important? That is, the presence of the original group in the africa to russia.

Well, you see this, particularly in the case of mile, for example, you know money kicked out french troops that had been there in the twenty thirteen to fight islam insurgency, but they were deeply unpopular, you know, accused killings to at a wedding by the U N. Um, which france denied. But when france became isolated from the west, and IT relied on russia, and by extension, vagrant, to fill that gap. So va gna merson is helped to exploit the withdraw french troops that has having a mili and became a fossil, and now likely in this year. And this, by definition, helps russia expand, try to expand its influence in this part of africa .

and peers in manual. I can want to thank you so much.

Thank you.

And that's the first friday of twenty five. I'm laila falding .

and i'm Stephen scape up first just produced by monster carona and clara ma r at a magan prince, tara neo, Michael Sullivan and resection jane Johnson and Alice wolly. Our is lily chios and our technical directories that common with engineering support from carly strange. Our executive producer is eric. I don't .

forget the first air on saturday too. I charost o and Scott Simon, have the news for you that'll be here in this feed or wherever at your advice.

This message comes from ship hub. The holiday start earlier every year, so get your online store in shipshape. Now with ship bub, they'll handle fulfillment, provide two day shipping and more. Get a free quote at S H I P B O B that com chip bob.

This message comes from in P, R, sponsor, sad va founder and C, O run. Rutton shares the story of how he got started creating sdb a.

In two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, I went out and I bought the most popular luxury mattresses. I told them apart, and I realized, based on the raw materials cost in the analysis that I had done, that I was able to solve that level mattress, but with a very affordable Price.

To learn more, go to S, W, A, T, V, A dog hom slash in P R.

After the election, the economy feels like one big hall. Good fingers, the indicator from planet money podcast. We take a different economic topic from the news every day and break IT down in under ten minutes. Topics like the home building shortage or the post election cyp du rally, listen to the indicator from planet money podcast from M P R, and turn that hole into an.