The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.12 “SHUT THE F--- UP!” Terrifying Chappell Roan Situation, Taylor Swift Endorsement Fallout, & More

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today! Go to https://buyraycon.com/defranco for 15% off your order, plus free shipping! Brought to you by Raycon. Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL   Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/  Get your first https://WakeandMake.com Bags of delicious coffee for 25-50% OFF! And get your international coffee club membership while spots are open! 53 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - The Pandemic Aged Us by Four Years 02:12 - Chappell Roan Hits Back After Being Confronted by Paparazzi at VMAs 05:39 - 300,000 People Register to Vote After Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris  08:39 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 09:51 - Officials Worry USPS Won’t Be Able to Handle Mail-in Voting 12:50 - Trump Tells GOP to Shut Down Government Over False Election Claims 15:45 - Sponsored by Raycon 16:47 - Ukraine Is Fighting to Take Away Russia’s Influence in Africa 25:43 - Sponsored by Seatgeek 26:15 - Comment Commentary ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Ukraine-Russia-Africa: Jared Paolino ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show, your daily dive into the news. I've got a really big show for you today. So you just hit that like button to let me know if you like these big daily dives into the news and let's jump into it. This is a news show.

Here's a fun fact and some news for you. The pandemic may have literally made you older. Because while that period of time is something that my brain has just kind of put in a box and it times, I can't even remember that period. It's been well established that 2020 hit young people's mental health hard, increasing anxiety, depression, eating disorders,

behavioral problems, suicidal thoughts, and more. But now we've got this new study revealing how it actually transformed the physical structure of their brains in concerning ways. Because it turns out you had these scientists at the University of Washington that happened to be a couple years deep into their research when the pandemic hit.

And with that, they were using MRIs to observe the brain development of 160 teens in the Seattle area. And so they decided, fuck it, let's refocus the study. Let's look at the impact the lockdowns are having on brain structure. And they did this by measuring changes in the thickness of the cerebral cortex,

right, that outer layer of the tissue that makes you, you being responsible for higher order reasoning and decision-making. And they did this because it naturally thins as we age and chronic stress can speed up that process. Between 2018 and 2021, the researchers found much more than thinning in these teens than they expected. With the brains of the boys prematurely aging 1.4 years and the brains of the girls prematurely aging a whole 4.2 years. But these boys and these girls, they didn't just have different amounts of thinning, they had it in different places as well.

But for the boys, only two regions were affected, both in the occipital lobe, which is linked to distance, depth perception, face recognition, and memory. But for the girls, the thinning affected 30 regions across both hemispheres in all lobes. And as far as why we saw those differences, the study's author has guessed that teen girls tend to rely on their personal relationships

and social interaction for emotional support and self-identity more than boys do. Though I have to add, right, this study doesn't definitively prove that the lockdowns caused these changes. But either way, right, this is extremely scary because your cerebral cortex, it doesn't ever grow back. It only gets thinner.

So we may see things further down the line, like maybe the COVID generation will be at a higher risk for things like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's when they're older. Though again, right now, we don't know, which is really why we need to continue researching this more and making sure that we're looking after each other. And then, shut the fuck up.

One, those are four words that I try to just lock in my head and keep from escaping my mouth. And two, while Chapel Roan's performance and her winning Best New Artist were some of the biggest moments during last night's VMAs, it was the showdown between her and a paparazzo on the red carpet that was easily one of the most talked about moments

from the night that included those words. You shut the fuck up! Hey! You shut the fuck up! I have to go to the bathroom. No! Not me. And while it's unclear why the photographer said that,

Chappell explained to ET a few minutes later. This is quite overwhelming and quite scary. I think for someone who gets a lot of anxiety around people yelling at you, the carpet is horrifying. And I yelled back. I yelled back. You don't get to yell at me like that.

Right in there, when she's talking about people yelling at her, she seems to be referring to all the harassment she's said that she's been getting from random people on the street. Which if you didn't see, a couple of weeks ago, she posted TikToks asking people to stop being invasive about her life and just leave her alone. With the time, those comments came off as very divisive.

You had some sympathizing with her, noting other cases of celebrity stalkers and Chappell's very quick rise to fame. But at the same time, you had others saying, you know, the price of being famous is your privacy, that having fans or being harassed in public, it comes with the job. Regarding that, last night in that same interview with ET,

she seemed to clarify a bit more about the type of people that she was talking about. It's hard for artists to speak up because they're so scared of their fans hating them. But we're not actually talking about fans. We're talking about like people who are harassing. And like, if you happen to be a fan, but we're not actually talking about fans. We're talking about like people who are harassing and like, if you happen to be a fan, then we're talking to you.

But like, it's easier for me to stand up for myself. And actually in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, we learned what drove her to make those TikToks. And some of the stories that she shared are fucking insane. Like for example, she said she was harassed by fans who got ahold of her flight information back in July. One man berating her for not signing an autograph. And it got to the point that airport police had to show up. And then that same man was with a group of her flight information back in July. One man berating her for not signing an autograph. And it got to the point that airport police had to show up.

And then that same man was with a group of paparazzi when she landed in LA. Chappell also talked about her stalker, saying someone that she met in Missouri showed up at her parents' house and later her hotel room in New York, which then forced Chappell to hire security. Also in August,

she was celebrating a friend's birthday at a bar when someone just grabbed her and kissed her without her permission. And actually that same night, she learned that her dad's phone number had been leaked online and someone called it. With Chappell saying, nothing about my life is like me anymore.

I feel like I just let myself down so much because I'm not how I used to be. Right, and going on to say, she has to be very intentional with how she interacts with fans in public, not responding to her real name, refusing most pictures. And at one point she said,

they need to see me as a random bitch on the street. "'You can't yell at a random bitch "'who's on the sidewalk that you don't know. "'It's considered catcalling or harassment.'" Which you know echoed one of her major points in those TikToks she posted. But also through Rolling Stone, we learned that a lot of big stars

apparently reached out to Chappell to see if she was okay and offer advice. With this reportedly including Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, Hayley Williams, Lorde, Lady Gaga, and Phoebe Bridgert. She also said she met up with Sabrina Carpenter, whose music career also took off this summer, and they unpacked their experiences together. With Chappell also sharing an email she received from Mitski, which read, I just wanted to humbly welcome you to the shittiest exclusive club in the world, the club

where strangers think you belong to them and they find and harass your family members. With all this, Chappell went on to say that she's considered a lot of options just to be able to go out in public without being harassed, saying, I don't wanna be agoraphobic. That's how most of my peers feel. Every fucking artist is on this page. Everyone is uncomfortable with fans. Some people just have more patience. I fucking don't.

You know, with all of that said, I gotta ask, what are your thoughts? And also let me know if you're a Chapel Rowan fan or not when you answer. And then in entertainment and political news, you probably saw late Tuesday night that Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris, which you know, I didn't cover on the Wednesday show

because it was kind of whatever. I thought it was more important to focus on the debate. But since then, one, we've gotten some interesting updates and two, there's this narrative out there that I wanted to comment on. Right, and I'll start there because one of the criticisms that I saw out there was, wow, why does Taylor Swift even think

that her opinion here matters? Which I'll say, one, if you have that opinion, whether the celebrity comes out in support of Harris or Trump, that's fair. But if you don't have that her opinion here matters. Which I'll say one, if you have that opinion, whether the celebrity comes out in support of Harris or Trump, that's fair. But if you don't have that same opinion when a celebrity comes out in support of Trump, you're a hypocrite. And two, I think there was a non-zero chance

that Taylor Swift might've actually held back this election cycle. And if anything, Donald Trump and the whole AI Taylor Swift, Swifties for Trump movement, it kind of forced her hand. Right, they created a situation where if she stayed silent on this, people would think, hey, maybe she is endorsing this.

Maybe she is complicit. And in fact, in her post, she referenced the AI situation, saying, recently I was made aware that AI of me falsely endorsing Donald Trump's presidential run was posted to his site. And adding, it really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation.

It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth." With her, of course, then going on to say, "'I'm voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.

I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader, and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.'" And with that, also complimenting Harris' VP pick, Tim Walz, citing his support for LGBTQ plus rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body. But they're then hitting on the third reason that we're talking about this,

encouraging people to do their own research and make their own choices. And remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered. I'll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story. They're then signing off with love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.

Which of course, one, is a reference to the language used by J.D. Vance to describe women who don't have kids and therefore, according to him, don't have a stake in the country's future. And two, led to this very weird reaction from Elon Musk, where he said, "'Fine, Taylor, you win. I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.'"

Man, I don't know why anyone calls him a creepy weirdo. I don't get it. Just a regular dude saying regular dude shit. But regarding Taylor Swift saying, hey, go out to vote, here's a link. It reportedly drove nearly 338,000 users to vote.gov, which is a government website that directs users to state-specific voting information. And that is incredibly notable because you have many people saying that getting two groups of people, right, the undecided and the unenthusiastic voters to participate, that is where the real potential for celebrities to make a difference is.

They're very likely not gonna change someone's mind, but they might be able to nudge someone from, I might vote or I think I'm gonna vote to, I did it. Though of course it is impossible to say what the ultimate impact of all this is gonna be. Though it is of course worth noting that in 2020, just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin separated Biden and Trump

from a tie in the electoral college. And when you have margins that small, even a small effect can be huge. That's why voting yourself or telling your friends and family to get out there, it can make all the difference. But yeah, for now we'll have to wait to see how it all plays out,

because the election is now just 54 days away. And then, when looking for doctors, I've used our sponsor Zocdoc and found so much success with the service. And so much so, not only have I used them, I'll continue to use them in the future, especially because it's extremely important to find the right doctor for you.

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We're talking about in-network appointments with more than 100,000 healthcare providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health, eye care to skincare, and much more. Plus, ZocDoc appointments happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. I mean, you can even score same-day appointments. So go to ZocDoc.com slash Phil and download the ZocDoc app for free. Then just find and book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-oc.com slash Phil and download the ZocDoc app for free. Then just find and book a top rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash Phil. ZocDoc.com slash Phil. But then we gotta talk about the fact

that there might be a huge problem with mail-in voting in this country. And no, I haven't gotten all 2020 COVID era Trump on you. I'm not talking about a baseless conspiracy theory that mail-in voting leads to fraud. Instead, the problem that I'm talking about is, you know, those perfectly legitimate mail-in ballots, they may not get there on time,

because that's the warning we're now getting from state and local election officials from all across the country. And in fact, it's a hell of a lot more than that. And I'll explain. This is all coming from a letter from two groups, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors.

And it's a letter that's been sent to Louis DeJoy, which is a name you probably haven't heard in a while. He's the Postmaster General, the head of the United States Postal Service. He's also, as you might remember, actually the same guy that made changes to the Postal Service back in 2020 that had people worried that he was trying

to rig the election in Trump's favor. And notably, two weeks ago, DeJoy said in an interview that the Postal Service was ready to handle all the mail-in ballots expected this year. But now according to this letter, that's just not true. You have these election officials claiming that over the course of the last year, they've raised serious questions about USPS's ability

to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner. But they say, despite repeated efforts to work together, they have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate their concerns. And as one example, the letter claimed many postal service employees are poorly trained when it comes to handling election-related mail with the letter saying,

the frequency and widespread distribution of election-related mail with the letter saying, the frequency and widespread distribution of training-related issues make it clear these are not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Saying instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees. And then a huge thing is that they said

that over the past year in nearly every state, local election officials are receiving timely postmarked ballots well after election day. And finally, they also noted that properly addressed election mail was sometimes being returned to them as undeliverable. You know, that's big because it could lead to a voter being moved to an inactive voter registration list, which they say raises at least two big issues, right? One, the potential disenfranchisement of voters whose ballots are not delivered to them or to their election office. And two, the possibility of putting eligible voters on the path to having their voter registration

record canceled. Also, while we're talking about this, I should say that these aren't the only people talking about this issue. Scott Schwab, Kansas Secretary of State, for example, also sent a letter to DeJoy this week with him noting, "'Nearly 1,000 ballots from a state's August primary election "'couldn't be counted because they arrived too late

"'or without postmarks.'" And adding, in fact, that more are still coming in. And then also something called the Save the Post Office Coalition, a coalition of over 300 groups, including the ACLU, NAACP, and the American Postal Workers Union, have actually called for Congress to pass a bill

by the name of the Election Mail Act. With that, meant to improve election mail delivery and tracking security, but it also hasn't reached a vote in the House or the Senate. And so at this point, like we are well aware of the issue, but just nothing's actually being done about it. Though a big thing with this is, you know,

most ballots are arriving on time, right? So if mail-in voting is your preferred way to vote, don't let it stop you. The most important thing you can do is just to vote. But a big thing is that if you can, at the very least, consider sending in your ballot as soon as you get the chance, right? Because as we know, as we've seen in the past,

at the local, to the national level, and you will always hear me say it ad nauseum, the elections really could come down to just a few votes. So honestly, as soon as you can, knock that shit out. Just one less thing to be hanging in your head. And then in other news, Donald Trump is ordering Republicans to shut down the government over false election fraud claims

just weeks before November 5th. And now there's a very real possibility that's actually gonna happen, even though GOP House lawmakers say that it could literally cost them control of the chamber. You see, Congress has until September 30th to pass a spending bill to fund the government or face a shutdown. But yesterday, we saw House Speaker Mike Johnson abruptly cancel a vote on a short-term spending proposal that would have kept the government open and funded at current levels through March 28th, as well as notably adding

totally unrelated new rules requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. And because of that add-on, Democrats widely condemned the bill, saying that the measure is unnecessary because there are already safeguards in place to prevent non-citizens from voting, and this will make it more difficult for eligible voters to exercise their democratic rights. Reagan arguing that this is just a political ploy based on the baseless claims of Trump and his allies that Democrats are trying to steal the election by allowing non-citizens to vote illegally, with the White House and leaders in the Democrat-controlled Senate vowing to reject the legislation. But also, Johnson's decision to cancel the vote at the last minute, it shows that he didn't even have enough support within his own

party to pass his own bill. And with us seeing more moderate Republicans arguing that Johnson was just wasting time by trying to pass a plan that he knew would never be signed into law. And with just three weeks to pass a funding bill, there's very little time to waste. And in addition to that, some have actually accused him of trying to cater to the right-wing faction of the party, which wanted the citizenship requirement. And this, despite the fact that previous efforts from both Johnson and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to add immigration and border security policies to spending bills have failed. And all this as defense hawks have also opposed the plan because it kept defense spending flat. And then also in general, many conservatives hate short-term funding bills

because they extend current funding levels rather than cutting them. So now Johnson has to go back to the drawing board, and it's unclear what his next move is going to be. Because he's stuck in this weird, bad place, right? He's failing to get enough votes for this first bill, and he now likely lost any possible leverage that he could get in negotiations with Democrats who have made it clear that they want to pass a clean bill. And so with the clock ticking, there's a lot of pressure for him to just pass a bill that he knows Democrats will support in both chambers, even if he can't get his whole party on board. But that, of course, comes with the risk of pissing off the right wing of his party. Which, of course, you remember very notably ousted former Speaker McCarthy because he had leaned on Democrats to pass last year's spending bill after it became clear that the far-right's demands would never be passed and result in a shutdown. And this is now that faction has been given a major boost because on Tuesday, Trump himself told the party that they shouldn't agree to a spending bill without the citizenship requirements

and just let the government shut down if it's not included. Writing on Truth Social, if Republicans in the House and Senate don't get absolute assurances on election security, they should in no way, shape or form go forward with a continuing resolution on the budget. So that post from dear leader, it's gonna likely put pressure on Johnson

to appease the far right flank of the party, especially because if he doesn't, not only is he at risk of being ousted as Speaker, but Trump's wrath specifically. But also Trump's demands here come as Republicans in key swing districts that could determine control of the House are worried about the political ramifications of a shutdown this close to the election. With, for example, one battleground Republican telling Axios that swing district lawmakers feel overwhelmingly that a shutdown will lose us the majority. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens and specifically what Johnson does.

And then, you know, for me, when it comes to earbuds, tuning out the noise around me while I'm tuning into what I'm listening to, it's a huge selling point. And Raycon, a fantastic sponsor of the show, they've just launched their upgraded model of their best-selling everyday earbuds and they have active noise cancellation.

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to check out Raycons, there's truly never been a better time. Their upgraded model is gonna blow you away. So just go to buyraycon.com slash defranco and get 15% off your Raycon purchase plus free shipping. And remember, they offer a 30-day free return policy. And then let's do a little bit of a deep dive into the war between Ukraine and Russia.

But this time, we're not talking about anything actually happening in Ukraine or Russia. Instead, we gotta talk about the way this war is playing out across the African continent. Because while Ukraine's been trying to defend its own territory, it's also been fighting for diplomatic support everywhere from Ghana to Rwanda.

And in places like Sudan and Mali, it's been literally bringing the fight to Russian mercenaries. But with that, a decade of deal-making, covert operations and propaganda has given Russia an upper hand over even the US in many African countries. So while Ukraine has defied expectations before, you got people asking, can they also do it here?

And then even if it can on a continent, unendingly getting screwed over by foreign interest, should it? And so to get into all that, let's start by going back to when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Within a week, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution condemning the invasion and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops. And while that resolution seemingly passed with overwhelming support, it's not the whole story. Because when it came to Africa, only 28 of 54 countries voted in favor, with 17 abstaining, eight not even in the room, and one actually voting against the resolution. And so for Ukraine, it was reportedly a wake-up call.

They didn't have the whole world on their side. And so you had people like Alexander Kharov, for example, a Ukrainian foreign policy expert saying, "'We thought the invasion of a sovereign territory "'in the Russian army's grave violations "'of international law would automatically automatically put countries on our side. But adding, we underestimated how strong Russian influence was on the African continent. And to that point, at the time of the invasion, Ukraine barely had any diplomatic infrastructure in Africa.

I mean, it had just 10 embassies on the continent, whereas Russia, on the other hand, had 43. And in fact, in Ukraine's more than three decades of diplomatic history since it achieved independence in 1991, there wasn't a single visit from a Ukrainian president or foreign minister to the continent. So with that, by the end of 2022, Ukraine announced plans to open 10 new embassies in Africa. And as I'm recording this, it's already opened at least seven of them.

Plus, Ukraine's previous foreign minister visited more than a dozen African nations over the past couple of years. In fact, in August, he just wrapped up his fourth African tour since the war began. And then on top of all that, Ukraine's been providing humanitarian assistance through its Grain from Ukraine program. Right, I mean, before the war, Ukraine was Africa's second biggest supplier of maize and third biggest supplier of wheat.

And when the war broke out, people were immediately worried about how it might worsen already existing food security issues across many parts of Africa. And so, in November of 2022, Ukraine started donating free grain to at least five countries. War-torn Sudan, for example, has reportedly received more than 21,000 tons of flour. But then also with that, Russia has obviously stepped up its diplomatic efforts across the continent as well. With, for example, Russia this year announcing that it would be opening four new diplomatic missions, bringing its number to 47 in total. Russia's foreign minister has also been flying all over the place, visiting several African countries this summer as well. Plus, a year after Ukraine began its donation program, Russia also started shipping free grain as part of a promise to provide six nations,

including Burkina Faso and Mali, with up to 50,000 tons. Though, notably there, Russia also withdrew from an international agreement that guaranteed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. But in any case, right, all that, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Russia's true influence in Africa

is far more expansive and complex than what we've talked about so far. I mean, Putin really started turning his attention to the continent about a decade ago. And the key thing is that since then, he's been propping up authoritarian leaders, seizing precious national resources, and generally just fucking shit up.

And a big thing I should say is that all of this is in competition with the US and its allies. It's not like America has not been meddling in the region, but Putin, he's a special case. He pursued his ambitions in Africa largely with the help of a private military company and criminal organization known as the Wagner Group. Though of course, he's never revealed how closely Russia was controlling the group's activities around the world. With this being meant to give him some sort of plausible deniability when it came to the repeated accusations of human rights abuses made against the group. But in any case, wherever

Wagner went and whoever they heard along the way, a big thing is that the group took control of natural resources to both cover its own costs and bring in money for Putin's government. And business has been booming. In fact, Russia has reportedly taken $2.5 billion worth of gold from Africa in the past two years, which is believed to have helped fund its war in Ukraine.

And then besides that, Wagner helped build a giant propaganda machine to stir up anti-American and anti-European sentiment in the countries where it operated, right? They built troll farms, they paid influencers to spread lies on social media, and then Russia's state-owned media channel expanded its network.

And with all that, a common theme was attacking the US and the West as neo-colonial powers back for more, while of course, marketing itself as anti-colonial. Because a big thing is that Russia was among the few world powers that didn't have colonies in Africa. And in fact, many African countries enjoyed Soviet support when they were fighting for independence in the 20th century. Although with that, some point out the irony that Russia's current efforts to, quote, isolate these regimes, capture their elites, and to extract their natural resources is quite colonial. But either way, Russia's approach has been pretty successful. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, they have turned their backs on the US and European allies

in favor of Russia since their junta's came to power in coups after the past few years. In fact, the Russian military personnel who arrived in Niger in April, they're occupying the same airfield that the US and allies built. And something to keep in mind here is that while this all goes back to Putin,

the man who really had more to do with it than anyone else was Yevgeny Prigozhin. He was the head of Wagner. He also, in 2023, mounted a short-lived rebellion against Putin that ultimately failed, with the men ending up dead in a mysterious plane crash within a couple of months. And then, with him out of the way,

Putin decided he needed to take control of Wagner himself. And so since then, he's been dividing up the group's assets and redistributing them to branches of the government. And so we've seen the Russian Ministry of Defense taking control of Wagner's mercenary arm in Africa and placing it under an umbrella group known as Africa Corps. With Wagner, fighters basically given a choice, disband or join the new crew.

And so with that, this new group has continued its propaganda and disinformation efforts. In fact, a new propaganda outlet, African Initiative, it's been created to promote the growing ties between Russia and African countries. And to that point, Africa Corps has reportedly focused more on formal security and economic cooperation. Whereas the old Wagner group, on the other hand,

was more involved in black market shit like smuggling and money laundering. Though it's also not like that's totally gone away. But because Africa Corps is directly affiliated with the Russian government, experts say that it looks more legitimate to African leaders. And with that,

Russia is reportedly offering African governments a so-called regime survival package, basically providing military and diplomatic support in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources. At least, that's according to a report from a think tank called the Royal United Services Institute. And actually with that, you have people like Jack Watling, a researcher at the institute, saying, this is the Russian state coming out of the shadows in its Africa policy. And adding, what they are looking to do is exacerbate our crises internationally, saying they are trying

to start fires elsewhere and expand those that already exist, making a less safe world. And notably, with all this, Russian mercenaries have reportedly been more active in Africa since the restructuring of Wagner. One U.S.-based conflict monitoring group has reported that Russian troops engaged in more violence in Africa in the nine months leading up to June of this year than any other period since at least 2018. And with that, the group says that much of the increased military activity in Africa over the past year is linked to Russia's support of Mali's military rulers. Right, Afrika Korps has doubled its manpower to an estimated 2,000 in the country over the past two years. And violence involving Russian mercenaries in Mali, it's spiked 81% since compared to the previous year. In July, for example, an ambush by rebels saw Russian mercenaries

fighting alongside government troops, suffering what has been described as Wagner's largest loss to date in Africa. And notably, and this is big, Ukraine claimed it played a role. With specifically a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency saying, the rebels received necessary information and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals. And with that, it's not the only place where Ukraine is reportedly taking a more, let's say, direct approach to combating Russian influence in Africa. With Ukrainian special forces reportedly operating in Sudan in support of the country's army against Russian Wagner mercenaries aligned with the RSF.

The country also reportedly has troops in Somalia to counter potential Russian activities there, though Ukraine hasn't openly admitted its involvement in these cases. But the head of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service, when asked by the Washington Post about rumors that Ukrainian operatives were fighting in Africa, responded by saying, We conduct such operations aimed at reducing Russian military potential anywhere where it's possible. Why should Africa be an exception?

And then, this year, an official with Ukrainian military intelligence told Politico, Ukrainian intelligence has to be present wherever there is a need to destroy the enemy, which is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine. We are present wherever it is possible to weaken the interests of Russia." But with all that said, there are very real questions about how much they can actually do to hurt Russia in Africa. And then also more than that, there are concerns that it could undermine all those efforts

to build goodwill with African countries. Like that rebel group in Mali, for example, they reportedly attacked Russian forces with the help of an Al-Qaeda affiliated extremist group. Right, not the best look. And notably, it led Mali to cut ties with Ukraine with Niger quickly following suit. And then they, along with Burkina Faso,

wrote to the UN Security Council to denounce Ukraine's involvement in the region. While those countries are pretty solidly pro-Russian, they're not the only ones upset. With the economic community of Western African states, for example, which no longer counts Niger, Mali, or Burkina Faso as members, they still released a statement condemning

foreign interference in the region. And then, you know, talking about Sudan, that's arguably one of the most dire humanitarian situations in the world today, and many say that it's been exacerbated by foreign powers getting involved. And although that mostly has to do with Iran and the UAE, the Russian-Ukraine dimension can't be ignored. But that is where I'm gonna leave this aspect

of the whole situation for now, and of course, I'd love to know your thoughts. But then finally today, I gotta say a congratulations. And also I wanna talk about yesterday. Starting with the congrats to Eli M who won $500 in our weekly SeatGeek giveaway towards his choice of tickets with Eli being a real one, he's gonna be treating his girlfriend to a date night.

But also reminder, you could win too, right? SeatGeek and The Daily Dip are still giving away up to $1,000 in tickets. I mean, it's a no brainer to sign up if you haven't already. You just add code PDS to your SeatGeek account for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. And for Daily Dip newsletter subscribers who add code PDS newsletter,

you double your entries and winnings. So go get in on it. But then too, let's talk about yesterday's show and specifically your comments. Especially, because there were like two to three times as many comments as usual. Understandably, a big focus on the Harris-Trump debate. Started with Strombato who said,

"'As pro-choice as I am, it was wild to witness "'a 316th trimester abortion happen live on TV.'" Which is another way to say that Harris crushed. Also on the topic, you had Joe saying, "'I'm sorry, but did Trump just say that he hadn't talked "'to his VP candidate about abortion?' "'Like one of the biggest campaign issues "'of the last four years and they didn't even talk about it.

Meanwhile, Crimson said it's the, "'I have concepts' line for me." "'I have concepts of a plan. "'I'm not president right now.'" Jake Stroll replying, "'Dude has been running against Obamacare "'for 10 whole years and he's still at the concept phase.'" Also, Biddy Clan saying,

I love how Kamala basically had a, "'What the fuck is he going on about?' face "'for half of the debate.'" Also, regarding the part where Trump was like, "'They're eating cats and dogs. Nat said, Trump saw Alf on TV and immediately thought it was a documentary about a legal alien eating cats.

The 3V adding, they're eating pets, has the same energy as Alex Jones saying, they're putting chemicals in the water to turn the frigging frogs gay. Then regarding Trump trying to take a shot at Harris and Biden over the student loan forgiveness failure. You'd adrift saying, yeah, student loan forgiveness didn't happen because the Republican Supreme Court didn't let it happen.

And in general, the vast majority of comments kind of were just commenting on it, just seeming like there were lies and lunacy on display from Trump. Right, noting when Trump said, I said that, the genuine shock and terror in his voice realizing he slipped up. And Strinku saying, I used to think that Democrats

saying Trump cognitive decline stuff was just a reaction to Republicans saying it about Biden, but yikes, he sounds like he has no idea what's happening in reality. Also, there was some talk about conspiracy theories being spread by those on the right. Right, Haley writing, my family thinks Kamala had an earpiece in her earring and that she was briefed on the questions beforehand.

This is why I'm left-leaning in a right-wing family. Which just to say here though, you know, there's never a world where you can debunk things faster than lies can be created. There's literally no evidence that Kamala was given the questions beforehand and that earring thing has been debunked. than lies can be created. There's literally no evidence that Kamala was given the questions beforehand. And that earring thing has been debunked. They're literally Tiffany's earrings.

But ultimately that is where this segment and actually today's show is gonna end. And I'll leave you like I usually do saying, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces. And I'll see you right back here on Monday.