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West Virginia University announced this month it would eliminate 32 of 338 majors, or about 9% of its course catalog. While WVU is staring down a $45 million budget deficit, some of the biggest proposed cuts are to the languages program. And humanities scholars and others are worried this could be a blueprint for attacks on higher education.

Guests: Axios' Jennifer Kingson and Hope King.

Credits: Axios Today was produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

NIALA BOODHOO: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!

Today on the show: inside the new business boom of 2023. Plus, the latest on Hurricane Idalia.

And, our one big thing: Foreign language cuts at one university stoke nationwide fears.

We start this morning in Florida, where 22 counties are under evacuation orders from Hurricane Idalia which, as forecast, overnight has gone from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm.

The major worries for this system are its storm surge, with forecasts of water as high as 12 to 16 feet, and what forecasters are calling "life threatening" winds of 130 mph or higher. Idalia is expected to make landfall later this morning in Florida's Big Bend region — that's where the Florida panhandle curves into the peninsula — and where no major hurricane has ever been recorded to hit.

The 5 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center said that hurricane warnings are also now in effect for parts of eastern Georgia and Southeastern South Carolina. Please visit axios.com for the latest info on Idalia, and hoping everyone in its path can stay safe today.

Axios's Jennifer Kingson has been following this story. Hi, Jennifer.

NIALA: First off, why is West Virginia University doing this? Is it all about the money?

JENNIFER: The university says that this is a dollars-driven decision that's based on declining enrollments in specific language majors, but professors in the department and academics more broadly tell a very different story about liberal arts and languages being a convenient target for cuts from educators who want to steer their universities toward bigger classes that are more vocationally oriented. They say that languages make a very convenient target for cuts. In fact, at West Virginia University, the program was making $800,000 in revenue each year. It's very cheap to run a language department as opposed to, say, the STEM courses that administrators are happier to keep.

A Wall Street Journal investigation into this topic found that at public universities, spending has been fairly profligate at a lot of big schools with building big edifices, elaborate programs that they didn't have the enrollment to back up. And that's led to an unfortunate feedback loop in which they're raising tuitions and going back to their state legislatures to ask for more money. And it gives a big black eye to public education, unfortunately. The situation at West Virginia University seems to be one obvious manifestation of how this is playing out.

NIALA: And so I imagine when WVU announced this, there was quite an outcry from faculty about this?

JENNIFER: Oh, faculty, students, and families have all been up in arms about this, and it's generated such heat that, more broadly, petitions online have been circulating. The Modern Language Association and the American Federation of Teachers have all spoken out about it. It's become a real national cause celebre because of the dramatic nature of the announcement that all foreign languages would be eliminated at the state's premier university, which is also a top research institute. It's got an R1 designation, meaning that it's got the highest research designation in all the land. And, some people who oppose this move feared that it might bring down that designation, which would limit opportunities for people in the socioeconomically depressed state of West Virginia.

NIALA: Jennifer, what has the university said in response to this uproar?

JENNIFER: Late Tuesday, the university put out a release saying that in response to an appeals hearing on Friday, it was going to recommend to the board of trustees of the university not that they eliminate all languages wholesale, which was the original proposal, but that they keep instruction in Spanish and Chinese, and retain five professors out of the, uh, 18 or so in the global languages department.

Originally, they were going to eliminate all the professors and all the languages. But they're still recommending that the language requirement for all undergraduates be scrapped entirely. So it's, not good news for language education writ large, but it's not the wholesale elimination that had originally been planned.

NIALA: Can you place this in context for us? How dramatic a move is this for a university?

JENNIFER: It's been known for decades that American students are less interested in taking languages, seeing less value in language education. These declines are not new, it's been a death by a thousand cuts at various schools that have pared back their language offerings. What the head of the Modern Language Association told me is that schools that are investing in these programs see their enrollments thrive. And language apps, which are often used as a fig leaf for why we don't need to learn languages face to face, can only go so far. You can't really learn a culture or to speak a language from doing 15 minutes on an app every day. It just doesn't work that way, as all of us know.

So, there's still a vital place for language education, and those who are involved in it tell me that this is a wake-up call for the fact that they need to do a better job communicating their value and letting people know that, studying the liberal arts still leads to good career and earning prospects.

NIALA: Axios is Jennifer Kingson. Thanks, Jennifer.

NIALA: In a moment: What's behind the current business boom.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo.

Business in the U.S. is booming. New openings have exceeded pre-pandemic 2019 levels every month this year and according to a new report published yesterday by Yelp, new listings of shops and services on Yelp are on track to beat 2022's all-time high.

Axios' senior business reporter Hope King has been reporting on this. Hope, obviously, a lot of businesses are doing better than they were during the pandemic, but why is this new business boom even bigger than it was pre-pandemic?

HOPE KING: I think that we're still seeing the effects of the excess savings that we've talked about here in the past and of the return of travel. And that's certainly reflected in the types of businesses that are opening and if you look at some of the biggest categories of businesses that are driving these openings, it's RV rentals, it's travel agents. So that's really where you're still seeing demand coming from the consumer market.

NIALA: And last week, we talked about the boom we've seen, for example, in concert ticket sales. Does that also play into this events category of business growth?

HOPE: It does, and get-togethers. The beverage and snack industry has said that based on their research, the rise in the sales of salty snacks and snacks in general, it's because we're having more parties at home. We're entertaining. So, you know, for people who weren't able to travel to see friends and family, maybe even last year, I think they're finally feeling the confidence now to get together and have these social events. So we're still seeing the leftover demands of that.

NIALA: And are we seeing business growth in other areas apart from things where it's people socializing or traveling and spending money in that arena?

HOPE: Based on the data that Yelp has published this week, we're seeing the home services business still continue to grow, particularly in the Northeast. And if you think about the macro trend there, people who have been lucky to buy homes when interest rates were low, they're now seeing the home values appreciate. They're also maybe staying home more because of remote work and so they're spending money on sprucing up their places. Um, there's wear and tear if you're working from home a lot. So those are examples where they might need home improvement experts to come in to refinish, to renovate. So again, those are some of the lasting effects of the pandemic we're still seeing play out.

NIALA: What kinds of growth are we seeing in minority-owned business, Hope?

HOPE: So this was really promising. Based on Yelp's data, LGBTQ-owned businesses, they have been opening up at a rate of about 33 percent. Black-owned businesses have been opening up at a rate of about 28 percent. Latin-owned businesses up 28 percent. And those are all above that national average of 25 percent. So we're seeing that optimism continue to spread more evenly, potentially, throughout the economy versus being just concentrated maybe with folks who already had the means to start businesses in the past.

NIALA: How does this type of growth fit into the bigger picture of what's going on with the broader economy right now?

HOPE: So one of the things that Neil and Courtney have been reporting on is just how resilient the economy has been and that's largely due to this consumer spending and what that really reveals is that while interest rate hikes have been hurting certain parts of the economy, you know, last year tech was hit hard, we know that banking was hit hard. Because again of the excess savings and because of the demand that was pent up from the pandemic, you know, services, businesses, continue to see spending come through because those businesses were not as impacted by those interest rate hikes. So I think that's one thing that we can tie in together with what we're seeing the consumers, uh, do, at a very micro level and how that bubbles up to the macro level.

NIALA: Hope King is author of the Daily Closer newsletter and a senior business reporter at Axios. Thanks, Hope.

NIALA: That's it for us today! You can reach our team at podcasts at Axios.com or text me at (202) 918-4893.

I'm Niala Boodhoo. Thanks for listening. Stay safe and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.

WVU language cuts stoke fears nationwide

Economy

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The Department of Transportation is fining American Airlines $4.1 million for tarmac delays, the largest ever fine of its kind against an airline.

The big picture: Between 2018 and 2021, American Airlines kept 43 domestic flights stuck on the ground for at least three hours, without giving passengers a chance to exit the plane. As summer comes to an end , we take a look at airline travel.

Plus, the dizzying calendar ahead for Trump's trials.

And, voters worry about candidate Biden's age. 

Summer reading recommendations from Rebecca Makkai:

Guests: Axios' Alex Thompson, Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Doherty; Author Rebecca Makkai.

Credits: Axios Today was produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi, Robin Linn and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! It's Tuesday, August 29th. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Today on the show: the DOT slams American Airlines with a record-breaking fine.  But first, the dizzying calendar ahead for Trump's trials - and the presidential election. That's today's One Big Thing. 

NIALA: A date has been set for the trial over President Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. It will be March 4th, 2024. Axios' National Political Correspondent Alex Thompson is here with why that date matters and an update on all of Trump's courtroom battles. 

ALEX THOMPSON: Uh, well, it is exactly one day before Super Tuesday. Now, Super Tuesday is the date essentially when the biggest number of states hold their contests for the 2024 nomination. So for this potentially to start, right before then, it could hurt him, it could help him, since his poll numbers have seemingly only gone up with every indictment.

Trump's team has already indicated they are going to try to push and delay and delay. So I would not be surprised if this court date does eventually move.

Now, I'm just gonna run through how crazy this legal calendar is: October 2nd this year, there is a civil fraud suit of the Trump Organization. January 15th, 2024, the E. Jean Carroll civil defamation suit. January 29th, 2024, there's a pyramid scheme class action suit. March 4th, 2024, the federal 2020 election trial. March 25th, 2024, the New York State criminal hush money suit. And May 20th, 2024, the classified documents trial. And we still don't have a trial date yet for the Georgia indictments.

NIALA: Yesterday, Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, testified in an attempt to move his Georgia case to federal court. What are you hearing about how all these defendants in the Georgia case and their actions may affect the former president?

ALEX: Well, with having so many defendants, there is always the chance that one of these defendants would "flip." Now, what that means is maybe they would testify or change their current testimony against the president if they had a different lawyer or they eventually become so scared of jail time, you know, they're going to change their minds.

Now, one person I can tell you who likely is not going to start changing their story is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Invitations went out for a fundraiser at Bedminster that Trump is going to host for Rudy Giuliani's legal fund. Donald Trump is helping pay a lot of the legal bills for, for people that have been involved in that. Some people say, well, that's right that he does that given his actions on January 6th, but others obviously say, how can you trust they're giving truthful testimony if they're relying on Trump for their legal bills?

NIALA: Alex, so how should we be thinking about all of these different dates and how it coincides with the presidential election calendar?

ALEX: Let's just say that Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee, which, at the moment, it looks most likely. In that case, we are going to have a general election dominated by legal filings back and forth, back and forth. It is going to suck up the oxygen in the room. It's going to be very difficult to have any debate that's not about the future of whether or not Trump is going to go to prison for the rest of his life or not. Despite all the other big issues facing the country, Trump's literal freedom is going to be on the ballot in some ways.

NIALA: Axios's national political correspondent, Alex Thompson. Thanks, Alex.

In other 2024 news, President Biden's reelection plans are moving along with little opposition, but according to a new poll, most voters – in both parties – feel he is too old for the job. I asked Axios' Erin Doherty to give us the results by the numbers.

ERIN DOHERTY: The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 77% of adults said President Biden, who is 80, is too old to be effective for four more years.

89% of Republicans said he is too old to be effective for another term, and 69% of Democrats said the same. And when asked what the first word or phrase that comes to mind with the mention of President Biden, just over a quarter mentioned the president's age. Meanwhile, former President Trump, who is just a few years younger than Biden at 77, faces far less scrutiny than Biden, even among those from the opposing party about his age.

Biden's re-election campaign says that age is not a strong motivating factor for voters, and instead voters crave policy action or positions on important issues like abortion. They also point to Democrats' success in the 2022 midterm elections with President Biden at the helm.

NIALA: That's Axios' Politics Reporter Erin Doherty. In a moment, holding airlines accountable for tarmac delays.

The Department of Transportation is fining American Airlines $4.1 million for tarmac delays, the largest fine of its kind against an airline ever. Between 2018 and 2021, American Airlines kept 43 domestic flights with more than 5,800 passengers stuck on the ground for at least three hours without giving passengers the chance to exit the plane.

As summer travel comes to an end this weekend, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick is here with the big picture. Hey, Alex!

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Hey, thanks for having me.

NIALA: So, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg vowed to hold airlines accountable under consumer protection laws. Is that the main significance of this American Airlines fund?

ALEX: I think it does send a message to airlines that the Biden administration is really trying to crack down as much as it can on this kind of behavior and activity and trying to create a more consumer friendly air travel experience.

NIALA: What has American Airlines said about this?

ALEX: So American Airlines has said, you know, they're taking steps to try to reduce these kind of delays, and they're doing what they can. That being said, when there's like a major summer storm, that kind of thing, and one airport has a bunch of planes it didn't expect to have, at some point there's only so much you can do to get people off those flights.

NIALA: And I think the problem is, is it's been a crazy summer for airline travel. Not just talking about weather, but staffing issues resulting in thousands of delays. Is this the only way to hold airlines accountable for this?

ALEX: To some extent, yes, these fines from a government point of view are one of the only ways. Um, there's also though, you know, consumers can vote with their feet, vote with their dollars, but also that's limited by the fact that there are only so many airlines. You know, your choices are pretty limited.

NIALA: How has the summer been for customers compared to previous years?

ALEX: I think every summer it, it feels like it's been a bad summer. I think summer delays are actually usually worse than winter delays because thunderstorms are so disruptive to the air system. One big event really was, United had a lot of trouble in Newark at their hub, which, you know, when you've got trouble at your hub, that's going to disrupt the rest of your operations across the country as well.

NIALA: This weekend is the unofficial end of summer with Labor Day, which means one last weekend of travel. What should people expect?

ALEX: I think the number one thing is to be weather wise. Any of these major thunderstorms we get in late August can really disrupt travel across the country. Even if they affect just one city, as far as the weather goes, that's going to snarl operations across the country. Uh, and obviously you look at this hurricane that's coming up to Florida, that should pretty much be clear by the coming weekend, the holiday weekend. But it's really an example of what we can expect leading into the end of summer travel season.

NIALA: Alex Fitzpatrick writes the Axios What's Next newsletter. Thanks, Alex.

NIALA: Finally today: summer is winding down, but we've still got another great batch of book recommendations as part of our summer reading series. Here's author Rebecca Makkai, author of the New York Times bestselling book "I Have Some Questions For You," and the Pulitzer Prize nominated novel "The Great Believers."

REBECCA MAKKAI: I have had a really busy summer of reading, and I'm gonna tell you about three books that I loved and that I think most readers would love too.

The first one is from a really long time ago. This is a book, a Turkish novel, translated into English from 1943. In case that sounds like it would be dry, it is not. It is called "Madonna in a Fur Coat," and the author is Sabahat Ali. And this is someone who wrote this book, and it came out to almost no response. And very soon after the author was murdered by the Turkish government. But, in the past five years, it's become one of the bestselling novels in Turkey. It's a love story. It challenges gender norms. It's wonderful.

Another book that came out this summer is "The Novel Loot" by Tanya James. It's about a young carpenter and toy maker who ends up working for a sultan in India, making the mechanical tiger that later ends up in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It's a saga from many different points of view. At one point, it's kind of a crime caper. It's really smart. It's absolutely beautiful.

And then the book that I just finished reading because I needed something light and refreshing, was "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld. It is exactly what the title promises. It's a romantic comedy about a woman who works as a writer at what's basically "Saturday Night Live," just renamed, and it's a little bit of a quarantine love story, COVID love story.

But because Curtis Sittenfeld is such a beautiful writer, you don't feel cheap reading this. It's not cotton candy. It's like a really good dark chocolate bar. 

NIALA: That's author Rebecca Makkai. We'll link all of her suggestions in our show notes. That's all we've got for you today! I'm Niala Boodhoo, thanks for listening, stay safe and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.

DOT slaps American Airlines with a record-breaking fine

As summer comes to an end , we take a look at airline travel.

Donald Trump

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming on Friday that inflation remains too high. He added that the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates further in the coming months.

The big picture: Mortgage rates are already at a two-decade high and this year has had a record number of media layoffs. Why does this strong economy feel so weak in some areas?

Plus, a racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville leaves three dead. 

Guests: Axios' Neil Irwin and Ina Fried. 

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! It's Monday, August 28. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Here's what you need to know today: A racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville leaves three dead. Plus, AI's web takeover. But first, a reality check on inflation and the economy — that's today's One Big Thing.

JEROME POWELL: Although inflation has moved down from its peak, a welcome development, it remains too high.  

NIALA: That's Fed chair Jerome Powell on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economics Symposium in Wyoming. He added the central bank is prepared to raise rates further, if appropriate. But with mortgage rates already at a two-decade high so far this year, we've also seen a record number of media layoffs. What actually is going on with inflation and the economy? Axios Neil Irwin is here with a reality check. Hey Neil! 

NIALA: So you just got back from Jackson Hole, where Fed Chair Powell warned that inflation is still far too high. What about all the data and all the conversations we've had showing that inflation is receding? 

NEIL: So they're both true. Inflation peaked at 9% in the year ended last June. It's now down to 3.2%. That said, a lot of that decline has come about because of energy prices receding, and that's usually not something that gives you good indicators of what's going to happen in the future. And so what the Fed's worried about is that, yes, we've gotten through that surge of inflation from 2021, 22, but it's settling in at a, it's still a too high rate. It's something like 4 or 5%, not the 2% that they aim for. And that's not good enough for them. So if we keep seeing evidence that that's the case, they're going to keep raising interest rates. 

NIALA: Let's talk about labor. We've seen layoffs across especially tech and news. T-Mobile recently announced 5,000 job cuts. The Texas Tribune laid off 11% of their staff. Where are we still seeing a tight labor market? 

NEIL:  Almost everything else is the real answer. Uh, there is some real weakness in some pockets of the economy and our, our own industry, Niala, is, is one of them, there's some, uh, weakness in housing that we've seen evidence of. But the truth is, the big picture story is still that this is a very strong U.S. labor market across most industries. Wage growth has been strong, especially in kind of lower-wage jobs. That's a sign of tightness in these markets for, you know, restaurant workers, for transportation workers, for, you name it. And that basic narrative hasn't changed. Most of the job market is strong. 

NIALA: Neil, we also haven't seen mortgage rates this high in more than 20 years, What effect is that having? You mentioned the housing market. 

NEIL: Yeah, I mean look, the basic arc of housing has been, it was red hot in 2021, early 22. Then mortgage rates spiked when the Fed started raising rates. There was a bit of a correction and a bit of an easing in the back half of 2022. That really has gone away for the most part. The question is will this latest... leg up in rates change that and we just don't know yet because it's, it's happened very rapidly in the last few weeks. You know, I think it could, I mean 7.5% mortgage rates is quite a number for people who are already strapped with housing affordability. But, uh, you know, the reality is demand for housing is strong, supply has remained constrained. So, the basic imbalance in the housing market is still there. And I will say, it's part of a broader rebalancing going on, where bond markets are starting to say... you know, maybe this high interest rate environment isn't just a temporary thing. Maybe this will be with us for a while. And so that's being filtered into longer-term interest rates, like those you see on mortgages. And that's why there might be another challenge for housing affordability. 

NIALA: Overall, what was the tone that you heard in Wyoming? 

NEIL: Overall, what was definitely a much better feeling than there was a year ago in the sense that they felt that this inflation problem is coming under control. When you hear, you know, the Biden administration talk about this is a robust economy with a strong job market, strong wage growth, and declining inflation, that's accurate. At the same time, it's fair to say that this is a world in which we just don't know whether we're going to start seeing more labor market weakness. We just don't know whether inflation is really... over with or whether there's another wave that we need to worry about. So there are a lot of looming threats out there that could throw that basically optimistic sunny story under the bus. 

NIALA: Neil Irwin is Axios' chief economic correspondent. Thanks, Neil. 

NIALA: Speaking of mortgage rates, we're still interested in hearing your story about whether or not homeownership is even a goal for you anymore? If you can answer that question in a voice memo and text it to me, we'll be using it in future episodes. All of our contact information is in our shownotes.

NIALA: A few more stories to catch you up quick this Monday morning:  A gunman in Jacksonville, Florida killed three Black people on Saturday before taking his own life. The shootings took place at a dollar store near Edward Waters University, a small, historically Black university. Police say the murders were racially motivated.  And, this happened just the day after tens of thousands of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to mark the 60th anniversary of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  A hurricane and storm surge watch has been issued for large sections of Florida's Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, for Idalia, the latest named storm of the season. Severe weather is expected to start on Tuesday. Portions of Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas may also be affected.  And, finally - yesterday Russia gave official confirmation that Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in last week's plane crash. The Russian Investigative Committee said genetic tests have confirmed his identity. Evidence does not suggest that the crash was caused by mechanical or human error, and one former U.S. national security adviser told CBS News Prigozhin's death was probably in retaliation for his attempt at mutiny this past spring.  In a moment: could AI harm us all — and itself?  

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today, I'm Niala Boodhoo. Experts say AI-generated content could account for 90% or more of the information on the internet in just a few years' time, and that could cause problems for just about everybody, including AI companies themselves.

Axios Chief Technology Correspondent, Ina Fried has the story. Ina, generative AI is still in its infancy, and we're already seeing a lot of problems when it comes to writing and original content. What exactly is going on here?

INA FRIED: So already we're seeing sort of this existential crisis in a lot of professions: a lot of people that deal with the types of words and images that these AI engines are really good at creating. So there's writers concerned whether AI is gonna take their jobs. There's commercial artists worried about what Midjourney and DALL-E are cranking out.

But on top of that, we've got a bunch of other societal issues to grapple with. We've written a ton about misinformation as an issue, deep fakes, all these things. But one of the interesting ones is the cost of creating this AI content is so low that it's gonna permeate the web a lot of experts think.

NIALA: And so if the cost of creating AI content is going to permeate the web, what role would humans play?

INA: Well, that's the fascinating thing. I think there is a widespread understanding that there are things that humans provide that we're not gonna be in very good shape if there's less of that. Most of all context and judgment. I've been testing out a ton of these AI tools, and they're really good at synthesizing information, summarizing it, creating follow-up emails, all this stuff. But you know, the one thing they can't do is provide any sort of judgment on the credibility of it. AI is not really, it doesn't have a bullshit detector, to be honest. We're not letting the AI yet write most of the articles. We're not letting it do political analysis. But, the moment we do, I think we're in for a host of new problems, and that's sort of one of the things that we're looking at is what does it mean for society when you have a ton of content that sounds good but was created by a machine that has no inherent judgment capabilities.

NIALA: And do we have any sense that people will change their relationship with the web because of this?

INA: I think that may be inevitable. I think the web will be a very different place if it looks the way experts expect it may. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of sites out there today that are generating not very good content in the pre-generative AI era. And I worry about more convincing-sounding crap, filling the web. And we're also starting to see the early impact of this. There was a study from News Guard that found more than 400 of these sites that were basically taking legitimate news, running it through an AI engine and spitting out new text, which is, again, not as good a news source as the original one. And that's assuming neutral intent. But there is one school of thought that suggests we may actually place a greater value than we have in the past on human-generated content.

NIALA: So how should all of us be approaching all the content on the web now without knowing whether or not it's AI generated?

INA: I think looking for legitimate sources, you know, it's going to put more of a premium on those human-created sites, you know, whether it's the New York Times or CNN or Axios, going to a place where you're comfortable with their editorial standards, you're comfortable that humans are the ones making the judgments.

Look, humans aren't perfect. You can take issue with any of the ones I named. However, there's a big difference between those news organizations and AI-generated regurgitation. So I think it does really place a burden on individuals to really always pay attention to what is the source and double check.

I think the other thing that's really important in the AI era is not to take one answer from anyone as gospel and do additional research, but that's a big ask of society.

NIALA: Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried. Thanks, Ina.

NIALA: That's it for us today! I'm Niala Boodhoo. Thanks for listening. Stay safe, and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. 

racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville

A reality check on inflation and the economy

Why this strong economy feels weak in some areas.

Inflation

Former President Trump turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail on Thursday evening. Trump was booked on 13 state felony charges for his interference in the 2020 election.

The big picture: All this is happening against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election. Even though Trump wasn't at the first GOP primary debate on Wednesday night, he dominated the conversation. We look at the state of play for the GOP presidential nominees.

Guests: Axios' Erin Doherty and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Tamar Hallerman.

Credits: Axios Today was produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi, Robin Linn, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!

Today, the state of play with GOP presidential nominees. Plus, the rise of right-wing pop music.

But first, former President Trump surrenders in Georgia. That's today's One Big Thing.

NIALA: Former President Donald Trump turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail yesterday evening for his fourth arrest this year.

This time he was booked on 13 state felony charges for his interference in the 2020 presidential election. Tamar Hellerman from the Atlanta Journal Constitution has been covering this story since the beginning. Hi Tamar, welcome to Axios Today

NIALA: Tamar, what has it been like in Atlanta for this arrest?

TAMAR: It's really felt like a circus on the ground here in Atlanta. There's a flood of national media that's been here since the indictment and really hasn't left. And then in recent days, the crowd has moved over to the Fulton County Jail, which is in a more low-income and industrial part of the city in Northwest Atlanta. And then when Trump came in, media from all over the world, protesters, supporters of the president who wanted to show that they felt like this was a partisan witch hunt and counter-protesters who feel like they're elated that there's some accountability for the former president.

NIALA: Tamar, is the process the former president went through the same as everyone else's who goes through that jail?

TAMAR: Yes and no. On the one hand, he did have a medical test, he had to deal with the issue of bond, he was fingerprinted and there was a mugshot. But at the same time, having Secret Service protection and a motorcade coming from your private plane with your name on it is not something that your normal person is going to go through. There's also usually quite a bit of a wait for people who are getting booked at this jail. They're waiting in a really crowded room filled with plenty of other people who are going through the same thing. Not the case for the former president. It helps when you have Secret Service helping negotiate on your behalf. And being able to set the terms of all of this in prime time, so that the world would be watching with you and following in helicopters and drones. That is certainly unique.

NIALA: The Fulton County Superior Court judge set a trial date yesterday as well. What's important about that?

TAMAR: Well, earlier this week, we saw Ken Chesebro, who was one of the defendants indicted alongside Donald Trump, issued a speedy trial demand, essentially, Chesebro was daring Fannie Willis. Are you ready to do this? And it turns out the DA said, yes, I'm ready to do this. And she proposed October 23rd as a potential trial date, not only for Chesebro but for all 19 defendants. Well, the judge just came back yesterday, and said, we'll do October 23rd, but only for Kenneth Chesebro. So that puts that case on a really expedited timeline. It's unclear what's going to happen with these 18 other defendants. Many of them, especially former President Trump, want this to go slow, very slow. So we could see more shenanigans in terms of folks trying to delay or even some trying to push things forward fast.

NIALA: Tamar, there's so many different elements of this case. What are you watching for next?

TAMAR: Well, I'm watching specifically to see what happens with this effort from a couple of the defendants, including Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, and two others to try and move their portions of this case from Fulton County Court to federal court. And, first of all, doing that could delay proceedings a bit, but more than anything, they feel like it gets them more favorable judges and a more favorable jury pool. Fulton County is a very democratic county. The federal district court, uh, has more conservative counties in its jurisdiction. And I think they're hoping that they'll have a more sympathetic judge who is more likely to argue that they might be immune because folks like Mark Meadows were federal officials. And there will be a hearing on Monday involving Mark Meadows' push to move this to federal court. There's going to be several witnesses called, including Brad Raffensperger, the former Georgia secretary of state. And we're going to hear a lot more from DA Willis about her case against the former chief of staff.

NIALA: The AJC's Tamar Hellerman. Thanks Tamar.

In a moment the winners and losers from this week's GOP debate.

BRET BAIER: We are going to take a brief moment and talk about the elephant not in the room.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY: President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century.

MIKE PENCE: He asked me to put him over the constitution. And uh, I chose the constitution,

NIKKI HALEY: And Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt.

NIALA: A few moments from the first GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee this week, broadcast on Fox News. Former President Trump, of course, wasn't there, but he certainly dominated the conversation. The eight other candidates sparred on stage. How'd they do? Axios politics reporter Erin Doherty is here with the key takeaways.

NIALA: Erin, who were the big winners from Wednesday night's debate?

ERIN: I think the big winner was former President Trump. The big question for him going into the debate was is there going to be any moments on stage where it would have been really helpful and important for him to be there so that he can defend himself against attacks,or assert himself in different policy discussions.

By and large, I think that there weren't many moments where Trump being there for himself would have been necessary so that he can defend his name, and I think the other person who has been dominating conversation since Wednesday night's debate is Vivek Ramaswamy. He's a political newcomer. He entered the presidential campaign with very little name recognition, and he kind of took the role in Wednesday night's debate as the Trump proxy.

VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Let's be honest as Republicans, I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for. So I can say this, the climate change agenda is a hoax.

ERIN: He went on the attack against many of the candidates, and he really positioned himself, as the person who, when Trump isn't there, he has sort of the energy, and desire to kind of take on the Republican establishment.

NIALA: We haven't talked about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been number two in the polls. How did he do?

ERIN: I think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can be pretty happy with his performance on Wednesday night. His team was expecting that he was going to bear a lot of the attacks and criticisms as the second-place candidate. He really didn't get a lot of attacks from his Republican rivals. And while that means that he didn't really have as many viral moments as, say, Ramaswamy did, I think the debate on Wednesday night for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was pretty neutral, and at this point for him, I think that's a good thing going into the fall season.

NIALA: Does the discussion on Wednesday night give us another sense of what Trumpism looks like without Donald Trump?

ERIN: Former President Trump's presence on stage was felt, it was impossible to watch Wednesday night's debate without the kind of looming backdrop of Trump's various legal troubles. When asked by the Fox News debate moderators whether they would support former President Trump if he is convicted, the majority of the candidates on stage all said that they would, with the exception of, former governors Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, who are both, well-known Trump critics and have criticized the former president in the past pretty harshly.

NIALA: Given that looming presence, what is the state of play for the field for Republican nominees for president?

ERIN: The state of play right now is that while there were some good moments for a bunch of the candidates on stage Wednesday night, all of that is unlikely to change that Donald Trump is entering the fall as the clear frontrunner in the very crowded race for the Republican nomination. I am not expecting Wednesday night's debate to be something that really changed the fundamental dynamics of the race.

NIALA: Erin Doherty is a politics reporter for Axios covering breaking news in the 2024 election. Thanks, Erin.

If you tuned into this week's GOP debate, you may have heard this song that kicked it off on Fox News.

That's "Rich Men North of Richmond" by Oliver Anthony. It's reached number 1 on the charts, beating out the likes of Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. And it's just one of many signs of a growing populist pop culture movement, reports Axios' Stef Kight and Sara Fischer.

Another recent hit is Jason Aldean's controversial song "Try That in a Small Town," which takes a shot at crime in cities.

One key to these songs' success? A thumbs down from mainstream media and left-leaning groups. That kind of judgment only nudges tracks higher in the charts. And engages voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

That's all for this week. Axios Today is produced by Fonda Mwangi, Lydia McMullen-Laird and Robin Linn, along with our sound engineer Alex Sugiura. Alexandra Botti is our supervising producer. Sara Kehaulani Goo is Axios' editor in chief. Aja Whitaker Moore is Axios' Executive Editor.

I'm Niala Boodhoo. Stay safe, enjoy your weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday.

Trump surrenders in Georgia

Trump was booked on 13 state felony charges for his interference in the 2020 election.

Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, killing all 10 passengers according to Russian authorities.

The big picture: In June, Prigozhin led a rebellion against the Russian military leadership. It was seen as the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule since he came to power more than two decades ago. We take a deeper look at the plane crash and what it means for Russian forces.

Plus, India becomes the latest to land on the Moon.

And, the FCC's attempt to regulate the cost of prison phone calls.

Guests: Axios' Miriam Kramer and Maria Curi; The Washington Post's Missy Ryan.

Here's what you need to know today: India becomes the latest country to land on the Moon. Plus, the FCC's attempt to regulate the cost of prison phone calls.

But first, today's One Big Thing: A mysterious plane crash in Russia.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed north of Moscow yesterday, killing all 10 passengers on board, according to Russian authorities.

This crash is the latest in the drama and intrigue related to the Wagner mercenary force and its boss' relationship with Vladimir Putin.

We caught up with Washington Post reporter Missy Ryan last night to help make sense of this. Hi Missy, welcome to Axios Today.

NIALA: At this point, what do we know about this crash?

MISSY: Russian authorities are saying that a aircraft, a private aircraft, associated with Wagner crashed shortly after takeoff outside of Moscow, and that, according to Russian authorities, all 10 people on the aircraft died, and that Prigozhin was one of the names listed on the manifest. So, when you think about the impact of this possible death of Prigozhin, what can we conclude from the fact that everybody is assuming that Putin did try to take out Prigozhin, whether or not that was true, I think it says something about how modern Russia operates.

NIALA: Missy, what are you hearing from your sources inside the State Department about how the U.S. is perceiving all of this right now?

MISSY: Well, what we've been told by Biden administration officials in the last few hours is that they really don't have much information at this stage. You know, you had the spokesperson for the National Security Council come out and say that if it was an attempt on Prigozhin's life, it wouldn't be surprising. That's very much in keeping with what Bill Burns and President Biden have said in the past. I think one of the important things to remember is that even if the Russian government comes out and says that Prigozhin is dead or is not dead, I think, just goes to show the lack of trust that the international community has with the Russian regime at this point.

NIALA: Right. And given all of that uncertainty around this, Missy, how should we be trying to interpret this news?

MISSY: I think that the bottom line is, number one, this is another indication that Wagner's moment is most likely over. And that has implications for Russia's influence beyond its borders, especially in some of these vulnerable places like Syria, Libya, different parts of Africa, where Wagner has been active, and Russia would like to play an increased role.

And then the second point is an indication of the severity of the Challenge that Putin may face, whether it's that he had to go to the lengths of assassinating an opponent or a challenger, that tells you something. So I think it is an indication of Putin's attempt to keep this tight grip on power at a moment of real vulnerability because of what the war in Ukraine has shown us.

NIALA: Missy Ryan writes about diplomacy, national security, and the State Department for the Washington Post. Thanks, Missy.

NIALA: After the break, India joins the race to the Moon.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo. India made history yesterday and landed its first space mission on the Moon. This came after a Russian spacecraft crashed into the Moon on Sunday ahead of its own landing attempt. And all of this is happening as we're looking more and more to the Moon and what we can learn from it and even how we can make money.

Here to help us dig deeper is Axios senior space reporter, Miriam Kramer. Hi Miriam.

NIALA: So Miriam, let's start with India. How big of an accomplishment is this?

MIRIAM: It's a huge deal. India is now only the fourth nation to successfully soft land a spacecraft on the Moon. I mean, it's a pretty big moment. Like, this country has been working toward becoming a major player in space for many, many years, and this just vaults them into, you know, a new category.

NIALA: And do we know what happened with Russia this past weekend?

MIRIAM: Yes, we have some idea. Ahead of the landing attempt, the spacecraft, Luna 25, was executing this engine burn. And instead of cutting off when it was supposed to, it just kept right on burning. It crashed into the Moon and then Russia put out a statement basically saying that the spacecraft ceased to exist on the lunar surface.

NIALA: Why so much interest in the Moon right now?

MIRIAM: Well, it's kind of a proving ground. A lot of different nations have a variety of ambitions on the Moon. I mean, the U.S. has said that they want to establish this sustained presence on the lunar surface of crewed missions. You need robotic missions to go and kind of scout things out first. China is also planning on landing people on the Moon within the next decade or so. And we're just seeing a lot of interest in part because it's just a pretty nearby object. I mean, it's only three days away at the fastest speeds. And that makes it really appealing. There's a lot of pride wrapped up in being able to send something to the Moon.

NIALA: If people are planning to try to make money on the Moon, how do we figure out who gets access and control? Is it whoever gets there first?

MIRIAM: That's a complicated question, But the basics of it are that according to the Outer Space Treaty, which is sort of the document that kind of governs peaceful uses of outer space, you can't claim an object as yours, like the U.S. can't go to the Moon and say, this is ours now, like no one else can come here. But it's OK to put your own stuff on the Moon and kind of say that, hey, like, don't mess with our things in this particular area of the Moon. There's also these questions about, like, there are these companies who want to mine the Moon for resources, maybe extracting water or grabbing elements, whatever it might be. And so there are going to be some really interesting and potentially thorny questions about whether they have a right to actually mine the surface of the Moon, to bring their own materials up there, use them. It's, it's going to be a kind of interesting moment.

NIALA: So what are you watching for next in, are we calling this Moon politics?

Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin listed aboard deadly plane crash

In June, he led a rebellion against the Russian military leadership.

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