CPAC is the biggest event in the MAGA calendar. Last year, it was a triumphant celebration of the total victory of the America First project. Donald Trump basked in the adulation. Elon Musk wielded a chainsaw and laughed maniacally.

This year, something feels different. The President, who has spoken at each conference for the past decade, is suggesting he's staying away this time. The war in Iran has got attendees feeling uneasy, even confused - what happened to the man who promised no more foreign intervention?

And there's a wider malaise. Trump is polling at an all-time low. The Republicans look like they're heading for a hammering in the midterm elections. Their grip on cultural and political domination - which just 12 months ago looked complete - is now weakening. You won't hear much talk of a Trump third term in Dallas any more.

The sunny optimism of MAGA has been replaced by something darker. There is increasing focus on a new enemy - Islam and Islamism. It's helping the base reframe and justify the attack on Iran; one event is literally titled 'MAGA vs. Mullah Madness'. It's helping them sustain an argument about the decline of Europe and the threat of the Democrats. And it's helping a very strange mix of characters stay relevant and keep the bookings coming in.

Liz Truss was at the Gaylord Convention Center telling a packed out crowd about the horrors of 'Europestan'. Is it any wonder that MAGA hates Britain?

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The fan phenomenon of ‘Ultras’ has taken Scotland by storm… TIFO’s, flares and drums - like we’re used to seeing in Europe - popping up everywhere from the Old Firm right down to the 4th division.

So can this sub-culture be a force for good in an online sphere dominated by the ‘manosphere’ or is it actually just another mask for something more sinister?

Gabby & Mark are joined by Andy Hughes, host of The Crime Agents - who has spent time undercover reporting on football hooliganism in England, and Blair McNally - who has amassed millions of views online documenting Scottish ultras.

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Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Producers: Sophie Penney & George Sexton-Kerr

Video Producer: Sam Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Jasmine Wissart

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global

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Donald Trump has urged Iran to “get serious” about reaching an agreement before it is “too late”. It’s nice having a world leader who takes peace so seriously. It’s just a shame Iran no longer believes a word he says. They’ve laughed at his fifteen point plan and insisted the Straits of Hormuz remain operational only to friendly traffic.

NATO’s general secretary is trying to encourage member countries to get behind Trump’s plan to smooth the wheels. We talk to an Iranian activist about why this conflict has made regime change much harder for protestors and ordinary Iranians.

Later, the government is changing the rules on politicalDonations to stop foreign interference. And we dig a little deeper with one government minister into those missing McSweeney messages...

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The Met police took the unusual step of publishing a full transcript of a phone call that took place last October between Keir starmers chief of staff Morgan Mcsweeny and the 999 emergency services. In the call Morgan says his phone has been stolen out of his hand by a young man on a bike. He tells them it is a government device but doesn’t explain what his own role is or whether the material on it maybe confidential.

Why does any of this matter? Because the phone in question contained key messages between McSweeney and Peter Mandelson in the lead up to his appointment as ambassador to the United States.

Will we ever get to the truth of what happened between them? Will the public get past the “convenience“ of an apparently stolen phone? And were ministers sent out to fudge the truth on Morgan’s behalf as recently as this weekend?

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"Unusual activity" was observed on the main US stock market just fifteen minutes before Donald Trump went public with the sudden and unexpected news that he would stop striking Iranian energy sites and talks with Tehran were apparently going well. Trading volumes were up to six times higher than normal - with oil futures seeing a sudden flurry of activity in the moments before Trump broke that news.

More than half a billion dollars was netted in that brief window, but it's not clear how. Experts and analysts are sounding the alarm about the activity - could some people close to Trump have known what was coming and gone straight to the market to place their bets? Why are Trump allies blocking investigators from looking into the Trump family and their allies? And what does this mean for the much bigger question of where the plans for peace actually stand ?

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It's a funny old world when you have to check with Iran’s state TV before you know if the US president is telling the truth. In a post early this morning - just as the markets opened - Trump declared he’d had productive discussions to end with war with Iran. An hour later Tehran flatly contradicted him. But by then there had already been a market rally putting two trillion dollars back into the system. So what’s going on: Has Trump had enough of war? Has he had stern words from his Gulf allies? Or is he just trying to manipulate the price of oil?

Later, Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle on how to do business with America in the age of Trump and whether he’d call his actions "erratic".

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It can be hard to decipher the reasons behind the US-Israeli decision to strike Iran. With a flurry of hyperbolic - often contradictory - statements from the American leadership, the objectives, the progress, and the endgame of this war are not much clearer three weeks into it.

But Donald Trump has turned to one man to make the case for this war in a way he could never enunciate. Dr Muhanad Seloom has cut a somewhat isolated figure in the defence world outside of MAGA. An international security academic, he has been arguing that Trump's war is succeeding. Trump obviously likes what he is saying. The President posted Seloon's argument on Truth Social, with the caption: 'The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why'.

Lewis spoke to Dr Seloom from Doha to try and understand what the thinking might just be in the White House and what success would look like for America - with more and more voices sounding the alarm about the consequences of its failure.

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It has been like the longest VAR ruling in history… the match finished two months ago, the Africa Cup of Nations trophy was presented, the considerable celebrations and recriminations were complete.

And then, just as some last-16 Champions League fixtures were finishing on Tuesday night, a communication dropped from CAF.

Senegal had actually forfeited the match by staging their now infamous walk-off and Morocco are AFCON champions via a technicality.

But why has this taken so long? Can you really strip a country of a title? And what happens next?

Former Sierra Leone captain Steven Caulker and Co Host of the ‘On The Whistle’ podcast, Zayn Naabi both join Gabby and Mark.

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📥 Email: thesportsagents@global.com

Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Producer: Sophie Penney

Producer: George Sexton-Kerr

Video Producer: Sam Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Calum Scotland

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The Sports Agents".

👕 The Sports Agents have merch! You can buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-sports-agents