The Daily Brief
Today
Good morning. President Trump used the opening night of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas to pledge a $5,000 payment to every American adult if the GOP keeps control of the House and Senate — the latest in a string of cash promises he has dangled before voters, and one that drew bipartisan criticism even as Democratic Sen. John Fetterman made a surprise video appearance. Bond markets registered the cost: the 10-year Treasury yield closed at roughly 4.96 percent, while the 30-year yield climbed to roughly 5.3 percent — a bill workers and borrowers will keep paying long after the votes are counted.
At the same convention, Trump was torched for joking that he wanted the nation's highest military honor for himself while honoring Global War on Terrorism Medal of Honor recipients at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas — a remark critics called "insulting," a fitting emblem of a politics that treats sacrifice as a punchline and votes as a purchase.
On the wars this administration keeps funding, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) argued Congress has the constitutional authority to end the war with Iran, a conflict he said is already costing hundreds of billions of dollars and driving up energy prices, while conceding the US cannot permanently prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Even so, the Treasury this week issued sweeping new sanctions targeting Iran's airlines, and Vance privately gathered unvarnished views of the war. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, said allegations that Netanyahu ignored warnings before October 7 amount to a "failure of leadership."
At home, the same government that dangles cash at every American adult left thousands of Salvadoran immigrants in limbo after it failed to decide by a Wednesday deadline whether to extend or terminate their longtime protections against deportation, and it now faces a lawsuit arguing federal agencies are illegally surveilling and intimidating people who try to peacefully observe immigration enforcement. The bribe is for voters; for migrant workers, uncertainty and the watchtower.
Zoom out: As Republicans opened their midterm convention in Dallas, Trump dangled a $5,000 payment contingent on the GOP holding Congress, a pledge that drew bipartisan criticism as bond yields ticked up.