The Daily Brief
Today
Good morning. A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, hitting him at least once in the torso and leaving him in serious but stable condition. A local official said the ICE officer rammed the man's car, then got out and opened fire at least five times. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the man was shot on the city's north side, and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson gave his condition at a press conference. This is what the administration's deportation machine looks like on the ground: an armed agent ramming a car and emptying rounds into a man on a city street.
The administration is losing support before the midterms, and its own party is breaking with it — up to a point. Monae Johnson, South Dakota's Republican secretary of state, has endorsed a Democrat to succeed her, the latest Republican incumbent to speak out against conservative candidates as Trump loses ground. On Fox News, Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) tried to sell voters on backing Republicans with a wild claim that instantly backfired. But the breaks are cosmetic: after a Texas Railroad Commission nominee's racist post, several Republicans condemned it while others distanced themselves without withdrawing their endorsements.
The pressure is coming from inside, too. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley pressed Trump to embargo diesel exports amid high fuel prices, pointing to the agricultural embargoes presidents used in the 1970s. Trump, meanwhile, is banning CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House as his presidency falters. Abroad, his own UN envoy has quietly decided the body has its uses, a year after Trump derided it as a worthless institution that "wasn't there for us."
And the war grinds on: Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Moscow and its surrounding regions Sunday as Russian voters cast ballots on the final day of parliamentary elections.
Zoom out: Republican incumbents are breaking ranks as Trump loses support before the midterms, even as the administration's deportation machine leaves a man shot and wounded on an Austin street.