Morning Brief: Democrat Post-Mortem, Sanctuary Cities Under Fire & Colbert Canceled

A new DNC post-mortem on the 2024 election loss reportedly avoids blaming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The shooting of an off-duty Border Patrol agent in New York City by an illegal immigrant intensifies criticism of sanctuary city policies. CBS cancels Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” sparking a debate over whether the decision was driven by finances or politics.

It’s Tuesday, July 22, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Democrats’ 2024 Post-Mortem Misses The Mark

Topline: A forthcoming DNC post-mortem report on the 2024 election is reportedly avoiding criticism of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, instead blaming outside groups for the loss.

One year after then-President Biden dropped out of the presidential race, the Democratic Party is still analyzing its 2024 election defeat. According to a report from The New York Times, the DNC’s official post-mortem, compiled after interviews with over 200 campaign officials, deliberately avoids key factors in Democrats’ loss. These include whether Biden should have run for re-election, the timing of his withdrawal from the race, and whether Harris was the right replacement for the ticket. Harris’s campaign strategy, such as framing the election as a battle for democracy against fascism, is also reportedly not being scrutinized.

Longtime Democratic strategist Doug Schoen told Morning Wire that the report is “myopic in the extreme… if you don’t focus on Joe Biden and his cognitive decline and the fact that he was not prepared to run much less even govern, I think you’re missing the point.” Schoen added that “Kamala Harris was so ill-prepared that with the expenditure of over a billion dollars, she actually lost votes, not gained votes.”

Instead of examining the candidates, the DNC report is said to place most of the blame on outside groups like the Future Forward PAC, the party’s main Super PAC. The DNC claims the PAC spent too much on advertising and not enough on grassroots organizing. However, the PAC disputes this, noting that the vast majority of its advertising budget was spent attacking Donald Trump, with only 13% used for positive ads about Harris.

The post-mortem comes amid a broader identity crisis for the Democratic Party, which has seen its favorability drop to 28%, the lowest number in the history of CNN’s polling. The party is also facing a severe fundraising shortfall, with the RNC holding an $80 million war chest compared to the DNC’s $15 million. For the 2026 midterms, polling of generic ballots shows Democrats with only a two-point advantage, a smaller margin than in previous cycles against an incumbent president — in most midterms the party in power loses seats.

Sanctuary Cities Under Fire After Officer Shot

Topline: The shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent in New York City by an alleged illegal alien has prompted Trump administration officials to threaten a crackdown on sanctuary cities.

The shooting occurred in a park in Upper Manhattan on Saturday night when two men on a moped attempted to rob the off-duty agent and his friend. According to the NYPD, the agent drew his service weapon after the suspect drew a gun, but the assailant fired first, hitting the agent in the cheek and forearm. The agent returned fire, striking the suspect in the chest before the suspects fled.

Both suspects have since been arrested.

The alleged shooter is an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic who was previously deported. He was arrested at the southern border in 2023 and released into the country under the Biden administration. He is also wanted for armed robbery in Massachusetts and has been charged with kidnapping and witness intimidation in New York. The second suspect is also a Dominican national who entered the country illegally and has an order for deportation.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed sanctuary city policies for the attack, saying there is “zero reason why someone who is scum of the earth like this should be running loose.” 

Border czar Tom Homan called sanctuary cities “sanctuaries for criminals” and warned that if local officials do not cooperate with federal law enforcement, ICE will “flood the zone” with more agents.

The incident has drawn further attention to the policies of leaders in sanctuary jurisdictions. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) recently refused to say whether any illegal aliens in her city should be deported. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has personally solicited funds for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, an anti-ICE group that seeks to defund police and has launched a bail fund for illegal aliens arrested by ICE.

CBS Cancels Colbert’s ‘Late Show’

Topline: CBS has canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” citing financial reasons, though the move follows shortly after Colbert publicly criticized his parent company for settling a lawsuit with President Trump.

Last week, CBS announced that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” would end its run in May 2026, stating the decision was “purely financial.” The cancellation came just days after Colbert used his monologue to slam parent company Paramount Global for paying a $16 million settlement to President Trump. The lawsuit stemmed from a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump’s team claimed was deceptively edited. Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe,” suggesting it was connected to Paramount’s effort to get FCC approval for a merger.

While the timing has fueled speculation that his comments led to the cancellation, film critic Christian Toto told Morning Wire that the show’s financial troubles are a more likely cause. “There were multiple reports saying they cost CBS more than $40 million,” Toto said, noting the general decline in late-night television revenue. He argued that the show’s primary goal was no longer to be funny but to push a political agenda, which “aggressively repelled more than half the country.”

Toto pointed to segments like Colbert’s “Vax Scene” with dancing syringes and his relentless focus on the “Russian collusion situation” as examples of cringeworthy moments that alienated viewers. He also noted that Colbert’s show, while the highest-rated among left-leaning late-night programs with just under 2 million viewers, is dominated by Fox News’ “Gutfeld!,” which draws 3 million nightly viewers and a younger demographic. Toto suggests that podcasts and YouTube shows from comedians like Tim Dillon are becoming the “new late night.”