By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers.
We could easily dismiss President Donald Trump’s outlandish lies about American elections as just more daft chum for his chud army. After all, we can boil down his theory this way: Somehow his own first-term government allowed election interference that cost him reelection, but then Joe Biden and the Democrats forgot to rig the 2024 election.
Tom Nichols has a sober debunking (gift link) of the claims made during Trump’s nationally-televised address Thursday. Trump’s claims are not supported by the very documents the White House released.
And the claims were apparently drawn up with the help of a right-wing activist pretending to be a journalist, John Solomon, whose disgraceful history you can read about here.
So, sure, it’s the usual foolishness, but there’s something far more sinister going on.
Trump is casting doubt on our elections to lay the predicate for continued and ever-deepening federal intervention into what is supposed to be a state and local responsibility, and we all know why he wants to do that. From his very first high-profile election — the 2016 Iowa caucus — his general rule is that if he loses the election, it was fixed, and if he wins, it was the greatest victory in history.
In response, Doran Schrantz, former executive director of Minnesota progressive ecumenical group ISAIAH, prepared a memo for civil society groups that lays out how to prepare.
It’s among the most compelling modern political documents that I’ve ever read.
State leaders, the memo reads, need “a rigorous, ground-level understanding of the macro threat landscape, the specific vulnerabilities of their state’s election administration system, and a genuine power analysis of the people and institutions inside it.”
Fresh off their experience of Operation Metro Surge, civil society leaders here are trying to help their colleagues in 19 states to get ready for whatever is coming.
And here’s our D.C. bureau’s writeup of the speech.
A hot hazy day in Minneapolis, July 15, 2026. Wildfire smoke moved south from fires in northeastern Minnesota and Canada. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Alyssa Chen
Smoke from out-of-control wildfires in northern Minnesota and Canada continued to migrate south Thursday, leading to hazardous air quality levels in much of Minnesota. Air quality improved somewhat in the southern and western parts of the state Friday but continued to be hazardous in northeastern Minnesota.
Thursday was the first time on record that the Twin Cities metro area has seen a “hazardous” air quality designation, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said.
In recent years, wildfires have become more extreme, thanks to largely human-caused climate change and, seemingly paradoxically, the historical practice of putting out fires immediately, which leads to fuel buildup. That’s led to more wildfire smoke in Minnesota in recent years, reversing hard-earned improvements in air pollution.
By Ria Gupta
The Minneapolis City Council declined to sign a contract Thursday with Skydio, a California-based drone company, over concerns it sold its products to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The contract would have allowed the Minneapolis Police Department a 75-day free trial to operate Skydio drones in north Minneapolis as part of an effort to reduce law enforcement response times as the department struggles with staffing shortages.
Before the motion failed 6-6, City Council Member Aurin Chowdhury called the proposal an “an abysmal mistake, and nothing is free. This costs the trust of our residents.”
IN OTHER NEWS
US House panel approves $95B GOP-only budget blueprint | Reformer via States Newsroom
Indigenous violence survivors see fewer services after federal cuts | Reformer via Stateline
AI is running on borrowed money | New York Times gift link
OH BY THE WAY
I’d like to say we taught Aaron Brown, a former Reformer regular contributor, how to land a good essay, but I’d be lying. He was a great collaborator, but his pieces came in almost always fully baked.
He’s written an important piece for the Star Tribune today about remembering the folks who actually live in the fire zone, featuring a woman who escaped a May forest fire in the nick of time. Here’s a gift link.
“After a bad storm, cabin owners jump into the chat asking about their seasonal properties while year-round residents are still without electricity, clearing trees from roads and assessing damage to our homes. Though no harm is intended, it’s very frustrating when you’re in the thick of a disaster….
‘I’m trying to focus on watching it come back,’ said Catherine Conlan. ‘There is joy in that, and just a lot of beauty in that. But it has changed, and that’s how it is from now on.’
The same might be said of the rising fire danger in Minnesota, where ecology and climate change are altering lives, even today. If this is how it will be, let us all remember that people live here, and that the road back from disaster is more than just a vacation route.”
Brett Ortler, a Minnesota writer, sent me a poem of his, “The Smoke from Distant Fires” that’s timely this week. Here’s a piece of it:
On the water, you might be able to spot the sun.
If the veil of smoke lets up, the flat red disk
limps across the horizon,
but its reflection on the water is something else—
a bright wavering flame,
a warning that what is coming
is already here.
Music discovery this week: Purple Mountains and “That’s Just the Way That I Feel.” Dark but funny!
Have a great weekend all! JPC
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