This morning we’re all talking about Trump’s attempt to reconstruct the entire political system around his need to soothe his ego by making his humiliating 2020 loss go away. We should be talking about this titanic natural disaster in Duluth, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, and NYC.

Here is the AirNow.gov map for the Northeast, with legend and timestamp. Do not go outside without an N95 mask in this zone. Get HEPA filters for your home. This disaster is driven by the climate collapse. And even now the Trump regime is paying billions to stop wind and solar energy projects.

While the President of the United States tried to persuade Americans their votes don’t matter, a stunning climate-driven disaster—a colossal smoke event from wildfires in Minnesota & Canada—spreads to the Atlantic coast. These are PurpleAir readings around Duluth, touted as a climate refuge. Lethal.

Here's the legend for the color coding. The brown is for the worst levels they measure. Each hour you spend outside in that level of air pollution can reduce your life expectancy.

In less than an hour, the President of the United States will use a primetime address to lie about an election he lost and unleash who knows what horrors against democracy. This is what he should speak about. The climate crisis has unleashed a tsunami of deadly air across the U.S. See airnow.gov.

Hats off to Forbes. This could have been simply a political story (White House defends anti-immigration policies) or a story on ideological meddling with the Smithsonian. But the journalists cited a study of how the Chinese Exclusion Act gravely harmed the economy, an implicit lesson for today.

Not sure what is more Trumpy: Turning the U.S. military into a rent-a-cop/protection racket, or getting us all to talk about fees for a service he has absolutely no means of providing, i.e., escorting ships safely through the Strait.

Our story so far: • Trump goes to war with Iran, declaring it will surrender before closing the Strait of Hormuz. • Iran closes Strait. • Trump signs MOU, recognizing Iran's *new* control of the Strait. • Trump restarts war when Iran asserts that control. Trump's policy process in one image:

Kash Patel is going to announce that the FBI found the killer.

A word on the historian Mike Wallace, who died recently. We only met once, but his work is deep in the bones of mine and that of so many. He mastered the life of New York from kingpins in Fifth Avenue mansions to pigs foraging in Five Points gutters. We've lost a great scholar *and* a great writer.

One of my favorite portraits of TR is Edith Wharton's in her memoir, "A Backward Glance." It explains why I find him so likable, though I am fully aware of his flaws. They became pals when he offered a lot of thoughts on "The Valley of Decision." She told him he was wrong. He laughed and agreed.

Excerpt from a letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Kermit Roosevelt about his cat in the White House, Tom Quartz, January 8, 1903. Happy Caturday!

Trump's vain identification with Theodore Roosevelt is insane. TR was an institution-builder. He fought to reform the civil service, create democracy-based (not corruption-based) politics, and build government's administrative capacity. He started the project of regulating big corporations. Even...

I have been married twenty years to this amazing woman. And I have now been in California, where I never imagined living before I met her, just as long as I lived in the City of New York. Damn the years go by fast.

So what BS is Trump talking about today instead of this mess he made? (From the Wall Street Journal.)

This is not to resuscitate Custer's reputation. He was a volatile, polarizing person who lived on the cusp of changes that helped to make modern America. He carried out war crimes on orders he never thought to protest. He earned controversy. But he could fight. His defeat was a Native triumph. 21/21

But we needn't speculate. Sheridan explicitly told Terry that A) Terry's column alone (comprising mainly the 7th Cavalry) had enough troops to fight all the Lakotas in the field. B) He only hoped the Lakotas would stick together long enough for a battle. He stressed that they'd soon disperse. 15/

Sheridan sent fork-bearded Gen. Crook with a column from the south, and Gen. Terry from the north. Terry accompanied Custer & the 7th Cavalry & other troops from Fort Abraham Lincoln, & met up with another column under Col. Gibbon from Montana. Unknown to Terry, the Natives attacked Crook. 10/

...from a big collection of people & animals meant they could not stay together long. Gen. Sheridan, overall commander, knew this. He hoped to hit them while they were together, but figured multiple columns would be necessary to seize all the resisters. His goal was to capture the population. 9/

The Army received critical aid & guidance from Native auxiliaries or "scouts" from nations that were at war with those the United States was fighting. In 1873 and 1876, Crow and Arikara scouts were crucial. Custer relied on, e.g., Bloody Knife, an Arikara warrior raised with the Hunkpapas. 7/

Charge (2) doesn't hold up either. Custer did not know as much as he thought, undoubtedly. But he avoided an ambush in 1873 by Lakota warriors because had studied the "Fetterman Massacre" in Red Cloud's War. In that battle and another in 1873, he handled his men with discretion amid great peril. 6/

First, accusation (1): Custer craved attention, but I've never seen evidence it affected his tactical decisions. Custer was both badly flawed AND was a talented combat commander. Fighting skill is not a moral virtue. His ability to fight saved him from professional disasters of his own making. 5/

June 25 is the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the greatest defeat of the U.S. Army by Native people in the late 19th century. The Lakotas, Cheyennes, & allies, led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, & others, killed Lt. Col. Custer & 200+ men. Some thoughts on the battle. 1/🧵

This week in Very Stable Geniusing: “We’ll drop bombs right in the middle of your head AND HERE’S A LOT OF MONEY!”

The most progressive, like President Grant, wanted to treat Natives well—but to eliminate any ground for them to stand apart. He wanted Native citizens, not Native nations. To further assimilation, he assigned Christian missionaries as federal agents to tribes. Read his 1st inaugural address: 10/

June 25 marks the 150th anniversary of Custer's death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. No matter how you think about it, you're probably wrong. I received a Pulitzer for "Custer's Trials," yet no one's asking my opinion. That should tell me something. Still, here's how to understand it. 1/🧵

This disastrous Trump administration would never have happened if Trump were president.

This Reflecting Pool fiasco would never have happened if Trump were president.

This stupid war would never have happened if Trump were president.