Wondering on Wednesday (v209)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

It's a busy slate of wonderment tonight, so let's dive right in.

Apparently much of Twitter was wondering what inspired Senator Lindsey Graham (R-White House) to dye his hair blonde... a suspiciously Trumpian shade of blonde. Photos are included in the Raw Story article I've linked here, just so you know.

Most folks know that the president had a couple of tweets flagged with a 'fact-check' marker, which drove Trump nuts, and then had a racist, dog-whistling, violence-promoting tweet  tucked behind a 'click-to-view' button. And, I learned, there's a Twitter account,  @SuspendThePres, that was re-tweeting everything the president tweeted and that account was temporarily suspended, after less than three days of 'Trumping.' And the tweet that did them in? Yeah, that racist, dog-whistling, violence-promoting one.

Trump's original tweet is still up, albeit hidden behind a warning, and he remains active on Twitter. In contrast, SuspendThePres' account was suspended for posting the same statement, rendering them unable to tweet, retweet, follow other accounts, or like any posts.  

So - if you're wondering - the president, who is clamping down on social media companies like Twitter, violates social medial platform standards, but is not suspended. But if you or I tweet exactly the same thing as Trump, we will be suspended.

A lot of people have been wondering what happened to the coronavirus pandemic, since no one's talking about it anymore. It' been pushed off the front page by protests, but have no fear - it's still a 'thing' and it's still a risk. According to the Worldometers coronavirus info page, as of 8:32 PM my time (12:32 AM GMT), there have been 6,566,476 cases and 387,878 deaths worldwide. And yesterday, in the US, we added 20,578 new cases and 1,083 deaths.

And one more thing on that: the president repeatedly says we have done more tests than any other country, but he normally bases that the sheer number we've done, which of course does not allow for comparing us and other countries. And, in case you're wondering, there are many countries that are doing (or have done) more tests per million people than us, which is something that he doesn't like and chooses to ignore.  Among them? Russia. Spain. Denmark. United Arab Emirates. Ireland. The UK. Israel. Latvia. Estonia. Australia...

What else is going on?  Well, of course, we had the response from the DC Episcopal bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde ,to the presidents bizarre photo op at St. John's, and the DC Catholic Bishop, Wilton Gregory, for Trump's visit to the St. John Paul II National Shrine. Those were, shall we say, less than positive.

And maybe you were wondering, where are the president's supporters on this? Have no fear - there are a couple of folks willing to defend him. For example, one-time presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said that it was "Hard to imagine any other president walking out of the White House like" Trump did, with his entourage, police in riot gear, and protesters moved out of the way. And there was Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was even more effusive in her former boss's defense.  She said, in part,

The president, standing up in front of the country, holding a Bible, standing before a church, that's a sign of courageous leadership. And that's the type of leadership that we need. 

Meanwhile, for what it's worth, Joe Biden met with protesters in Delaware,  met with black faith leaders, spoke with local leaders in Philadelphia, and reminded us this election is "a battle for the soul of our nation."

Others speaking out? Lots of military types. 

• Former Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mike Mullen (Ret.), who said, among other things, "our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so;" American cities "are not 'battle spaces' to be dominated, and must never become so;' and "This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership."
• Adm. James Stavridis (Ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, who said, in part,  "Here in these United States, we built laws, customs, and traditions that focus on the appropriate use of the military outside the country. The idea of “boots on the ground” and “dominating the battlespace” in our American cities is anathema to America."
• Former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Martin Dempsey (Ret.), who tweeted "America’s military, our sons and daughters, will place themselves at risk to protect their fellow citizens. Their job is unimaginably hard overseas; harder at home. Respect them, for they respect you. America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy. #BeBetter"

But the one that probably hurt Trump the most? Former Secretary of Defense Gen. Jim Mattis, one of Trump's Generals, the one with the cool nickname. Here's just a bit of what he said.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people - does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

That one would have had to hurt a normal person. Here's what it prompted in the president.

Please don't wonder for even a second whether Trump gave Mattis the 'Mad Dog' nickname  - he didn't.  It's a lie, and those we don't need to wonder about.