RIP Mitch McConnell

not really

Pretty shakey, sis!

Counterpoint: he's dead.

RIP big man, heaven needed a senate minority leader.

He's been dead inside for decades, fwiw.

Fun fact: Mitch McConnell was the first US Senator whose body was comprised entirely of gelatin!

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qJQQ6GDNiIU/S602X3DWHQI/AAAAAAAABtw/k6fnX0zvsSQ/s1600/pans-labyrinth.jpg

omg

Close, someone just needs to wail on those hands with a sledgehammer for a little bit to bring it all the way home.

Mitch McConnell sprains wrist and cuts his face after fall in the Capitol

lol

lol

McConnell is expected to continue to serve in his Senate seat until his term expires in January 2027.

that expectation seems a bit strained by now

Any updates?

currently talking to Teddy Roosevelt as well

So apparently dude was in full cardiac arrest when they found him and was resuscitated. Zero percent chance this 84 year old is not on life support.

I would be unsurprised if they maintain him as senator

Whenever one of these ghouls has a brush with death, the chorus of the Misfits "Die, Die My Darling" starts running through my head.

Metallica's cover would feel more appropriate

in general, this would be my default tribute song for our nation's beloved GOP members

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4UBFaj97_k

Lots of leaks today, not sure how reliable they are but Breitbart/LLoomer.

rumors are he’s braindead, though I’m not sure how one would tell

Merrick Garland on hand to perform last rites

It's crazy that Andy Beshear and Senate Democrats aren't loudly calling for an immediate replacement or election.

Schrödinger's Senator

undead, undead, undead ...

Brain dead like Jim Brady

Among the many, many reforms we need is a disclosure process for when an elected official is incapacitated or AWOL (HIPAA issues will be a bitch but are not insurmountable). And if this actually happens I will eat my hat.

thread is in pretty poor taste lads

keep it up

No it isn't, we're going pretty easy on this ghoul.

thread is in pretty poor taste lads

that's right

This shit is so ridiculous and there is no remedy for hiding corpse to keep it in office. What a joke

I don't think it's possible for them to hide it if he's actually dead. Brain-dead, maybe.

just thinking about Metallica’s One but with Cocaine Mitch

brain dead is clinical death though

err, to correct myself, brain death = death

it is entirely possible that the reason nobody is reporting anything is that they didn't notice any immediate difference in his work acumen or smell

he's not dead, just moving very slowly

There is no world where a frail 84 year old is given life saving cpr and goes on to any kind of reasonable recovery.

He's basically the cat from Re-Animator, post wall throw rn

They let Byrd, Feinstein, Kennedy and McCain rot to death in office, why do you think they'd cut and run on ol' Mitch?

Heyyy
You've got to (formalde)hyde your Senator away

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaeWHtDCYcH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Maybe he's partying with Taylor and Travis.

that is a euphemism for dead

someone add Mitch to that painting with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, etc. playing pool

c'mon strom thurmond was the 'fun' one

https://i.postimg.cc/zBbhYpRJ/Designer.png

I just threw up in my mouth

"Mitch"
"Yes, Jimi?"
"Where is it that you think you are?"

genuine lol

If only there was a way to provide proof of life beyond the occasional still. Maybe get a caricature artist in there? Some blurry footage a la Bigfoot? You know, *something* convincing. I'm not sure how they could provide that short of, I dunno, crisp digital phone footage of him talking and moving a little, but I recognize that's flying car future stuff.

what the fuck is going on with this guy?

not a whole lot

what's going on with him is that he resembles a turtle

chilling in the hospital aiui

Maybe they’re doing some Six Million Dollar Man shit and he’ll come back to be Senator for another 100 years.

Mecha Mitch

Octogenarian Mutant Senator Turtle

Is it still a "conspiracy theory" if we think he's dead? I know that Republicans are morally opposed to lying, AI, and underhanded tactics to control the majority in Congress, but still ... something seems fishy here

pretty sure he's brain dead and they are running out the clock on some Senate thing before they let him officially die

it's what he would have wanted

it's exactly what he would have wanted

I think it's entirely possible that he's in worse shape than he's letting on. But what advantage would there be in Republicans pretending that he's alive when he's really dead? The current state of things -- the seat is filled (by McConnell) but he is absent from the Senate -- is favorable to Democrats, not Republicans.

And even if it were revealed today that McConnell is in fact dead, current Kentucky law requires Beshear to call a special election, which would almost certainly be won by a Republican.

(To be fair, there are constitutional questions about whether Beshear has the authority to make an interim appointment himself, but I don't think that the opportunity to reduce the Senate majority from 53-47 to 52-48 for a grand total of five months would be worth the legal battle and potential backlash that would ensue from that appointment.)

Yeah, probably best not to rock the boat too much

splitting hairs here maybe, but brain-dead =! really dead

"he's just in a temporary coma" etc

and I can't find it now but I specifically remember some Senate procedure that benefits from him still being technically in office

ah here

Republicans may be running out the clock on disclosing whether McConnell is even alive, purely so a filing deadline slides past and Thomas Massie can't grab the seat. A man's actual mortality reduced to a procedural loophole for gatekeeping power.

Yeah, probably best not to rock the boat too much

I think the calculus might change if a) Kentucky didn't have supermajorities in both its House and Senate that are eager to take down Beshear, and b) the hypothetical Democratic appointment would meaningfully shift the balance of power toward Democrats in either the short- or long-term.

Maybe if Dems could occasionally take decisive, even no-brainer actions in step with popular opinion, they could actually develop an enthusiastic following and not have to constantly fret about holding on by the slightest margins?

Thomas Massie can't grab the seat.

I know Thomas Massie has broken with the party in a few high-profile ways. But: He has not expressed any interest in the seat, and I can't imagine why Republicans would be so afraid of someone who votes with them 96% of the time holding a Senate seat for no more than three months. Certainly not the kind of thing that would be worth covering up a death over.

sorry i'm breaking my own rule about posting about politics but seriously fuck Andy Beshear, clown coward loser

idk man, maybe it's a committee thing

xp to jaymc

decisive, even no-brainer actions in step with popular opinion

Tell me exactly what actions you think Beshear or other Democrats should take in this case.

It's insane people are getting angry at Beshear about something that is *good* for Democrats.

well they could start by demanding proof of life?

To what end?

I'll also say that I'm highly skeptical that it would even be possible to cover up the death of such a high-profile figure, especially given all of the attention that this has gotten. There'd be an anonymous leak from a hospital employee within hours.

I'M NOT SAYING HE'S DEAD

FFS

for the second time, I think he is non-functional but alive

would it kill Beshear to go see him and live stream it?

and I'm pretty sure he's still voting in the Senate by proxy? (citation needed)

If he's non-functional but alive, then there is no vacancy. The seat remains filled by McConnell, but he is unable to cast a vote. Again, this is a good thing for Democrats!

he is unable to cast a vote

OK here's where I say "citation needed"

You can't vote by proxy. People have been wheeled onto the Senate floor in hospital gowns to vote. If you're too incapacitated to be there in person, then you don't have a vote.

OK I do see yr point here, he's listed as "not voting"

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1192/vote_119_2_00209.htm

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/can-sen-mitch-mcconnell-still-vote-in-the-senate-while-he-recovers-politics/417-117b3cfa-c97f-4e39-b022-6248a0637de3

but again, why wouldn't they run out the clock on Massie out of sheer spite? I think you underestimate their pettiness.

What is the situation where they would be running out the clock on Massie?

oh nmy god I give up

I mean, if McConnell is alive but wants to resign because he's in poor health, he could wait until after August 3 (I think that's the date) to do so and then there would be no special election. The seat would just be vacant until January. That would prevent Massie (or anyone else) from jumping in. But since Massie hasn't even signaled an interest in the seat, I'd be surprised if that were part of McConnell's calculation.

What I think is most likely is that, even if McConnell is in bad shape right now, he anticipates being well enough to return to the Senate sometime in the next few months. Even if he resigned today, the earliest a special election could be held is late September, and the Senate is on vacation for pretty much all of October, so the winner of that special election wouldn't even be able to cast any votes before November. If Mitch can pull it together before then, he'd probably like to finish out his term on his own.

I'd rather have a comatose McConnell not voting than an appointed Republican who'd vote for horrible things, so in this case for Beshear to fight is sorta pointless imo.

MITCH MCCONNELL IS ON ETERNITY LEAVE...
Cleveland, Ohio pic.twitter.com/FicVXVzaWG

— Sigurdur Nordal (@essenviews) July 23, 2026

jaymc otm

Even if he resigned today, the earliest a special election could be held is late September, and the Senate is on vacation for pretty much all of October, so the winner of that special election wouldn't even be able to cast any votes before November.

And now that I think about it, if Beshear had to call a special, he'd probably just set it to be on the same day as the general election, since it's not really in his interest to set it any sooner, and he'd likely want to avoid the expense of administering a separate election only a few weeks earlier. In either case, a McConnell replacement wouldn't be doing anything until November.

I think maybe everyone is getting hung up on terminology.

AFAIK brain dead = actually dead, and was a term that came about with the arrival of ventilators, but the brainstem is irreversibly dead and the person is gone, the machine just stops them from turning into a skeleton.

I suspect sleeve is suggesting McConnell is in a coma or vegetative state which...could be possible.

Think Dems should ask to visit him every day and offer to come by and say hello and then just tip off the media where he is

Why?

Let him be brain dead and fill a safe GOP seat.

Yeah, it doesn’t really matter if he’s dead or not, and if Dems keep asking for proof of life they run the risk of looking like cranks or ghouls.

i don't think it's a secret where he is. TMZ posted a pic of his wife leaving GWU Rehab Center the other day masked and wearing heavy coat in the triple digit DC summer. IG's algo forcefed me some pap/IG dude who's camped outside noting the heavy security (3 escalades) blocking the entrance.

I didn't realize people didn't know where he was. But that would make sense; he was at that facility in 2023 after another fall.

No he's actually at Dave and Busters