this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds on Wednesday while speaking with reporters after a speech in Covington, Kentucky.

The incident is similar to an episode McConnell experienced at the US Capitol late last month and is likely to raise additional questions about the fitness of the 81-year-old to lead the Senate Republican caucus.

Wednesday’s episode occurred when a reporter asked the Republican leader if he was planning to run for reelection in 2026. McConnell had to ask him to repeat the question several times, chuckled for a moment, and then paused.

Someone at his side then asked him, “Did you hear the question, senator, running for reelection in 2026?” McConnell did not respond.

Article includes video of the incident.

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[–] empireOfLove@lemmy.one 222 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

Sounds kind of like when my maternal grandma had a series of micro strokes for a few months before having the Big One.

Time to retire, Mitch. For both our sakes.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 89 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Maybe Mitch and Dianne can agree to retire at the same time

[–] Kraven_the_Hunter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 87 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A little ditty about Mitch and Diane...

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 84 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Oh yeah, their terms go on...
Long after their cognitive functions are gone.

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[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 39 points 1 year ago

All these old fossils need to GTFO. Him, Feinstein, all of em.

But McConnell in particular has royally fucked this country. No member of Congress should have that much power. But he used it quite effectively for his own ends. So fuck him

[–] flipht@kbin.social 26 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Its either happening frequently and just happens to have been caught on camera twice, or it could instead be related to hearing well enough to understand.

My grandparents were like this. Even if they could hear you, a lot of times it seemed out of context to them because they missed some other important piece.

[–] grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago

The people handling him knew exactly what was going on there. This happens all the time, I'm guessing.

Source: youngest grandchild of a huge family.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You'd think if it were a hearing issue he would just say "Could you repeat the question?" and not stand there like a deer in headlights.

🦌💡💡

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[–] Wussy@lemmy.world 156 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Glitch McConnell is at it again!

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[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 99 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He should step down and fuck off into the sunset, warmly recalling with what little neurological function he may have how he fucked so many Americans. It’s probably best that I not write the rest of what I’m thinking about this piece of shit traitor.

[–] Beaphe@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm fully rooting for Mitchs dementia. Much the same as I am a big fan of Limbaughs cancer.

Sometimes nature rolls a nat 20.

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[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 94 points 1 year ago

May he receive thoughts and prayers. And no other form of healthcare or support.

The world will become a slightly better place when he finally dies.

[–] Scumguzzler@kbin.social 72 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Wussy@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pretty sure he died years ago.

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[–] abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world 71 points 1 year ago (1 children)

After reading all the comments about wanting his life to be over and the counters about feeling bad for him etc. I think ive come to a conclusion on how to ethically handle him.

I'm going to laugh. I'm going to laugh at how foolish he looks having a stroke on stage. How despite all of the terrible things he has done to this country on a socio-economic level trying to line his pockets and stay in power, he is standing up there, feeble and barely coherent, looking like he simultaneously shat himself and forgot his name, I'm going to laugh.

Because if he wants any semblance of dignity, any ounce of respect, he needs to admit that he is done and bow out.

"But he is still human, have some empathy" No, why should I? This man has engineered tearing the country apart so he can put his grubby hands all over it and smear it in his own grease. And he is still trying to keep doing it!

What I see up there is an old man trying to walk across the freeway, with a dozen people telling him not to. And he is not only ignoring them but lifting his nose high and walking out into the road anyway. So when I see that mack truck hit him like it did on that stage, I laugh.

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[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 67 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (20 children)

That is hard to watch. I hate his guts and everything he's done and stood for in politics, but it's still rough to watch a man just fade away like that.

He needs to retire and stop clinging desperately to power. The stress of it alone is probably literally killing him.

Edit: Just so we're clear, here, I'm not offering him sympathy. I have none to give for a monster like Mitch McConnell. The man has done enormous damage to the country, and people like him are why I worry about the future for my kids (both LGBTQ+).

I was only trying to express that on a gut level, it's still unpleasant to see someone basically drain away like that.

[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 58 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

He lost all potential sympathy from me when he denied Garland and rammed in Barett during an election year before RBG was fucking cold in the ground. That decision and denial of representation has made shockwaves of regression in terms of civil rights, voting rights, women's bodily autonomy and LGBTQ rights …and that’s what we have gone backward in…so far (birth control and gay marriage being illegal again is coming) and we will feel these effects for several decades way after he’s gone.

tots and fucking pears, goddamn ghoul.

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[–] Madex@lemm.ee 66 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Americans stop voting old white dudes and ruining the rest of the world please.

[–] Razp@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Just stop voting old dudes period. A white old dude is as unsuitable to govern as a non-white old dude.

Vote for younger and more progressive generation.

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[–] RDAM_Whiskers@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago

I don't fuckin want them either. It's our fuckin boomers who want to take everything to the grave with them.

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[–] Lightor@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago (10 children)

I love how republicans will say Biden is too old and make fun of him while also down playing this BS...

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[–] Murais@lemmy.one 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Last comment was deleted, so I guess I'll repost it with edits.

Couldn't happen to a nicer piece of shit.

Lot of folks trying to take the high road here out of compassion.

This guy single-handedly fucked democracy sideways for at least a generation. The reverberations of his Supreme Court shenanigans are going to be responsible for the deaths of thousands.

I hope he spends the rest of his days confused and shitting himself.

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That's the look you get on your face when you're standing at the podium and look out to see a skeleton wearing a robe and holding a scythe pointing at you from the back row.

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[–] Aarrodri@lemmy.ml 59 points 1 year ago
[–] Myro@lemm.ee 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can't help but enjoy this, given what a despicable human being he is.

[–] vivadanang@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

illustrates the love his party members have, keeping him working even after he's had a stroke on tv twice.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The mummy's curse will never release him

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[–] ech@lemm.ee 46 points 1 year ago

If he weren't such an evil fuck, I'd feel bad for him. But he is an evil fuck, so oh well.

[–] Furbag@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago

Put these fucking geriatrics out to pasture already. That includes Feinstein as well. Shameful that this dude is being paraded around in front of media when he's barely coherent. It's shit like this that makes it very evident how long the Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers have clung desperately onto power long past the age that they should have handed over the reins to the people who will actually have to live with the consequences of their decisions.

Where are all the Republicans deriding "Sleepy" Joe Biden? What are your thoughts on Mitch McConnell the stroke victim? Would you vote him back into office again if he or whoever was puppeteering his desiccated corpse decided to run again?

[–] demlet@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Could anything be more symbolic of America's political situation right now?

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[–] jenniebuckley@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

whatever is happening to him, I hope it's causing him extreme discomfort. it's the very least he deserves after all the shitty, life ruining ideas and policies he's endorsed

[–] Clown_Tempura@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Last comment was deleted so it bears repeating: Taking the "high road" gets no one anywhere. And I for one am happy he is publicly losing his dignity, when he has gleefully played a major role in robbing others of theirs.

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 31 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It says something that he's still the minority leader. Feinstein has similar issues and is still around, but she's just a random senator. This is the Republican senate leader.

I imagine many knives are being sharpened behind the scenes. I wonder if he's actively keeping himself in power, or if other people with power are "managing" (puppeting) him until they can grab power for themselves.

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[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This man's having seizures or strokes live on camera and no one's doing anything about this.

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[–] DannyMac@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I guess the GOP is running out of children's souls to feed him.

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[–] LostMyRedditLogin@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mandatory retirement age for political office when?

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[–] Shatur@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I see a lot of hate towards him and it looks like he deserves it. But why is he still in the Senate? Do people vote for him?

I'm not an American, just trying to understand how it works.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

All elections are local here. President/VP is the only office that the entire country votes on, and even that is really a weighted combination of the results of 50 different State elections (and DC). So the first part is that Mitch only has to answer to voters in his home state of Kentucky.

But then Mitch's leadership position isn't even due to that, but due to how long he has been there and how many favors he has done for Republicans there. He was elected as the Senate Republican leader strictly by Senate Republicans. But that position puts him in a much better position to shape legislation the way he wants to, and every politician wants to direct Federal money back home.

So there is added incentive for Kentucky to keep sending him well past his "Best Before" date, because they lose all that influence if they send someone else instead.

And Senate elections are also for six year terms. A lot can happen to an elderly person in six years. He didn't show these symptoms when he won his last election.

[–] robbotlove@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (7 children)

do people vote for him?

yes. incumbents have a lot of staying power in elections just because they are the incumbent. there's also a giant coordinated rightwing media propaganda machine that has been driving hatred into the hearts of vulnerable Americans for the past 60 years telling them to vote R no matter what. even if it hurts them.

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