Mitch McConnell - BREAKING... oh never mind. It's just rumors. And more rumors. So here are the FACTS.
McConnell was last seen in the Senate on June 11th. On June 14th his office said that he had "gone to the hospital where he was receiving excellent care." The office declined to say which hospital he was in.
It did not come out until last week, when reporters got the audio of the emergency call, which said that McConnell had been found unconscious in his Townhouse on June 14, and received CPR for a possible "cardiac arrest".
He was taken to "a medical facility" - but we STILL do not know which one. His staff continues to say that he is "recovering nicely."
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OK, first of all. You do not get CPR for being unconscious. You get CPR when you are dead. When your lungs are not breathing and your heart is not beating. Nobody said how long it was between the time he fell "unconscious," and someone found him "unconscious," and called an ambulance, and a couple of burly EMTs arrived did what was necessary to bring him BACK from death.
When it comes to old, frail people, CPR unfortunately usually involves breaking every bone in their rib cage, according to a big burly EMT neighbor of mine. If he survived THAT, then when he arrived at the hospital, the doctors not only had to stabilize him, they STILL had to deal with the conditions brought on by the "possible cardiac arrest" or whatever ELSE it was that killed him in the first place.
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But he's "recovering nicely". So says his Senate staff, who said June 22 that he was "working on Senate business" but was not yet ready to return to the Senate. Their latest statement is that "The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session."
But that was not enough for People Who Have Questions. So today, Tuesday, there was a whole FLURRY of official statements from Republicans.
Senate President John Thune says he spoke with McConnell Monday - a "lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security," according to Thune's spokesman.
Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso's spokesperson said that Barrasso and McConnell discussed "a number of topics, including national defense spending," during a 20-minute phone conversation on Tuesday afternoon.
And there was a post on X from a former adviser of his, Scott Jennings, who is now a conservative pundit on CNN and loses debates to young Democrats like Adam Mockler. Badly.
"I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning.. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history..."
Wow. So much talking. Each call lasting 20 minutes. Pretty good for an 84 year old guy who very likely has crushed ribs. And who already had lung issues - he was hospitalized in February for "flu-like" symptoms.
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Meanwhile, all this time, his wife, Trump's former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has been in China on "a philanthropic trip," which included a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. She left the USA on June 12, and returned TODAY, Tuesday, July 7.
So she left two days before her husband was "found unconscious."
And she did not rush home to be at his side.
Why? According to a FOX News report, she "did not see a need for an immediate return." FOX found that totally reasonable.
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Well, even though his hospital trip was so trivial that his wife did not rush home to be with him and oversee his care, and even though SO many upright, honest Republicans say they have spoken with him, STILL, there has been a great deal of speculation that McConnell has died, or is brain dead and on life support.
There is also speculation that his death might have been covered up, so that the Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Bershear, could not appoint a Democrat to fill is seat in the Senate.
However, it does not work that way in Kentucky. Under a law updated in 2024, a U.S. Senate vacancy must be filled through a special election called by the governor, rather than by an appointment - in this case the election would be between the two candidates who won their primaries in May, Democrat Charles Booker and Republican Andy Barr.
And the quickest a governor could call an election is "63 days after the vacancy occurs". Which would bring us to the middle of September, and the winner would only serve out the rest of McConnell's term, to the beginning of January.
And meanwhile the winner presumably would not be able to run in the midterms in November for a full term.
And where would Thomas Massie fit into all of this, if he is planning to run as an Independent? Trump really, REALLY hates HIM. He co-sponsored the Bill that made releasing the Epstein Files LAW - a law that Trump's Attorney General Todd Blanche STILL refuses to follow.
So, the question is, who is most likely to win the midterm election, and would stalling things until then be worthwhile, for the kind of shenanigans that would be involved in covering up a death?
Apparently, the only folks who would know, are not very likely to tell us.
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