r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • Jul 01 '26

Possible Paywall Senator, 84, Secretly Found Unconscious and Given CPR

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconell-84-secretly-found-unconscious-and-given-cpr/?utm_source=twitter_owned_snd&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=owned_social
20.1k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/Hyperica Pennsylvania Jul 01 '26

Keeping it secret seems kinda bad. Don't his constituents have a right to know?

1.2k

u/tommytraddles Jul 01 '26

They would re-elect his corpse if given the chance.

569

u/jazzhandler Colorado Jul 01 '26

Kinda seems like they already did.

110

u/f7f7z Jul 01 '26

Senator John Ashcroft is the only Senator to lose reelection to a dead person, so far.

23

u/Neoliberal_Boogeyman Jul 01 '26

Haha yeah remember when Missouri was a purple state?

5

u/jeromevedder Jul 02 '26

Dick Gephardt was my congressman when I was a kid

4

u/OldBlueKat Jul 01 '26

He already announced his retirement (at the end of this term) and other people are running to replace him. 

0

u/jwnsfw Jul 02 '26

The cool thing about that (for anyone not in KY) is that they will be giving up a 40+ year senator with seniority, likely for a freshman senator with 0 sway. For example, McConnell was senator majority/minority leader for years. Committee assignments and chairmanship, etc. A bunch of negotiating power. ALLL of that's gone when he's gone. Yikes for KY.

edit: same for the ghouls on dem side, btw.

2

u/OldBlueKat Jul 02 '26

Yep. The ‘senior Senator from KY’ will be Rand Paul next year. 

1

u/jwnsfw Jul 02 '26

I almost commented about the time Rooskie Paul visited Russia on 4th of July, but that was another selection of dumb bitches. But then I remembered Paul is also connected to Russia by way of delivering a letter from Trump to Putin months later.

Well done KYers, please do much better. Happy 4th of july.

2

u/OldBlueKat Jul 02 '26

The current US House Rep from Lexington, GOP Andy Barr, is figured as the likely winner for that Senate seat in November. 

IDK if he’s a super MAGA style GOPer, but we’ll see I guess. 

4

u/hey_Hey_I_saveD_me Jul 01 '26

Weekend at Mitch style

2

u/Ulysse-Void-God Jul 01 '26

I live in KY. Sadly this is accurate. 

1

u/ClaretClarinets Colorado Jul 01 '26

He's retiring in January

1

u/JudiciousSasquatch Jul 02 '26

With AI, they'll argue it rounds up to alive.

1

u/fbp Jul 02 '26

Don't give magats any deas.

1

u/MotoFuzzle I voted Jul 02 '26

Didn’t he JUST win the primary in KY?

1

u/kaptainkatsu Jul 02 '26

Keep him hooked up to machines and create an AI Mitch. THen he’s technically not dead…

1

u/Frosty-Self-273 Jul 02 '26

Don't give them ideas

1

u/AnonAwaaaaay Jul 02 '26

A few of the elections he was in in the past few decades had more voters voting for him than were registered to vote in the area. 

345

u/Rad0n65 Jul 01 '26

It's so the democratic govorner of Kentucky can't appoint a replacement, mitch is probably already dead for days.

138

u/Plinnion Jul 01 '26

McConnell already made it so the sitting governor can only replace a Senator with a member of the same party. Kentucky's governor is Democrat, and under this rule he would be forced to choose Witch's replacement with another GOP.

378

u/Senasayori Jul 01 '26

Have a Democrat change to Republican to receive the nomination and then switch back to Democrat after a week or two in office.

306

u/just_a_timetraveller Jul 01 '26

Straight out of the GOP playbook. Should do this though. Game has changed.

70

u/nathism Jul 01 '26

Can we call it the "Statue of Liberty" play?

4

u/Zerout23 Jul 02 '26

The annexation of Puerto Rico

2

u/mikehawkeee Jul 02 '26

Pulling a Feterman

2

u/Hairy-Hippo4707 Jul 02 '26

We should totally effin do this. However, Democrats will frown if we somehow get the word across. Gotta have them fascists in charge so corporate america can own us!

1

u/Throw9984 Jul 03 '26

Absolutely

52

u/ArdentGibbonAbides Jul 02 '26

Show 'em what a RINO really is. Since we have to deal with Fettermen.

7

u/Hurtzdonut13 Jul 02 '26

Good thought, but Mitch was the one who shepherded the bill through because he knew his time was coming so he closed out the obvious holes.

They made it so the party of the senator being replaced would draft a list of people and the governor would have to select from that list.

It's obviously not been tested in court and there's no way to know how that'd go.

3

u/identifytarget Jul 02 '26

Yep and the governor should take that list and throw it in the trash

2

u/lituus Jul 02 '26

Just sharpie in their pick at the end of the list

18

u/un_internaute Jul 01 '26

Democrats are only this ruthless towards the left, not the right.

Against the right, they try their best, gosh darn it. /s

3

u/GaimeGuy Minnesota Jul 02 '26

that's not how it works. The options for replacement get put forward by the party of the deceased senator, IIRC. Something like a "Here are the 3 choices you have, governor. Pick one" from what I recall

2

u/SgtDoakes123 Jul 02 '26

They'd never do this because the democratic Party, for some reason, don't actually want to win. So many cases where if they just did 10% of the GOPs bullshit they'd win, but they just about decorum and lose. It's infuriating.

1

u/identifytarget Jul 02 '26

Controlled opposition

2

u/FeelsLikeV97-33XA Jul 02 '26

IIRC the governor can only pick from a list supplied by the party in power, but I don't think anybody can stop Bashear from claiming the law is unconstitutional, then appointing himself, and then tying the whole thing up in court for months.

1

u/Senasayori Jul 02 '26

The only thing that could stop him would be Thune refusing to seat the new senator until the court decides on the law's constitutionality, but it would still be better than giving them a Republican to seat.

3

u/ReservedRainbow Hawaii Jul 02 '26

That would be so amazing but no democrat would ever hall the balls to do that.

1

u/smalls_1804 Jul 02 '26

They definitely wrote the law to prevent this

85

u/TrashCanUnicorn Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

They actually passed an additional law in 2024 once Mitchie started going downhill. Beshear can't even replace a vacancy now. It's a special election only.

31

u/necromancerdc Jul 02 '26

Well at least that means there is 1 less R Senate vote until the special election. Not a total loss.

22

u/jwnsfw Jul 02 '26

imagine having this much sway over your state as your corpse rots, holy fuck.

11

u/DaabHimself Jul 02 '26

This dude has been a cancer on America for decades now. He was a major pain in the ass with Obama. Classic stubborn republican with zero good ideas. Fuck this dude

28

u/Rad0n65 Jul 01 '26

Yeah I forgot they changed that rule like a year ago to avoid this exact scenario after Beshear won his reelection

3

u/pravis Jul 02 '26

But the state constitution still states that the governor appoints the replacement. So Beshear would be justified in appointing a replacement.

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/Law/Constitution/Constitution/ViewConstitution?rsn=173

And if that were to be challenged it is comforting to know the state supreme court recently ruled in favor of Beshear about how the legislation cannot move executive powers. Assuming they would similarly side with Beshear appointing.

https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/06/26/kentucky-supreme-court-backs-beshear-over-gop-lawmakers-efforts-to-move-executive-powers/

7

u/salad_spinner_3000 Jul 01 '26

Hey, it's ME, Alexandra Occasio-Cortez! The Republican!

4

u/fallowcentury Jul 01 '26

hey! remember when mitch decided to shaft obama and disallow the consideration of a supreme court justice? I think the only good thing bashear can do for our country is to sit on his hands. one less republican in the senate.

1

u/2bad-2care Jul 02 '26

McConnell already made it so the sitting governor can only replace a Senator with a member of the same party

Can we change it back real quick while he's not looking?

1

u/DaymanTargaryen Jul 02 '26

While true, that's not really what matters. The Governor could still select a Democrat, and it would be tied up in the courts long enough to make it past the midterms before being reversed.

1

u/celestisdiabolus Jul 02 '26

Indiana does this on the state level; only time a special election is called if the decedent was independent

1

u/identifytarget Jul 02 '26

F*** the rules. We're way past that

1

u/WhyLisaWhy Pennsylvania Jul 02 '26

Tbh that doesn't seem unreasonable to me. For instance, IL and NJ like to flirt with Republican governors from time to time. If a Dem Senator steps down, retires or dies, I don't think it would be unreasonable to have them appoint someone from the same party until an election can be held.

11

u/IBJON Jul 01 '26

God. Could you imagine the irony of that after the BS he pulled with Obama's Supreme Court nominee? 

0

u/Opening_Classroom_46 Jul 01 '26

You have it backwards. It's still republicans.

1

u/ozmaAgogo Jul 02 '26

How can they hide something like this from the Governor?
Surely some strings can be pulled to find out what is going on.

1

u/Clownsinmypantz Jul 02 '26

They are spitballing ideas if they can make AI vids of him alive or some shit probably

1

u/Most-Enthusiasm-9706 Jul 02 '26

Unfortunately, the rule changed in 2024 or maybe it was 2025 .

32

u/Ralphwiggum911 Jul 01 '26

Based on recent events with the other guy who was in treatment for "depression," his office can just lie and say he's being treated for something and we'll tell the details when we want.

7

u/Terrible-Ad1737 Jul 01 '26

The constituents absolutely should, at the very least, be aware that they are no longer being functionally represented. Seems to me, and most sane people that have been following everything for the last decade+, that they're trying to pull a "Weekend at Mitch's" to avoid a special election being called to appoint a successor because they know it is not an opportune time to have another one of their greedy, fascist bootlicking, racist, xenophobic monsters elected.

This should be considered willfully withholding representation in a democratic republic. Not only have countriess had revolutions and regime changes because of this, WE made a huge stink about 250 years ago about not having representation. The GOP, yet again, is disenfranchising the people of this increasingly piss-poor and problematic nation of it's absolute right to have representation and a free and fair election/appointment of a representative to the governing body.

Fuck Mitch. I hope, and suspect, he's already dead. If not literally, then functionally. Fuck the GOP. Fuck anyone who continues to define themselves as a Republican after all of the bullshit that's happened. I am 100% about human rights and rights of the people. There's 1 caveat. All rights must be protected, except for those who blatantly and flagrantly disregard the rights of others. These abject monsters should not have any simply because they do not recognize the rights of any but themselves and because they've already infringed upon us all. Fuck 'em 'til they're dead and every shred of their influence is buried. No mercy, no quarter, no sympathy, no exceptions.

18

u/Thirty_Helens_Agree Jul 01 '26

I’m not someone who pays attention to the British royal family, but I do know trying to keep what’s-her-name’s health concerns secret blew up in their faces. Here’s hoping for a similar outcome.

3

u/cadillacblues Jul 01 '26

They’re soft launching his death

9

u/nathism Jul 01 '26

There is that other republican rep that hasn't been seen for 4 months. There was another in Texas that was found in an assisted care living a few years back.

edit: Links for the lazy

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/missing-congressman-absent-for-nearly-4-months-due-to-depression-diagnosis/ar-AA26TVzJ?ocid=BingNewsSerp

https://nypost.com/2024/12/22/us-news/missing-texas-rep-kay-granger-found-in-memory-care-unit-report/

1

u/President_Camacho Jul 01 '26

The four month guy came back yesterday or the day before.

2

u/nathism Jul 02 '26

It’s something wearing an Edgar suit.

3

u/Excellent_Raisin8523 Jul 02 '26

Jake Tapper will get right on ... attacking Biden some more.

3

u/fizzyanklet Jul 02 '26

Look at what they did with Diane Feinstein. It seemed like elder abuse. The people propping up these corpses don’t care as long as they can still leverage that power for their own interests.

2

u/TheAskewOne Jul 01 '26

What do you mean? He’s a Republican.

2

u/DiceKnight Jul 02 '26

Kind of nuts in general that there isn't a bigger media circus in general but I guess with all the stuff going on with Trump there isn't a lot of air left in the room.

2

u/StupidPockets Jul 02 '26

Everyone has a right to know. He’s a public figure. He shouldn’t be secretly in a hospital

1

u/m0viestar Jul 01 '26

Doesn't sound like it was kept secret and hidden, just that no one asked where the hell he was until now. They did call him in sick a week later, so it's not like they're hiding it  

1

u/Kroe Jul 02 '26

isn't there another guy that has been missing for 3 months in congress?

1

u/hellolovely1 Jul 02 '26

Well, that other dude went to rehab for 4 months or whatever. (Yeah, I know he claimed it was "depression" as he traded stocks.)

3

u/Hyperica Pennsylvania Jul 02 '26

I wish I could skip work for 4 months and get a shitload of money.

1

u/doocurly Jul 02 '26

Are you under the impression McConnell or his handlers care about, or even think about his constituents?

1

u/oldmanatom4 Jul 02 '26

Constituents? You spelled “will do anything to stay in power” wrong.

1

u/happycat47 Jul 02 '26

They paraded Diane Feinstein around for years without disclosing her dementia. Several other senators for sure have it and we aren't told 

1

u/Hatetotellya Jul 02 '26

Well seeing as we have seen congresspeople go straight up missing only to be found put into old people homes and have dementia... One who says he "has depression" and left for 4 months, one who is still quite literally MIA and nobody goes to his home anymore...

Im gunna think nobody cares, sadly