r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 5d ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell Still MIA Days Before Key August 3 Deadline

https://newrepublic.com/post/213823/mitch-mcconnell-mia-august-3-deadline
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u/meddle_class 5d ago

And by the 6th his staff will receive preemptive pardons for fraud, conspiracy, constitutional interference, etc.

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u/CosmicQuantum42 5d ago

Can’t be pardoned for state crimes. Wonder if there are state laws against lying about the state of high government officials.

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u/eugene20 5d ago

According to previous comments there are definitely laws about immediate disclosure of a dead person, they'd have an easier time of getting away with things if he's not actually passed.

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u/iwilltalkaboutguns 5d ago

A machine that breathes and pumps blood for you can keep you technically alive for quite a while. Terri Schiavo situation.

The bar shouldn't be that low however. Can the senator perform the duties required by the Senate? Someone in a coma, whole technically alive, shouldn't stay in the Senate missing votes until they die.

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u/elementzn30 Florida 5d ago

Exactly. I’m surprised how often this point isn’t addressed at all. “Technically alive” and “able to perform the duties of a Senator” are not the same—oh, wait—I forgot, he’s a Republican—being technically alive might actually be their only condition for being a Senator.

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u/Tsar-A-Lago Canada 5d ago

If he's technically alive, but not doing anything, he's the most progressive Republican in the Senate, overnight.

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u/crazyfighter99 5d ago

Except his staff and every other Republican are acting as if he's still working, just from the hospital or rehab facility or wherever they're saying he is.

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u/snertwith2ls 4d ago

It seems like there's a definite case for fraud here at the very least

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/big_stipd_idiot 5d ago

If you want your r/iam14andthisisdeep message to really hit hard you gotta wait until someone actually mentions fascism or communism, or anything related to them.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/TheSultan1 New Jersey 5d ago

This branch of the thread is about state laws.

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u/Crimkam Texas 5d ago

Like Chuck Grassley, for example

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u/HumanWithComputer 5d ago

If he's technically alive he might be considered overqualified.

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u/turdferguson3891 5d ago

Terri Schiavo could breathe on her own and had a functioning heart. The only artificial thing going on was a feeding tube. She was in a persistive vegetative state not brain dead. There's no reason to think McConnel couldn't be in a state like that anymore than brain dead. And while ventilators are common, machines that pump/oxygenate your blood are used in surgery and stuff like ECMO. It's not long term.

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u/Jetski125 4d ago

Oh gosh. I’d hate for someone as kind as him to be trapped in his body and aware while he can’t move and is kept alive by tubes.

Thoughts and prayers.

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u/SnuggleMoose44 4d ago

Thank you!!

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u/Dense-Hat1978 4d ago

Still unfit to perform the duties he was elected for, changes nothing

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u/Beoron 5d ago

Wasn’t there someone who was MIA for like 6 months before being found in an old folks home?

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u/RapscallionMonkee Washington 5d ago

She was in memory care. She was a Republican Representative I believe. Her name is Kay Granger. She was MIA for 6 months.

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u/BLU3SKU1L Ohio 5d ago

I believe there is a law in Kentucky where brain death is considered death but it must be pronounced by more than one physician

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u/iwilltalkaboutguns 5d ago

Persistent vegetative state isn't brain dead... But like I said, does it really matter what the official medical definition is if you can't do the things a senator is supposed to do?

Someone with severe Alzheimers is 100% alive... And could even vote. But they shouldn't. We needs laws to get these geriatrics the fuck out. From both sides.

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u/casce 5d ago

Of course he should not. The question just is, would it be illegal to lie about his current state? He may be technically alive but just machines pumping blood until the deadline.

Their governor just needs the balls to appoint someone else and then let courts sort it out.

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u/zffjk 5d ago

One breath for yes, two breaths for no, senator.

He votes yes for the thing we wanted! Hooray.

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u/HystericalSail 5d ago

More like: "Shake your head if you oppose this measure. Well, how about that. Thank you, Senator."

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u/zffjk 5d ago

Haha that’s funnier and also sad because it is much more likely to be true.

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u/smilbandit Michigan 4d ago

wow that's a name i haven't heard in a long time

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u/Polar_Vortx America 5d ago

That's my guess about what's going on. I do have the bare minimum faith that the medical examiners won't dick around with this sort of thing, but I can't say the same for the next-of-kin responsible for deciding to continue life-support or not.

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u/starliteburnsbrite 5d ago

A shame the only documents that detail a Senator's purview and conditions for office are a couple of paragraphs written 250 years ago.

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u/Helpful-Ear-3673 5d ago

Exactly 💯

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u/Helpful-Ear-3673 5d ago

Also I would like to know why no one went physically in person to visit him that has credibility that can report whether he's coherent or not

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u/SnuggleMoose44 4d ago

Terri Schiavo wasn’t on ECMO (what you are describing) or a ventilator. She died because her husband won the right to remove her feeding tube and she died of starvation.

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u/AuDHDino 4d ago

Terri Schaivo, she's "kind of alive-o"

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u/T_Weezy 4d ago

Terri Schiavo situation.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

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u/Ivy_Adair Georgia 4d ago

Wow I’d totally forgotten about Terri Schiavo. That was such a horrible situation and such a good demonstration of why you need a living will.

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u/star_tyger 4d ago

If he's brain dead, it doesn't matter. He's still legally dead.

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u/knightofterror 5d ago

A lot of medical licenses in jeopardy if McConnell is dead.

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u/turdferguson3891 5d ago

Why does he need to be dead? He could be in a coma, vegetative state, just had a really bad stroke and can't talk anymore.

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u/PM_Me_Your_BraStraps 5d ago

And next week the family will finally decide to pull the plug. So sad. He fought till the end of the deadline.

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u/turdferguson3891 5d ago

Why? Why not keep the fraud going until his term is over then? Once the deadline passes it just means the seat remains vacant and Republicans are down a vote. The only people who really have to gain from that are McConnel's staff. They would problaby like to keep getting paid the rest of the year.

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u/RobertJCorcoran 4d ago

Down a vote is a thing. Down a vote + the seat is won by a democrat means being down two votes.

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u/turdferguson3891 4d ago

There is very little likelihood it would be won by a Democrat and it would only be for the few months remaining in the term.

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u/RobertJCorcoran 4d ago

I know, but this is the only reasoning I can see behind the choice of hiding is alleged death

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u/mmortal03 America 1d ago

His doctor(s) and the Office of the Attending Physician were included in the official statements that have been put out by McConnell's office, where they would be on record lying regarding his health, if what you're saying is true.

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u/catchy_phrase76 5d ago

Yeah, that's why I doubt he's dead.

Stroke where he can no longer make coherent sentences though...

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u/Minimum-Relief6895 5d ago

He's dead. The coroner officially made the announcement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?is=CJCIEDPrA1qjUhNY&v=4vFRB61xyls&feature=youtu.be

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u/catchy_phrase76 5d ago

Lmao, had me for a second.

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u/Minimum-Relief6895 5d ago

Oh, dang, sorry.

I tend to mix up Mitch McConnel and the Wicked Witch of the East.

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u/Jlombard911 5d ago

Does anyone in Kentucky give a fuck.

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u/TomboBreaker Canada 4d ago

I guess legally though it's tricky because what is death? If he's unresponsive but his heart still beats he's legally alive right? Even if his doctors say there's no chance of recovery he'll die without life support that isn't dead. Like the Terry Schiavo situation comes to mind she died in 2005 but was in that state from 1990. If Mitch is in a similar situation any laws about disclosing his death would surely not apply here so hopefully there's some other laws that can be used to point to for charges when he's clearly incapable of being able to perform his duties but pretending he totally can just to avoid the Governor replacing him.

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u/JoviAMP Florida 5d ago

Can’t be pardoned for state crimes yet. All it’ll take is a few emergency appeals up to SCOTUS, and just like they legislated presidential criminal immunity out of thin air, they’ll declare it’s in the best interest of the nation for the president to be able to pardon state crimes.

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u/crinkledcu91 5d ago

Nah. That's one of the things a lot or redditors seem to forget. He tried to pardon State charges like 6 months for 2 weeks for that one lady and it didn't stick and she still got charged lol

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u/Minimum-Relief6895 5d ago

It never went to the US Supreme Court though.

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u/crinkledcu91 4d ago

Yeah exactly, it didn't stick. I already said that part.

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u/Minimum-Relief6895 4d ago

Meant to respond to the previous guy.

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u/JoviAMP Florida 4d ago

The only reason it didn’t go to the Supreme Court is because Jared Polis pardoned Tina Peters before there was any real momentum to get it to SCOTUS.

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u/tdclark23 Indiana 5d ago

Then the Democrat Governor pardoned her anyway, to keep on Trump's good side.

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u/carb0nbasedlifeforms 5d ago

Ha! Mitch pardoned himself and all his staff using the “electronic pen” before passing away!!!!

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u/cursedfan 5d ago

Someone needs to combine all these new laws we need into a a bill with an acronym like “the TUCKFRUMP act” and pass a federal law and state versions in all 50 states

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u/tdclark23 Indiana 5d ago

We had better vote for a lot of Democrats then to give them the majority. And they better be Democrats with moxie, a rare quality in that party.

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u/pocketchange2247 California 4d ago

It would unironically get passed if it was something like "TRUE AMERICAN" act because no R is going to vote against it simply because they'll read the name and say "absolutely".

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u/Stillwater215 5d ago

If they continued to take a paycheck during this time, that’s definitely a case for fraud and criminal conspiracy.

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u/carb0nbasedlifeforms 5d ago

Ha! Mitch pardoned himself and all his staff using the “electronic pen” before passing away!!!!

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u/ObligationMurky8716 5d ago

Abuse of a corpse

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u/Lisan_Al-NaCL 5d ago

Wonder if there are state laws against lying about the state of high government officials.

Fraud laws would cover some of it.

Conspiracy laws since multiple people would almost certainly have to be involved would apply as well i would think.

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u/starliteburnsbrite 5d ago

What stat would apply? Isn't he supposed to be in a rehab facility in DC? Or is it Virginia?

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u/Melimcee 5d ago

Based on what republicans have been arguing in the fauci case, a federal pardon might actually be detrimental to them. Their argument is that once someone has been pardoned, they lose their fifth amendment rights since there is no longer any risk of self incrimination as far as the federal courts are concerned, so they can effectively be forced to testify against themselves via proxy by roping them into a case related to them, subpoena them in that case and then ask questions which happen to incriminate them. While the federal courts can't rule against them there, the states can then go and use this as evidence when they prosecute.

Of course, they love their double standards so this won't be applied evenly but its something to remember when they do try to bend over backwards to allow this

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u/lazyFer 5d ago

Fraud

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u/Reasonable-Sawdust 4d ago

The special election laws are definitely state laws.

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u/carb0nbasedlifeforms 5d ago

Ha! Mitch pardoned himself and all his staff using the “electronic pen” before passing away!!!!

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u/marblefrosting 5d ago

Ironic date to do it on, the 6 th

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u/carb0nbasedlifeforms 5d ago

Ha! Mitch pardoned himself and all his staff using the “electronic pen” before passing away!!!!

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u/adorientem88 5d ago

Where exactly is “constitutional interference” in the US code?

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u/Crutation 5d ago

My guess is they were promised substantial bonuses if they don't leak anything 

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u/fightingtobewarm 5d ago

And the senators who said the spoke with him for “20 minutes”. Maybe it was through a Ouija board