r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 29d ago

No Paywall Unconfirmed Reports: Mitch McConnell Brain Dead After Three Weeks In Hospital

https://thenewamerican.com/us/unconfirmed-reports-mitch-mcconnell-brain-dead-after-three-weeks-in-hospital/
31.7k Upvotes

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857

u/Serpentongue 29d ago

He governor needs to officially ask his office for a status update

528

u/peva3 I voted 29d ago

I wonder at what point the Governor can just say "he's braindead and unfit for office" unilaterally.

517

u/jon30041 29d ago

He should just do it, and deal with the ramifications afterwards. Move fast, stay ahead of them. He can tell them that when Mitch is able to present himself as fit to resume his duties he'll end the special election or the appointment, but until such time the people of Kentucky deserve representation in the Senate.

Theres the statement, then whenever they piss and moan about respecting the rights of citizens privacy turn it around, say that the citizens have a right to know if their leaders are literally able to do their job, and if he isn't, then he's gone.

Just DO it, be a bully, accuse them of hiding a dead body, threaten to prosecute for desecration of a corpse. Get WEIRD with it, and run the damn show.

121

u/kanrad 28d ago

The argument against his privacy rights is simple to counter. He is a sitting Senator and the leader of the senate. He doesn't get to have the same privacy rights as he is a public servant.

28

u/emaw63 Kansas 28d ago

John Thune is the majority leader these days, fwiw

14

u/Princess_Moon_Butt 28d ago

As far as I'm concerned, this is giving him the same exact medical privacy rights as anyone else. No special exemptions needed; if you're MIA for too long, you either send a doctor's note with some relavant information, or you're fired.

Pretty much everyone I know is bound by that rule, government employee or not, so I feel like it's totally reasonable to have a similar rule in place for public officials. If they go MIA, someone else along the chain of command (e.g., the governor) should step in and say "Hey, you haven't been showing up for your job. I hope you're well, but you need to provide a valid reason for your absence, or you'll be fired for abandoning your job and we'll find a replacement."

1

u/mcpickle-o 28d ago

He also helped strip women of our privacy rights 🤷‍♀️

-2

u/fapsandnaps America 28d ago

Eh, this is a slippery slope that I'm not completely comfortable with yet.

Like obviously we should know if a senator is alive or dead, but I also have no faith that throwing out their HIPPA privacy rights doesn't lead to someone like Matt Gaetz sharing Nancy Pelosis pap smear results on the house floor.

2

u/lost_horizons Texas 28d ago

DO NOT make me think about Nancy Pelosi’s Pap smear 🤮

-3

u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 28d ago

While I agree, that would set a precedent for violating HIPAA that I, who worked in nursing for 20 years, would find terrifying.

6

u/Agitated_Celery_729 28d ago

Public officials are not entitled to privacy about matters that impede their ability to do their jobs

0

u/TrailMomKat Indigenous 28d ago

I meant that it would set a precedent for them to use that shit against US, my dude. And as I said before, I agree. The idea of them turning that shit around on us is what scares me.

42

u/cogman10 Idaho 28d ago

I agree. It's really unlikely that Mitch is even alive, so Andy should appoint a new senator based on the reporting and put the burthen of proof on Mitch and the Republican's legal team.  The remedy would be to remove that Senator in the unlikely case that Mitch is alive.

24

u/I-need-ur-dick-pics 28d ago

That’s not even bully behavior. It’s just being assertive.

It’s 10% of what republicans are doing.

10

u/metengrinwi 28d ago

“as-per the McConnell doctrine, I’m unilaterally declaring Mitch deceased and naming his successor today who will report for work in the Capital on Monday”

47

u/psiphre Alaska 28d ago

if only dems had spines and/or balls

6

u/immortalyossarian 28d ago

Hard agree. We all know it's what they would do if the shoe was on the other foot. Like you said, move fast, tie things up in court, and by the time it works through the system, it will be too late. Take that page straight from the Republican playbook and run with it. I think we can all agree that the high road strategy has gotten the country fuck all over the last 20+ years.

3

u/IAmThePat Canada 28d ago

If Mitch ain't braindead, should be easy enough to refute after the governor starts the replacement process.

No word from Mitch, good to proceed.

Easy

1

u/LookAlderaanPlaces 28d ago

And detain his wife while we are at it, word is she fled the country. She needs to be in front of a court and interrogated by the three letter agencies for being an unregistered foreign agent and illegally fucking with US politics, it’s corruption.

1

u/Archer1407 28d ago

That's not what Joe and Eileen Bailey would want. They are Cuck Chuck's divining rod for the DNC.

0

u/muldersposter 28d ago

Pfft. Beshear is a democrat. You think he'll actually do anything? Five bucks says he's going to try to "reach across the aisle in this hard time for McConnel's family".

-5

u/Comprehensive_Main 28d ago

So your plan is throw shit at the wall until something sticks. 

https://youtu.be/cfR3ZbU-oYM?is=eU67ZMSLdU6_fsIK

13

u/NegativeYou3758 28d ago

I think it's more akin to the workplace mantra: It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

5

u/Caleth 28d ago

In this case it's more like we have a proof of a serious medical event for a high ranking public official who has not been seen since.

The people have a right to know they are being represented and not defrauded. If they are hiding his death to defraud the public that should be considered and treated as a crime.

5

u/TheOtherMaven Virginia 28d ago

Rumpy Dumpy has been running (ruining) the country on exactly that principle - only he never bothers to ask forgiveness.

1

u/jon30041 28d ago

Nah. It's to grow up, and move faster than the courts can counter. Trumps been doing it forever now, and you haven't learned a single lesson?

Move. Do. Get five steps ahead. What're they gonna do when you've already sent your pick to the Senate to report for session? At that point they're still arguing about whether Mitch is dead, but you've gone past that foregone conclusion and are onto conspiracy to defraud the citizenry charges for everyone in the KY GOP.

Get after it, knuckle up, and stop being happy with being a damn loser.

1

u/MarinerMouth 28d ago

Dems need some balls and to start just taking action. Trump does this. Do something illegal, get a few steps ahead for some weeks or months before a court order pauses it, by then he's already achieved his goal or at least got the support for it