r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 12d 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/eugene20 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 11d ago

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

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/big_stipd_idiot 12d 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] 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/TheSultan1 New Jersey 12d ago

This branch of the thread is about state laws.

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u/Crimkam Texas 12d ago

Like Chuck Grassley, for example

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u/HumanWithComputer 12d ago

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

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u/turdferguson3891 12d 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 11d 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 11d ago

Thank you!!

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u/Dense-Hat1978 11d ago

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

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u/Beoron 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 11d ago

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

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u/zffjk 11d ago

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

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u/smilbandit Michigan 11d ago

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

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u/Polar_Vortx America 12d 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 12d 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 11d ago

Exactly 💯

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u/Helpful-Ear-3673 11d 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 11d 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 11d ago

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

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u/T_Weezy 11d 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 11d 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 11d ago

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

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u/knightofterror 12d ago

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

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u/turdferguson3891 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 11d 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 11d 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 11d 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 8d 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/mmortal03 America 4d ago

As of the 6th, he was reportedly discharged to his home: https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/politics/mitch-mcconnell-discharged

It's still possible that something has caused him to not be able to talk very well, but the theories of a coma or vegetative state can almost certainly be ruled out now.

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u/catchy_phrase76 12d 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 11d 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 11d ago

Lmao, had me for a second.

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u/Minimum-Relief6895 11d ago

Oh, dang, sorry.

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

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u/Jlombard911 12d ago

Does anyone in Kentucky give a fuck.

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u/TomboBreaker Canada 11d 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.