Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called on Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to release more information about his health or resign.
“I am addressing this letter to Senator McConnell under the assumption that he is capable of reading and responding verbally, and not incapacitated by means of consciousness or cognition,” the governor wrote. Beshear sent the letter the same day that McConnell’s office and the Capitol physician’s office issued a joint statement that Kentucky’s senior senator had not been medically cleared to resume his duties in the Senate. Instead, McConnell remains in an undisclosed rehabilitation facility, where he was transferred after weeks in a Washington, D.C., hospital, with statements from his office and two still photos as his only public communications.
Social media users, as well as some of McConnell’s colleagues, unsurprisingly have filled the information void with conspiracy theories about his health. The furor even ensnared Beshear: Some commentators want him to declare the Senate seat vacant, or even visit McConnell’s hospital room and settle the question once and for all. But that’s not how the law works. And besides, it’s best for Democrats if McConnell is alive and absent.
Republicans on Capitol Hill seem almost as confused as anyone about McConnell’s status.
McConnell’s office has insisted he’s working remotely. Prominent Republicans have sworn they have had erudite phone conversations with him on topics ranging from the Strait of Hormuz to the Supreme Court. But the length of McConnell’s absence speaks for itself. After six weeks, it’s safe to assume that he is in no shape to call in to “Fox & Friends” and set everyone’s mind at ease. His office has only given us two still photos as proof that its boss is still fit to represent the 4.6 million people of Kentucky. McConnell has already missed 38 votes since he was hospitalized.
Republicans on Capitol Hill seem almost as confused as anyone about McConnell’s status. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she knows someone who visited McConnell and assured her that the senator is still with it. Asked if she planned to visit McConnell herself, the West Virginia Republican demurred, stating that hospital visits are “a pretty sensitive topic.” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., suggested, then later walked back, the theory that McConnell’s first “proof of life” photo, released July 12, was fabricated. (A Washington Post analysis of the photo’s metadata attached to the image found no evidence of fakery and “an independent digital forensics expert also said there appeared to be no evidence that the image is fake.”)
The longer the uncertainty continues, the worse the GOP looks. EMS dispatch audio indicated that an ambulance had been dispatched to the 84-year-old’s home for a cardiac arrest and that CPR was in progress. Whether McConnell indeed suffered a cardiac arrest or another serious health crisis, his age would likely exacerbate its effects. Yet his office has stonewalled Beshear and others’ requests for more information for weeks; his staff won’t even say exactly what caused his fall. Every day that passes is an opportunity for Democrats to hit it for its evasiveness. In the meantime, the GOP is down a vote in a closely divided Senate.
That’s the best-case scenario for Democrats who are not going to be able to fill McConnell’s seat with a Democrat for a spate of legal reasons and the fact that Kentucky’s a red state. Thanks to a law passed by McConnell’s allies in the Kentucky Legislature in 2024, replacement senators are chosen by special election. A MAGA Republican would almost certainly win a special election to serve the final months of McConnell’s term.
Interpretations of the law differ, but according to former state Rep. Kevin Bratcher, who co-sponsored the legislation, if a special election isn’t called by Sep. 8, there won’t be one. If that happens, McConnell’s seat would remain vacant until the next Congress is sworn in the following January. Some Democrats have said the law is unconstitutional, arguing that Beshear should simply declare McConnell dead, appoint a successor and challenge the law in court. There’s one problem: Governors can’t unilaterally declare people dead — or Senate seats vacant. Furthermore, Senate Republicans could refuse to seat that appointee and Beshear would probably be impeached by the overwhelmingly Republican state Legislature that passed the law he’d be defying.
It’s more likely that McConnell is stubbornly holding out hope that he can return to the Senate chamber one last time before he retires.
Some have speculated that McConnell is delaying his retirement until after the deadline to guarantee that there won’t be a special election. Though there would not be primary elections — the state parties would choose nominees instead — the theory goes that McConnell fears outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie will jump into the race as an independent and either win outright or throw the race to the Democrat. Neither of these scenarios seems likely. Massie just lost his House primary, in a deep red district, by nearly ten points. We can expect him to be even less popular statewide. Nobody knows whether Massie will run, or where he would get the money for a special election. If McConnell thinks that preventing this far-fetched hypothetical would be worth leaving his seat empty until 2027, he has well and truly lost it.
It’s more likely that McConnell is stubbornly holding out hope that he can return the Senate chamber one last time before he retires, and he’s willing to leave his constituents unrepresented until then. The idea that the Republican establishment at large is hiding McConnell’s condition makes no sense. Why would the Republicans be scheming to deprive themselves of a Senate seat? And if they were, what Democrat in their right mind would interfere? As Beshear told Bloomberg News, “Not having McConnell show up isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” His detractors should listen.
The post Why many conspiracy theories about Mitch McConnell don’t actually make sense appeared first on MS NOW.
