I think they mean testing if they can have a politician be dead and just pretend they aren't

He means the Republicans will just Weekend at Bernies him to maintain power the same way they are with McConnell.

They need to do more than pretend he's at school in Canada. In McConnell's case, his state of limbo actually serves both parties. Maybe the Democratic party more so than the Republicans.

I've no doubt they'll try to create an animated Trump, but the tech's not there yet, and he'll feel wrong to his base.

No cult of personality has survived the death of its leader without an extensive transition process in advance, either to usher in a replacement leader, or to turn it into a cult of an idea.

(I'm absolutely sure they'll pretend that Trump is sending messages from beyond the grave. That may work for a while, though it didn't with Charlie Kirk.)

not one person I know outside of the U.S. knows who McConnell is

I know about a lot of your batshit politicians but everything I have learned about them was against my will.