336
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

US senator Mitch McConnell on Sunday revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about the Kentucky Republican’s condition after weeks of mounting speculation about his health.

The statement included a smiling picture of McConnell with his wife, Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that he had died or was incapacitated. McConnell held a copy of Sunday’s Washington Post sports section in his hand.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] qarbone@lemmy.world 6 points 10 hours ago

Why a photo? Video is cheaper than chips: record a 10 second video where he says "hello."

[-] hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 hours ago

"We said he was alive, not that he wasn't nonverbal..."

Show a video and prove hes more than a drooling vegetable

[-] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

He is constantly in a wheel chair so how did he fall? Do they need to add a seatbelt to his wheelchair?

[-] switcheroo@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Fuck off already, scumbag. The world will be a better place without you in it!

One of his phylacteries was discovered and destroyed. That's why he passed out, it was part of his soul returning to the body.

[-] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago

Didn't a report say the EMT's were performing CPR?

Im sure performing cpr on an 84 year old leaves them withou any injuries/bruising/broken ribs...

[-] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 5 points 14 hours ago

When I was taught CPR they said that, if you do apply the needed amount of force that you will almost certainly break a rib. Ain't no way in hell a 84 year old will survive CPR without a broken rib

[-] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

Thats what I remember from the CPR classes I took, including one where I broke the dummy. 😬

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 47 points 1 day ago

Much alive. Many convince.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] anarchy79@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

You know how I know it's fake? Because he's smiling.

[-] hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 hours ago

Well, he's in a hospital. Maybe he just saw a little kid die and it lifted his spirits.

[-] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I don't believe he is well. At his age, a fall and CPR aren't going to let him live that much longer if the news reports are correct.

Then again, in a fascist country, we can't trust the news, so who the hell knows.

[-] SelfHigh5@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

In my time spent as a nurse, and I guess also just as a person alive for 45 years, elderly people taking a fall is the beginning of the end. The cascade of events that occur as a result of the initial fall is tantamount in my view to terminal cancer. That’s the end. There is no substantial recovery and problems compound.

Stay upright out there!

[-] yarirab@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago

I looked into the timeline and there are still some unanswered questions. McConnell was hospitalized after his fall on June 14, 2026. Elaine Chao reportedly left for China on June 17, 2026, and the “proof of life” photo with her was posted on July 12, 2026.

when was that photo actually taken? The original photo file and metadata haven’t been released, so nobody outside his team can verify the date or time it was taken.

[-] ch00f@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

when was that photo actually taken?

Does this help?

[-] anarchy79@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

If it's such a big fucking deal you'd think there'd be a very simple fucking way to verify it.

In EITHER CASE, is he fit for office? I don't fucking see him in it!

[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

No idea, and you're right: more questions are raised than answered, IMO. The photo was released along with a written statement via McConnell's Senate web page.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

It's a good thing lindsey graham died, or else the collective disappointment over this fucker living would've sent the U.S. into open revolt

...shit

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] IEatDaFeesh@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago

If there was ever a time to use AI to cover the truth, it would be now.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] BioDriver@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Then meet with the Kentucky governor

[-] bedifferent@mastodon.social 13 points 1 day ago

@BioDriver @ChunkMcHorkle Still no proof. It looks like an old picture and about 7 years ago I said all it takes is a photochopped picture for magas to believe anything and that's been ongoing.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Objection@lemmy.ml 102 points 2 days ago

Say what you will about Lindsey Graham, but it was fucked up for them to drain his life energy to revive McConnell like that.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] stickly@lemmy.world 134 points 2 days ago

I just want to step back and appreciate the absurdity that, regardless of the cause, voters have absolutely no way to even initiate a replacement process for a senator that has failed to even show up in public (let alone do his job) for a month.

[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 98 points 2 days ago

Yes, and McConnell's not the only one. Thomas Kean, a Republican representative for NJ, just came back after four months of total silence about where he was or why he was gone, for example.

We're only hearing from McConnell now because if he had not done something to end the speculation about whether he was even alive, Gov. Beshear would have called a special election to fill his seat out from under him.

What REALLY grinds my gears, though, is that the ones doing it are Republicans, the ones repeatedly voting against those same protections for any one of us that might also have cause to be absent from work: they vote against universal healthcare, they vote against minimum paid leave, they vote against the entire social safety net at every chance they get.

The bastard smiling in that bed might as well be holding a piece of paper in his hand that says fuck you I got mine because that's exactly what it's a picture of.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Abyssian@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago

I wouldn't call this proof of life.

[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago

Inasmuch as this is only a single still, posed photo that was released along with a written statement via McConnell's Senate web page I wouldn't put too much stock in it.

Beyond the word of a handful of Republicans that say they have talked "with" him, McConnell still has not verifiably actually spoken to or with anyone since his hospitalization in mid-June.

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 3 points 20 hours ago

They say they talk to God too.

[-] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

In a word? Bullshit.

[-] generic_computers@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 day ago

OMG, can he just die already? Like seriously, c'mon.

[-] rayyy@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

He’s dead Jim. See Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch. Button down shirt in a hospital?? Where is the IV that everyone has in a hospital. Angles are all wrong. That photo is Ai as hell.

[-] anarchy79@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

He looks fresher and healthier than he's been in the past twenty fucking years.

NOTHING SUSPICIOUS ABOUT THAT.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

If that picture is genuine, then Mitch McConnell has had a stroke, and it's severe enough that he's still unilaterally paralyzed. Maybe he wasn't found for some time.

Look at his face. His left side (the side toward the woman) is sloughing. It also explains why she holds his left arm so inconspicuously. Old turtle face would fall over, if she didn't support him.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 176 points 2 days ago

"Sure."

Get a inperson interview and we'll believe it

load more comments (19 replies)
[-] treehugger6@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Who believes this? Wasn't his wife in China?

[-] anarchy79@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

She was so concerned about her husband's health she left the country.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] uberdroog@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

I need 10 minutes of full motion video and audio with questions from thrust d news orgs...or no

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago

What the fuck was his wife doing in China meeting with the top CCCP leaders?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] 58008@lemmy.world 56 points 2 days ago

Photos mean precisely fuck-all in today's world, unfortunately.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] slickgoat@lemmy.world 71 points 2 days ago

In the days of AI I'm not sure a photo counts. How about a live interview?

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 day ago

Strange place for her hand.

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago

oh, she had a drink in that hand.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (23 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
336 points (94.0% liked)

politics

30407 readers
2418 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS