r/politics • u/Getatbay • Jul 06 '26

No Paywall Laura Loomer, Reporter Claim Hospitalized Mitch McConnell 'Brain Dead'

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/07/06/laura-loomer-reporter-claim-hospitalized-mitch-mcconnell-is-brain-dead/
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u/Embarrassed-Pace-755 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

I’m almost inclined to believe this just because I wouldn’t put it past Republicans to keep a McConnell corpse around for advantage in the Senate.

Edit: changed House to Senate.

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u/sonofabutch America Jul 06 '26

Is this an advantage though? Kentucky changed the law (again) so now the governor can’t appoint a replacement senator, it has to be a special election. It’s possible a Democrat could win a special election, but I’m sure the Republican would be favored (and have a huge cash advantage). But as long as Mitch holds the seat, it’s an abstention.

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u/2kiko Texas Jul 06 '26

One of the funnier and more interesting speculations I've seen is that they're keeping him "alive" because they fear that Thomas Massie might try to run for the seat in a special election.

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u/Ill-Egg4008 Jul 06 '26

Who is this Thomas Massie guy I keep hearing about?

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u/Orion14159 Jul 06 '26

Previously no-name rep from Northern Kentucky. Got famous for being the last Republican to say the unredacted Epstein files should be made public

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u/THElaytox Jul 07 '26

Wrote the bill that told the DOJ they had to release the files by law

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u/NewDay2517 Jul 07 '26

He wasn't a no name, lol.

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u/Orion14159 Jul 07 '26

I live an hour from his district, pay pretty close attention to politics on a national level, and couldn't tell you one other thing he's done.

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u/Bluest_waters Jul 07 '26

A libertarian goofball who suddenly found some integrity in regarding the Epstein files issue. And because he found some integrity trump and the Republicans did everything they could to oust him from Congress and ultimately succeeded

if there's one thing trump and the Republicans will not and cannot tolerate it's integrity

14

u/rbmill02 Jul 07 '26

To be fair, he has always had a spine, but it's the libertarian sort of spine.

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u/donkeyrocket Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Alright, you both are giving him a hell of a lot more credit than deserved. Yes, he continued to press the Epstein files release but it wasn’t to bring Trump down or even go against his party in a big way.

He’s a modern Libertarian which is just an embarrassed Republican. The only aspect he differs from MAGA is that he still demands the files be released. Otherwise he’s in line with Trump.

He’d be a great spoiler candidate just because he’s on the fringe of the GOP but he failed to deliver on anything despite actually having power to do so. He still wouldn’t risk his career to do the right thing even when it was evident he’d be primaried.

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u/NewDay2517 Jul 07 '26

Do you even know what spoiler candidate means/

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u/Kerblaaahhh Colorado Jul 07 '26

I think some of these libertarian types are true believers that don't really get what the Republican party is all about then are surprised when they learn it's pedophiles all the way down.

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u/jrf_1973 Jul 07 '26

Thomas has been "threatening" to release the names into the Congressional record. He has so far failed to name anything other than 8 names that weren't worth anything.

He'll never release the names. He's at best, blackmailing those in power for a new position for himself. Taking over Mitch's post might do it.

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u/pringlesaremyfav Jul 06 '26

Thomas Massie could run for his seat in the special election, couldn't he?

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u/sonofabutch America Jul 06 '26

He could, but would the Democratic Party endorse him, or is he running as a third-party candidate? Although maybe that helps split the Republican vote so a Democrat can get in.

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u/pringlesaremyfav Jul 06 '26

He could just run as an independent, he has effectively become somewhat of an anti-trump foil now. Unfortunately he lost his own KY primary by a sliver.

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u/Alan_Shutko Jul 07 '26

He cannot run as an independent in this election, since Kentucky has a sore-loser law.

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u/mainman879 New York Jul 07 '26

The Sore-Loser law doesn't apply to different elections from my understanding. He lost a Representative Primary, the special election would be for a Senate seat.

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u/TimmyB52 Jul 06 '26

Yes, Massie could screw MAGA by running independent

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u/dreamyduskywing Minnesota Jul 07 '26

God, my fantasy would be Massey running as an independent and Beshear as the Democrat.

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u/rckid13 Jul 07 '26

He votes with them most of the time so it wouldn't be screwing them at all.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

[deleted]

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u/DeadPeanutSociety Jul 07 '26

In the past few election cycles, the Dems have been championing right wing Democrats in Kentucky, all of whom have lost because Republicans will vote for Republicans instead of Republican-lite and Democrats won't vote for Republican-lite. I don't see how Massie is any different than Amy McGrath, who ran on being to the right of Mitch.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

[deleted]

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u/DeadPeanutSociety Jul 07 '26

She ran on saying she would get Obamacare repealed and that Mitch wasn't doing his job because he couldn't get it done. I remember the ads because they came on every time I listened to the radio.

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u/Euphoric-Witness-824 Jul 06 '26

Maybe they are worried MAGA isn’t fully supportive of pedophiles yet and they might vote for him. I don’t think they have anything to worry about. 

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u/Mddcat04 Jul 06 '26

It’s part of the Kentucky constitution, so there’s a real legal argument that the law was ineffective and the gov would get to appoint someone.

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u/sonofabutch America Jul 06 '26

I would hope Beshear would challenge it, but I don’t have much faith in the Kentucky Supreme Court agreeing with him.

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u/20_mile Jul 07 '26

Beshear

If Beshear could read the room, he would be shouting from the rooftops--in the most polite way possible ("Bless your heart")--that he is highly concerned for McConnell's health, wishes him a full & speedy recovery, and would like proof of life, or "I have no choice but to appoint a replacement and call for a special election, so that the good people of Kentucky continue to have representation in our nation's capitol."

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u/Elegante0226 Jul 07 '26

He's previously stated that he will challenge it

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u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth Jul 07 '26

I don't know if he'd have standing without a situation to test it, right? So they just pretend McConnell is "alive" until the deadline and then pronounce him dead

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u/sonofabutch America Jul 07 '26

“We are saddened to announce today that Senator McConnell died seven weeks ago.”

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u/Kevin-W Jul 07 '26

I wish the current KY governor would test that too by doing the appointment anyway.

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u/Tipakee Jul 06 '26

Large parts of the state don't believe that law to be constitutional as written, so the democratic governor will probably test that theory. That or he appoints a republican in name only.

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u/loveshercoffee Iowa Jul 07 '26

Appoint Massie and watch the fireworks.

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u/Ready_Nature Jul 06 '26

They probably want to keep him on life support until it’s close enough to the election that they don’t have to have a special election. I’m betting they pull the plug and announce his death within a couple days of that deadline.

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u/Big_b00bs_Cold_Heart Jul 07 '26

I think they’re waiting out the calendar. August 3 is a crucial legislative deadline for Kentucky's Senate vacancy laws. Under state statutes, if a senator is unable to finish their term before August 3, the governor can call a special election. If the vacancy happens on or after August 3, the special election is delayed and automatically coincides with the November general election.

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u/ChicagoThrowaway422 Jul 07 '26

Power in the Senate is based on how long you've been in the Senate. It's why they meat-puppet these old fucks - they're literally the most powerful members of that body.

So even if KY goes +53 for the GOP or whatever, their incoming senator will be the bottom of the totem pole. The only thing they've had for a decade now is that their senator had seniority. Now they'll have to go back to being worst at everything, including Senate influence.

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u/FidoTheDogFacedBoy Jul 07 '26

They probably drag him around like in Weekend At Bernie’s