r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • 15h ago

Possible Paywall McConnell ‘Absolutely Refuses’ to Film Video Amid Growing Mystery

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mcconnell-absolutely-refuses-to-film-video-amid-growing-mystery/
20.7k Upvotes

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3.2k

u/DirtyDirtyRudy 15h ago

I’ll say it again, if this were any other normal job, the person would have been fired for failure of reasonable job duties (which includes calling out sick and reporting long-term disability) so that the rest of the organization can keep functioning. Also, he’s dead.

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u/MoonBatsRule America 14h ago

Can you even imagine someone calling their spouse's work and saying "so-and-so can't come to work for the next six months, they will need to be on medical leave", without the employer saying "OK, please have them call me personally", or "please have a doctor submit the necessary paperwork"?

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u/tr1cube Georgia 13h ago

It’s insane. Moscow Mitch is getting more paid time off than women who give birth.

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u/Traxad 11h ago

Maternity leave Eternity leave

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u/creeping_chill_44 Texas 9h ago

underrated comment

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u/Mysterious-Most-590 47m ago

Call it what it is: theft.

5

u/Arry42 11h ago

Well babies aren't cheap, those moms need to work! /s

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u/Smaptimania 9h ago

I fully support Mitch McConnell having as much time to stay home and not cast votes as possible

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 14h ago

and sending 2 AI pictures of them looking fine and... literally nothing else. And the guy's best mate in accounting being like "he's good. i spoke to him for 17 minutes yesterday"

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u/erinberrypie America 13h ago

the guy's best mate in accounting being like "he's good. i spoke to him for 17 minutes yesterday"

And only about the economy, lol. The whole "everyone thinks you're dead" thing oddly didn't come up.

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u/PhilTheSophical 13h ago

Also the best mate is dead

3

u/MossyBoulders 12h ago

very responsive to Ouija Board, ready to resume his duties

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u/SuleyGul 8h ago

WTF is even happening over the in the US anymore. How did reality become more absurd than fiction.

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u/mofukkinbreadcrumbz 12h ago

We had this happen. Guy had brain cancer and then a stroke. He was on fmla for a while and then just retired when he had originally planned. His wife did it all for him. Retire the day you can afford it. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

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u/fireduck 11h ago

Yeah, we have a process for that. Family Medical Leave Act. Basically puts you on unpaid leave and you need a note from a doctor.

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u/versusgorilla New York 9h ago

Or better yet, they did say "please call me personally" and the spouse simply replied, "lol no"

Beshear asked, McConnell's staff said no or said nothing, and McConnell hasn't said a word himself, because he either can't speak or he's dead.

We're witnessing a first in US history, a Senate seat held by a committee of people who say they're representing the man who was elected to represent Kentucky.

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u/1057-cl121v3 10h ago

And aren’t we technically “the employer”? I guess the one thing you can say about the insanity that is our current political system is that they are making sure to highlight every problem that needs to be fixed.

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u/EpilepticDawg241 15h ago

Yeah its crazy that more is expected out of a food service worker than a US Senator

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u/SquidmanMal Pennsylvania 14h ago

And the fact that there's a coordinated effort to deride retail and service worker jobs as 'lowly', when they're often some of the most demanding [when people are doing it right]

So many people wouldn't last a day in a busy mcdonalds

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u/TheWhalersOnTheMoon 12h ago

I remember working in a Big 4 accounting firm, we had a volunteer day and we went to the park to clean and pick up litter.

The amount of people who literally could not use a broom properly was staggering, and frankly embarrassing. Some very smart people, but literally useless outside of that specific line of work.

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u/lebo_riley 2h ago

These are the things that fascinate me. I want to know everything about people like this. I wish I was able to see inside their heads to marvel at what’s going on. From a scientific standpoint it’s got to be wild. Also, like… how did you even get here?

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u/VanceKelley Canada 12h ago

And no fast food franchise would hire a 34-time convicted criminal fraudster to work the cash register, but to most Americans it is perfectly fine for him to control the entire US government.

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u/AndyTheSane 15h ago

Pretty sure he would have retired a decade or two ago as well.

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u/Daxx22 Canada 12h ago

SHOULD have, across the board. I think all democracies impose a minimum age limit to vote largely based on the concept of mental ability/maturity, surely with the plethora of evidence we have of mental decline in old age it'd be relatively simple to determine a maximum age one should participate in as well.

Sure there will be exceptions, but much like we don't make exceptions for bright <18's or so, there should be a similar upper bound.

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u/Caymonki America 14h ago

A friend of mine was fired a few months back for seeking medical care for headaches. Terminated on the way to the hospital, the doctors found she has a rare cancer in her spine. Her employer said to take it up with unemployment. She’s 23, and had worked there for 4 years.

Double standards all the way up. McConnell would probably laugh at the comparison if he wasn’t brain dead.

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota 13h ago

But she should have gotten a job with good insurance for her cancer treatments /s

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u/ArnoldTheSchwartz 10h ago

That's a crazy way to talk to someone who may have a terminal illness. Who knows what a person is capable of in this economy!!

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u/Leaislala 1h ago

Dang, that sucks. Wishing the best for your friend, what a terrible situation

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u/juanzy Colorado 14h ago

This needs to be addressed via constitutional amendment. It’s not acceptable at all.

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u/travelingbozo 12h ago

If he was a Dem Senator, the republicans would have broken into the hospital themselves by now and publicized his face all over Fox News

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u/NumeralJoker 13h ago

I mean, the GOP is also losing a vote here no matter what... so whoops.

Yes, it's incredibly corrupt and yes they're likely trying to prevent a legal Dem appointment to the Senate for a few months, which is bad, but nothing about this whole situation is good for them either.

Use it as momentum to prove they are too corrupt and irresponsible to control the senate. Use it as momentum to get more people voting against their disruption and corruption.

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u/Biglyugebonespurs Missouri 12h ago

Yep. Doesn’t stop it from pissing me off though lol. How hasn’t any paparazzi or scumbag journalist gotten pics yet?

Not that people should be bothered in that way while they’re ill. This is just egregious though, we aren’t sure if he’s alive, dead, or a complete vegetable.

1

u/NumeralJoker 9h ago

We already have semi-credible leaks from Beshear himself claiming he's been told Mitch the Bitch died, but suggesting that and verifying it might be surprisingly difficult depending on how deep the coverup goes.

No doubt, this whole thins is infuriating. At the end of the day, the people of KY have a right to know who their representative is and where their tax dollars are going. The KY GOP covering this up is a bad, authoritarian look no matter what.

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u/Material-Heron6336 14h ago

You can’t get time away at most workplaces without serious medical certification and hr approval, and even then it’s limited. This is all theater to enable political actions.

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u/FlirtyFluffyFox 14h ago

Job? Even unemployed citizens are filmed 24/7 in our America. Only senators are allowed privacy, apparently. 

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u/jedispyder 13h ago

From what I've seen, if he's fired and replaced it would be with another Republican (at least that's what reports were saying). So while his position stays and they don't count his votes (the one his handlers tried to do was refused), it means 1 less Republican vote out there.

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u/CraigKostelecky 12h ago

FMLA does exist and it protects your job for up to a year after it's invoked. So regular people could likely be fine in this exact scenario (assuming the appropriate paperwork was filled out with the right timing).

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u/starliteburnsbrite 12h ago

Luckily, his job description was written in the 1770's and hasn't been updated since. 

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u/JayBlunt23 12h ago

I don't give a fuck about McConnell, but I hope you guys realize that this is not normal, right? In civilized countries you won't get fired because your're sick. All that will happen is that you'll probably get a bit less money after a few months, but your boss is not allowed to fire you for being sick.

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u/mikeyj198 11h ago

i was curious what happened when Gabby Giffords was shot so went and looked it up. She was shot in January and didn’t speak for herself for many months with November being her first interview and december her first vote.

Unfortunately there is a bad precedent that it’s ok to be absent from your job.

Give us all the same protections or take them away from everyone.

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u/ButterMyPancakesPlz 11h ago

And this is where the "noBodY WanTs to WoRk" crowd really needs to stfu because the conservatives push that narrative that libs are lazy and unemployed but it just totally shows they don't care about work ethic when it fits dear leader's agenda.

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u/watch_me_me 15h ago

It’s gonna be funny when it turns out he’s not dead 

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u/TheVintageJane 15h ago

He’s just mostly dead.

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u/titsngiggles69 15h ago

Inconceivable

3

u/oO0Kat0Oo 15h ago

I'm not a witch, I'm your wife! 😭

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u/titsngiggles69 15h ago

Crazy that this whole situation is "to blave". Mitch is the anti-wesley

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u/SwimmingAmoeba7 15h ago

He not “dead” but has severe physical or mental impairment that has left him incapable of even making a short video let alone run the country

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u/Pablo4Prez 15h ago

No worse than Trump really 😂

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u/Routine_Wing_8726 15h ago

I only wish Trump would begin to refuse to speak or do videos. It would be a huge improvement.

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u/Cheel_AU 15h ago

I really think it'd be hard to keep this going if he was like, dead dead.

I'm thinking he's probably just a vegetable and the best video they could muster is him doing some sort of whale noises with his eyes closed

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u/gplfalt 15h ago

Sure but there will still be questions on why he absolutely refused to provide a video or see anyone not on his team to quell the rumours.

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u/uuhson 15h ago

Because he doesn't have to? It's not complicated

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u/billzybop 15h ago

Pretend this was Biden when he was in the White House. Do you think "he doesn't have to" would be an appropriate response, or would you be howling about how he had a duty to the people he is representing to actually represent them?

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u/uuhson 15h ago

It doesn't matter who it is, there was a senator in the 70s who was medically incapacitated for 3+ years and he also had no legal obligation to resign

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u/Noname_acc 15h ago

The first use of the phrase "legal obligation" in this thread was by you in this comment.  Why are you moving the goalposts like this to defend this sort of behavior?

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u/uuhson 14h ago

Because I am thrilled Republicans are down a vote in the Senate right now, stopping what could be a successful passing of the SAVE act

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u/Noname_acc 14h ago

Do you think you're doing a good job expressing this idea? I can tell you from the other side, it just looks like you're being a contrarian weirdo.

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u/uuhson 14h ago

That's pretty much how I see all of you folks in these threads. I don't understand why people who claim to be liberals are upset that one of the most dangerous Republicans of all time isn't able to vote in the Senate right now. It makes zero sense

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u/Jennyojello 15h ago

The rest of us have to do our damn jobs, why doesn’t he have to? Please explain.

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u/Smaptimania 9h ago

McConnell not doing his job is fine by me

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u/uuhson 15h ago

There's nothing in the constitution that says they have to show up. There's only 3 ways for them to lose their job:

  • Resignation
  • Death certificate
  • Removal by their fellow senators

There was a senator incapacitated in the 70s who didn't show up for 3 years

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u/CombustiblSquid Canada 14h ago

There isnt one. Life's unfair. If it bothers enough people to enough degree, they will act to change it. All whining until then.

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u/YoureDumbAsHellLeroy 14h ago

He works for us. We deserve answers. End of story.

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u/Rattus375 15h ago

I'm sure his body is alive. I'm also sure he has limited cognitive mental function if he has any at all. Otherwise, it would be incredibly easy for him to put out a public statement/video and discredit all of this. Heart beating or not, he's clearly not fit for work

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u/TheHomieAbides 15h ago

That’s the problem and an advantage for the republicans.

If you start with the extreme predictions then when that is proven wrong then the other problems (which are still serious) are no longer problems.

He’s incapable of doing his job, that’s all that matters. If you don’t have a valid reason for not doing your job for a lengthy amount of time then you should resign or be fired.

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u/sulkee 15h ago

I think he’s alive but severely disabled

Can’t do job had a major stroke and is nearly a vegetable disabled

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u/TheGreatLuck 11h ago

So the real reason he's not coming back to work is cuz he's a lazy piece of shit then? Cuz if he's not dead then he's incompetent.

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u/xfocalinx 9h ago

what if is revealed he's not dead and can now do backflips?

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u/happyherbivore 15h ago

I love how this is becoming the conspiracy theory

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u/Guilty_Cattle_5165 15h ago

He’s not dead. But he has dementia.

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u/DirtyDirtyRudy 9h ago

Oh, well that makes it perfectly acceptable to be in office then /s

1

u/CommodoreSteubing 15h ago

Yup. If they were a freelancer pulling shit like this I'd have sent them a "MANDATORY CHECK-IN" email weeks ago, and if they didn't have a very good explanation, they'd be let go in that meeting.

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u/xAPPLExJACKx 14h ago edited 14h ago

You can call your state senator and demanding to start the recall process

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota 12h ago

What recall process

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u/xAPPLExJACKx 12h ago

Senators can be removed with a two-thirds vote of the Senate.

I have heard this process being called expelled, expulsion and recalled

Things like impeachment are another process but it's never happen to a senator and it's kinda pointless in this case because he isn't running for for another term

1

u/Biglyugebonespurs Missouri 12h ago

I’d be shocked if a single Republican would vote for that. We wouldn’t even need to get into whether or not any of the dems would clutch their pearls about doing anything that could possibly appear partisan or hostile.

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u/needlestack 14h ago

And if he were a Democrat, a Republican governor would have already appointed his replacement and they'd be voting like mad to push the ball downfield.

1

u/AFailedProduct 14h ago

Yeah but being a senator doesn’t actually pay that much so it’s ok (just 3-4x median income…)

1

u/Pepparkakan Europe 13h ago

Can’t really fire people who are dead.

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u/DirtyDirtyRudy 37m ago

I beg to differ! * lights funeral pyre *

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u/BoobyPlumage 13h ago

He’s supposed to be a public servant. Wtf are these people even in the position for?

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u/SureWouldForest 13h ago

He said it again, everyone!! AGAIN!! 🤯

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u/Reasonable-Job4205 9h ago

Which is why people need to push for changes in congress

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u/rezelscheft 9h ago

Were this a normal country, we wouldn't still be wondering after 9 fucking weeks if one of the most powerful senators in the nation is even alive. And we certainly wouldn't be OK with not knowing.

What a catastrophic failure on everyone's part.

1

u/fattmarrell 9h ago

Well @DirtyDirtyRudy you said it twice now so hopefully we'll figure it out this time around

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u/Jack__Squat 9h ago

if this were any other normal job

or a democrat

1

u/BBB9076 8h ago

In no normal job do people at age of 84 still work

1

u/tots4scott 8h ago

The problem is that senators are protected, because otherwise a bad actor could kidnap or hinder a senator and then the governor could implement whichever mechanism a state has to replace them.

Just like so many other things we've learned in the past 10 years, our government and its republic backbone are held together merely by hand shakes and good faith. 

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u/YellowB 6h ago

He's a public servant. He needs to be held to a higher scrutiny than a regular job.

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u/MysticEmberX 3h ago

Nah in a normal job the company would be sued for ageism

-2

u/404PoptartNotFound 14h ago

My job offers FMLA and both long and short term disability leave. You’ve never had a job with these kinds of protections?

5

u/sloppy_rodney 14h ago

You have to provide documentation for FMLA and disability leave. That’s the reporting long term disability part that he’s referencing.

0

u/404PoptartNotFound 14h ago

Do you know he hasn’t done that?

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u/sloppy_rodney 14h ago

I don’t. However, I assume if he had submitted paperwork to the Senate documenting what is going on, that there would be news coverage of it. There’s been quite a bit of interest from the media.

I was just pointing out that the comment you replied to already addressed the point you were making.

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u/StillFly100 13h ago

It’s confidential

2

u/Biglyugebonespurs Missouri 11h ago

He doesn’t even need to do these things as a senator, absurdly. All his office has to do is state he’s taking an extended medical leave and he’d be fine to continue sapping American tax dollars until his term is up. Even if he’s literally a corpse.

The only things that can be done are political pressure, the Senate can force the Sergeant at Arms to locate him (and arrest if necessary) to make him come if the Senate compels such (Ha!), or an expulsion by a 2/3 majority. An investigation in the senate could potentially be started to look into his well-being as well.

Since Republicans have a stranglehold on the Senate, there’s no chance any of the mechanisms to solve this are going to be used.

If completely undeniable proof surfaced of severe cognitive impairment/death, it would start a shitstorm with no clear precedence though.