On Thursday, a prominent political analyst warned that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate staffers are engaged in an "ongoing, elaborate cover-up" to conceal the cognitive decline of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY). This is according to political science professor Tom Schaller, who warned that McConnell is "obviously and irreversibly incapacitated" and that Republicans are going to "absurd" lengths to hide it.
"Mitch McConnell is unfit to serve in the US Senate and should resign immediately — that is, presuming he’s lucid enough to wittingly make that decision," writes Schaller, asserting that the Senator's "profound cognitive decline" is "indisputable," and that "his staffers and Senate majority leader John Thune’s office are violating the public’s trust by pretending McConnell can ably serve his constituents and the nation." In Schaller's estimation, "McConnell would never be allowed to drive a car, babysit young children, or file his own taxes. Why, then, should a cognitively incapacitated 82-year-old retain one of the most important positions of power within the national government?"
According to Schaller, "What’s galling about McConnell’s case is that his family and staff shielded him from public view for three months," as he and his staff were collecting salaries and benefits all the while. This and other recent cases suggest, says Schaller, that "there should be some means other than impeachment to remove members of Congress derelict for extended periods, whether by choice or incapacitation." Strangely, while the U.S. has such a mechanism to remove the president, the situation is harder for Congress. And there are multiple cases of lawmakers on the lamb. Schaller points to the examples of "Republican House members Kay Granger of Texas and Tom Kean of New Jersey. Granger, who in 2023 disappeared from public view and ceased to cast votes in Congress well into 2024, had been living in a memory care institution that specializes in dementia. More recently, Kean abandoned his duties for four months to battle depression."
"Granger then and McConnell now have almost zero chance of cognitive recovery. Citizens can express empathy for members of Congress battling cognitive decline yet also expect them to resign when a politician’s incapacitation causes an extended absence." According to Schaller, it is apparent that "McConnell has reached that point. Recall that he twicefroze like a zombie during a press availability. Unable to speak or react in any sentient way, nervous staffers had to whisk McConnell away from the cameras. Clearly, he was incapacitated before he was hospitalized three months ago."
Now, alleges Schaller, faced with the prospect of losing the Senator's voting power, "his staff and Thune’s Senate majority office are engaged in an ongoing, elaborate cover-up." With all this in mind, Schaller concludes, "The politicians and staffers closest to him should have the decency to allow him to retire peacefully among family and friends. Instead, they’re propping him up like the title character in 'Weekend at Bernie’s,' a revolting disservice to the Senator, his Kentucky constituents, Congress, and the American public."