Is Mitch McConnell Dead?

The big terrarium in the sky beckons

Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old Kentucky senator whose term expires on January 3, 2027, may expire before that.

His status and whereabouts have become as big of a state secret as anything in the CIA’s vaults. Two weeks ago, on the morning of June 14, he was found unconscious at his D.C. home and rushed to the hospital, after an EMS call reporting a cardiac arrest at his address and that he’d been given CPR.

We only learned of the incident this week, after the emergency dispatch audio was published by Desiree Townsend, an independent journalist. Previously, all McConnell’s office had said was that he was in the hospital and “receiving excellent care.”

So has he gone to the big turtle terrarium in the sky? Your guess is as good as mine.

In other words, the senior senator responsible for representing a state of over four million people went MIA and you’re not allowed to know why, or well, anything. And it’s not the only case this month or even this week of secrecy surrounding the whereabouts of those in Congress.

There’s 83-year-old Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, who disappeared on April 17, and went radio silent for nearly a month without any public explanation. When she finally emerged on May 13, her office released a statement and local TV interviews attributing her 40‑plus missed votes to major left‑eye surgery and doctor’s orders not to fly. True? Who knows.

And then there’s Rep. Tom Kean of New Jersey, who emerged on Tuesday from a nearly four-month disappearance — missing 140 votes — that he never explained until his return. He now says he was suffering from clinical depression. (I would be too if I was in Congress.)

Medical issues happen, of course. I’m not saying they’re disqualifying of elected officials; but the lack of any serious attempt to keep people informed about where public servants even are reveals their contempt for the people they’re supposed to represent. Or a completely broken system.

Ask yourself: In what other line of work do people get to ghost their employers for weeks or even months without explanation and keep their jobs?

It only seems normal in the case of Congress because we’re so used to it.

As a reporter it is literally easier for me to find out classified Pentagon war plans than what’s going on in Congress.

This isn’t going to be fixed with any policy or paperwork mandating transparency, which Congress would probably find some way to get around. As with the gerontocracy in general, the problem is symptomatic of the fact that Congress doesn’t respect us. The solution, therefore, is to make them.

Frederica Wilson, the congresswoman who disappeared for her “eye surgery,” came clean about her disappearance only after a huge public backlash. And to her credit, she announced her retirement thereafter as well.

With July 4 around the corner, I’m thinking about Independence Day and what we have yet to gain independence from. Two things come to mind: the ingrained secrecy of officialdom, as seen in these congressional disappearances, and the tyranny of political parties. The latter is related because the stranglehold that the Republican and Democratic parties have over our civic life is so powerful.

Not only do elected officials stay on too long or hide from the public to keep power, but they clearly feel they are powerful enough to get away with it.

Political parties are obviously necessary, but we can and should do a lot more to make them fear us. George Washington in his farewell address said as much, urging “the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage” the power of political parties.

On a lighter note, enjoy your holiday weekend. I suspect we have a funny Trump tweet saying sayonara to McConnell to look forward to.

— Edited by William M. Arkin