Mitch McConnell Keeps Falling. Why Not Retire Already?

In case you missed it, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was talking and then froze in silence for 30 seconds during a press conference yesterday and was ushered away with no explanation. It was concerning since, tragically, he’s a political leader and has some power in this country.

The odd moment might garner more sympathy if this man hadn’t devoted his entire political career to making life harder for everyone and as a personal rule, if I didn’t say anything nice about you before you got sick, I won’t tend to say anything nice about you after, either. Anyway, here’s a video of it if you’re curious:

It’s now come out that McConnell, who is 81 years old, has fallen quite a bit in the past year. Per CNN:

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who froze during a news conference Wednesday and earlier this year suffered a concussion after falling down, has also endured two other falls this year, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

I will reiterate. This man is 81 years old. He is worth an estimated $30 million according to Forbes. He has fallen multiple times this year. At what point do you have a hard conversation with yourself and admit your health is failing, you’re past the average life expectancy of an American man, and you have f***-you money so you don’t need to work? I am less than half the age of McConnell, and I dream of the day I no longer have to work and can start drinking white wine spritzers at lunch and enjoy my life without any accountability to a job. Who wants to work or have responsibilities when you have the means to not have to?!

Additionally, let’s be blunt here: McConnell has f***ed this country for at least a generation if not more by denying Merrick Garland a seat on the Supreme Court, stacking the federal courts with conservative judges, and generally blocking all measures toward social progress in the Senate. If you are not a terrible person, you are horrified by all of this. However, put yourself into the mind of a horrible person—Mitch McConnell specifically—and he’s won, man. It sucks to admit it, but this guy has accomplished his terrible agenda in absolute terms. So in that regard, what else is there for him to reasonably do? The 2024 map for the Democrats in the Senate only has three seats in danger: Jon Tester (MT), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Joe Manchin (WV). When Republicans have underperformed in polls since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, why stake your life on this just so you can be Senate Majority Leader again?! He’s got a wife he presumably loves, and children that maybe he should try to build bridges with again before his time runs out. Why stick around the Senate?! What else is there left for him to accomplish ruin?!

Perhaps it’s a good thing I can’t put myself into the mind of McConnell. There is something pathetic about a man who refuses to leave power, even when stepping away would most likely enrich what is left of his life and allow him to spend time with people he (hopefully) cares about.

It is galling, however, that the pundits are silent today about calling for him to step down when they’ve been so vocal about Dianne Feinstein‘s failing health. Whether that’s sexism, or the double standard Republicans enjoy as the bearers of destruction, I’m not sure. However, I am resolute in this: I want to work for as little as possible and reap maximum enjoyment from my life. Working past my current age of late-30’s is not conducive to that, let alone working into my 80s (McConnell) or 90s (Feinstein). I just don’t get it. Doesn’t anyone else have the dream of white wine spritzer o’clock starting at noon and having nowhere else to be for the rest of the day!?

(Featured image: Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)