Senator Mitch McConnell has been in the hospital since June 14 following a medical emergency at his Washington, D.C., home, and his office has shared approximately zero useful details about his condition. But as Trending Politics reported, somebody at the McConnell residence has their priorities in order, because a TMZ producer staking out the house on Friday watched a man walk out the front door carrying carpet samples.
Not a doctor. Not a staffer with a medical update. A guy with swatches. The producer spoke with the man off camera and learned that new tiles may also be on the table. So while the 84 year old Kentucky Republican remains hospitalized and the entire political world speculates about whether he is okay, someone in that house is apparently browsing flooring options like it is a lazy Saturday at Home Depot.
The hospitalization itself has been shrouded in silence. Paramedics responded to a report of an unconscious person at McConnell's residence on the morning of June 14, according to dispatch audio previously reported by multiple outlets. CNN obtained video showing emergency responders wheeling a person on a stretcher toward an ambulance outside the home, though the person's face was not visible. A neighbor who filmed the scene told CNN there was no obvious sense of panic or urgency from the emergency crews.
McConnell's office has said only that he was admitted to the hospital and was receiving "excellent care." That is the political equivalent of replying "fine" when someone asks how you are doing while your house is on fire.
The information vacuum has, predictably, attracted the worst takes imaginable. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went fully off the rails this week, claiming McConnell was a vegetable and attacking his wife, Elaine Chao, for being overseas during the hospitalization. Greene described Chao as his "Communist Chinese spy" wife, which is a sentence that somehow made it out of a sitting congresswoman's mouth and into the public record.
On the other end of the spectrum, Republican commentator Scott Jennings pushed back on the darker rumors, saying he recently spoke with McConnell by phone for "just shy of 20 minutes" and that the senator was lucid enough to discuss current events. So at least one person claims to have had a normal conversation with the man, which is more than most people can say about half the Senate on any given Tuesday.
President Donald Trump, for his part, said earlier this week that he had "no idea" how McConnell was doing. McConnell is not seeking reelection but has said he intends to serve out the rest of his term.
So to recap the current state of affairs: McConnell is in the hospital, his office will not say why, Greene is calling people vegetables and spies, Trump knows nothing, and somebody is redecorating the house. If you were writing a political satire and pitched this scene, your editor would tell you it was too on the nose. And yet here we are, watching a man leave the home of one of the most powerful senators in American history with carpet samples tucked under his arm like it is the most normal thing in the world.
Read more breaking news stories at: Trending Politics News
