The president of the United States, leader of the Republican Party, commander in chief of the most sophisticated intelligence apparatus on the planet, says he has "no idea" how Mitch McConnell is doing. Cool. Very normal stuff.
As Conservative Brief reported, Donald Trump appeared on Newsmax with Greg Kelly on Monday evening and once again said he is basically in the dark about the former Senate GOP leader's condition. McConnell has been hospitalized in Washington, D.C., for about a month now after initial reports said he suffered a cardiac arrest requiring CPR. This came just a day after Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly of the same illness.
McConnell's office released a photo and statement on Monday claiming the senator had actually suffered a fall and developed a mild case of pneumonia during rehab. You know, the kind of clarification that raises more questions than it answers.
When Kelly asked Trump what he was hearing about McConnell's outlook, the president did what he does best: pivoted immediately to grievances. "Well, I don't hear much. You know, never...never a huge fan," Trump said before launching into complaints about McConnell opposing the Save America Act. He rattled off voter ID, proof of citizenship, and no mail-in ballots as key provisions McConnell supposedly opposes, then tacked on at the end like an afterthought: "I hope he's gonna be fine. I don't know if he's fine, but I simply hope he's gonna be fine."
Nothing says heartfelt concern like sandwiching a get-well wish between complaints about someone's voting record.
But the real intrigue here is the photo drama. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin went on Real America's Voice and said a source told him the hospital photo released by McConnell's office may not have been taken during his current hospitalization. Host Eric Bolling flat out asked whether he believed McConnell was actually the one who authorized the image of himself and wife Elaine Chao.
"I just heard from some other source that was an older photo. So, I really don't know. I haven't talked to Mitch," Johnson said. He then offered the kind of diplomacy you deploy when you just publicly questioned whether a colleague's proof-of-life photo is authentic: "I certainly wish he and his family well."
Johnson did reflect on McConnell's lengthy Senate career with some genuine warmth, saying it is sad to watch people age regardless of who they are. He noted he has served alongside McConnell for 16 years and acknowledged that despite their disagreements, McConnell loves the country and reveres the Senate.
So to recap: the former Senate leader has been hospitalized for a month, the president says he has no clue what is going on, a sitting senator thinks the hospital photo might be old, and everyone is just sort of shrugging and hoping for the best. Washington really does run like a well-oiled machine.
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