Mitch McConnell's Silence About Health After Fall Raises Questions

Mitch McConnell and his team have not made a public statement for eight days, after the Senate Minority Leader was rushed to hospital after falling at a dinner event, raising questions about his health and the Republican leadership in Congress.

While the Republican from Kentucky has received well wishes from across the political spectrum, some compared the public treatment of his illness to that another senator, John Fetterman, received after admitting himself to a medical center to be treated for depression.

McConnell became the longest-serving party leader in U.S. history this year and has been a fixture of the U.S. senate since 1984. While among the more conservative Republicans, he has been seen as a pragmatist and gained a reputation as a skilled political strategic mind.

When the news of his fall was announced, U.S. President Joe Biden wished him a "speedy recovery" and said he and Jill "look forward to seeing him back on the Senate floor."

On March 9, David Popp, McConnell's communications director, stated that his boss had been admitted to the hospital to be treated for a concussion. On March 13, he added that McConnell's recovery was "proceeding well" and that he had been discharged from the hospital that day.

Medical staff were also treating McConnell for a minor rib fracture, Popp said, adding: "At the advice of his physician, the next step will be a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility before he returns home."

But since then, there have been no public statements made from his office. Senator John Thune, the Republican senate whip and second-in-command to McConnell, told reporters on March 15 that he had kept in touch with his superior via text, but had not spoken directly with the legislator for Kentucky.

"I have not spoken with him," Thune said, according to USA Today. "I have communicated with him, but I look forward to making that happen."

"Pretty weird how few updates there've been about Mitch McConnell's health!" Marisa Kabas, an MSNBC columnist, tweeted on Friday. "He's the senate minority leader! Where are the details?"

The following day, she added: "It just feels like there's a cone of silence around McConnell's condition and people who cover the hill are giving his staff and Senate Republicans way too much deference. Weeks in the hospital/rehab is not routine. It means something quite serious happened."

A spokesperson for McConnell declined to give an update on his health to Wave News, a Louisville, Kentucky-based outlet, on March 15. However, Darryl Kaelin, a rehab clinic medical director, said his time in a rehabilitation center would be spent working "on his thinking, his balance, his coordination, his ability to take care of himself."

When asked to comment, a spokesperson for McConnell reissued the March 13 statement to Newsweek. However, it is understood that it is common for the type of therapy he is receiving to last between a week and two weeks and the timing of his exit from rehab will be made by his physicians and therapists.

In McConnell's absence, speculation has grown at how long the 81-year-old will continue to lead the GOP senate caucus.

One unnamed GOP senator told The Hill that others had "half-jokingly" wondered if potential replacements had started counting votes.

Meanwhile, they said that the caucus was in "a state of limbo," adding: "Nobody really knows what the situation is and nobody knows how long he'll be gone. A couple of folks have said: 'Who's in charge right now?'"

At the same time, comparisons have been drawn between the minimal public discourse around McConnell's health and that of Fetterman, who is currently being treated for his mental health at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Fetterman has been described as a "vegetable" by Donald Trump Jr. and Republicans in his home state of Pennsylvania have demanded a video "to show us he is alive." The freshman Democrat senator suffered a stroke during the midterm primaries in 2022 and is still recovering from its effects.

"Glad Senator John Fetterman is doing so well," Kaivan Shroff, a Democrat commentator, wrote on Saturday. "But worth noting the same people who demanded minute by minute updates on his health are awfully quiet about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's health status post-concussion."

"Where's the GOP Fetterman-level outrage over Mitch McConnell?" another user tweeted on Friday.