Is this why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell freezes up during public appearances?
Two different doctors proposed a similar explanation for McConnell’s abrupt silence and unresponsiveness during two separate news conferences.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a neurologist connected with New York University’s Langone Medical Center, indicated on Fox News on Wednesday that the Republican Senate leader has Parkinson’s disease.
“I have to tell you, at the top of that list, and again I haven’t examined him and I don’t have any background on this — except I’ve talked to some people in Congress and in the Senate — would be Parkinson’s disease.”
“That, in its later stages, can give you a freeze,” Siegel said of McConnell’s behavior, pointing out that the senator’s staffers hadn’t reacted with alarm bells.
On Wednesday, McConnell fell inattentive and frozen for the second time in two months while speaking at a public event in Covington, Kentucky.
BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV
— Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023
The incident occurred after McConnell became similarly inattentive in the halls of the Capitol.
In a CNN interview, neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offered a similar explanation for McConnell’s issues, though he left up a number of other options.
“There’s a lot of things that can sort of come to mind.”
Gupta also pointed out that McConnell’s aides hadn’t reacted with surprise, suggesting that the problems were “ongoing.”
“Someone who has a Parkinsonian-like condition, for example, whose medications are wearing off, or something like that.”
This is why we need term limits and we need them now.
