Truth in Politics

I'm publishing this in the Horror community because American politics feels like a House of Horrors now and because this note has been sitting in my drafts for too long. Besides, I've found a fitting image to go with the story. What could be better than a reference to Walking Dead, one of the most successful horror TV shows, in an image and story to be published in October, the month of Halloween and horrors?

I watched the saga with Mitch McConnell's health on social media very closely. Mostly because I follow politics and you couldn't escape this story if you followed politics.

As a reminder, McConnell was hospitalized following a fall on June 14, 2026, that left him unconscious for some time. He later needed to be treated for pneumonia. McConnell disappeared from the public eye for exactly 92 days and was wheeled into the Senate on September 14, to vote on Farm Bill that had been pushed hard by the GOP and Trump and desperately needed his vote.

During his hospitalization and rehabilitation (if you can call it that), McConnell's office maintained a strict media blackout. There were virtually no updates on his health on social media or elsewhere. And the first published "proof of life" update with the newspaper dated the day of the picture's release caused an avalanche of conspiratorial assumptions inspired by the spy novels. The GOP's tight control over McConnell's health updates was unprecedented and outrageous in itself because McConnell is a public servant and his voters have the right to know what is going on with his health and how well he represents them in the Senate.

Too many of my liberal friends were sure that McConnell had died and the news of his health progress was staged. Why? - Obviously, because the GOP did not want to lose McConnell's seat even for several months before the midterm elections as the Democratic Governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear would have surely appointed a Democrat as an interim senator (never mind that the GOP has done exactly that with Lindsey Graham's sister).

I was both horrified and amused by that conspiracy theory. On Facebook, I follow a medical doctor, gerontologist with years of experience in elderly dementia patients care, who published regular updates titled Turtle Watch (he also has almost daily posts on Trump's health). Since he has a lot of insider knowledge and observations, his updates were quite convincing. Here's one of his last postings in that series, right before McConnell was supposed to return to the Senate:

Even though I am a die-hard classical liberal, I was relieved when McConnell actually re-appeared, whatever (non)responsive state he was in. Because the idea that his death could be covered up that boldly and for that long was too horrific for me as someone who teaches ethics of communication.

It would have meant the level of cynicism and brazenness that even Trump couldn't beat. Therefore, I am relieved he is alive. Granted, McConnell is still doing a lot of damage to our society and democracy and needs to be instructed on how to vote the GOP agenda by his chief of staff who would be a perfect cast for a golem (I encourage you to search for his image). But at least we the general public haven't been lied to about McConnell's death as many feared.

However, McConnell's current state does raise issues of agency, capacity, and term limits for the legislators and judges (particularly SCOTUS). Currently, octogenarians have been screwing the lives and futures of younger generations for far to long and possibly beyond repair.