How Many Brain Freezes and Blank Stares Before We Get Younger Leaders?

This article describes the recent freeze by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell while making public remarks. McConnell was asked a question by a local constituent and then froze in front of the crowd for thirty seconds with no ability to talk or answer the question.

A staffer tried to help McConnell and said to the audience “we’re gonna’ need a minute”. But this had no impact on McConnell who remained at the microphone with a blank stare and an inability to speak.

This was almost an exact replay of an incident in July when McConnell was at a microphone in the U.S. Capitol surrounded by other members of the Senate leadership. In that incident, McConnell was led away from the microphone by Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming after McConnell stared blankly for about twenty seconds.

These two incidents come on top of a fall that McConnell took a few months ago in which he suffered a concussion and was hospitalized and unable to return to the Senate for about a month. McConnell is 81 years old.

There’s no need to single out McConnell for his inability to carry out his duties. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is 90 years old and seems barely aware of her own existence.

During a recent Senate hearing, Senator Patty Murray of Washington had to instruct Feinstein to “just say, ‘Aye’” during a vote after Feinstein began to read an irrelevant statement instead of voting.

Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is not an octogenarian, but he suffered a severe stroke before his election in 2022 and continued campaigning against the advice of doctors. Today, he cannot read and cannot speak in coherent sentences. His brain has difficulty processing normal sensory inputs and he relies on electronic devices to communicate. His wife, a devoted Marxist, effectively runs his office.

Finally, there’s Joe Biden, 80 years old, who is senile, frequently angry with staff and reporters, cannot speak coherently and relies on plug-and-play stories that he has repeated for fifty years (and which have been shown to be mostly lies) to get through his public appearances.

So, we have three U.S. senators, including the Senate Minority Leader, who are mentally impaired and cannot perform their duties along with a president of the United States who is senile and incoherent.

It’s not about age. Henry Kissinger is 100 years old and still writes books and gives interviews. Bernie Sanders is 82 years old and is feisty, coherent, and exhibits high energy in his public appearances.

The problem is honesty. Why don’t the families of the disabled politicians ask them to leave the stage? Why don’t the politicians themselves exit the public arena gracefully? Why do the media lie and cover-up these situations with incapacitated officials? And why do voters keep voting for them when they’re incapable of fulfilling their duties?

It says something about the hyper-partisan nature of politics today that the major parties would rather keep a warm body in a seat than ask their incoherent members to step aside in favor of a younger and more able nominee.

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