MAGA influencers are not buying Senator Mitch McConnell’s new photo as “proof of life” and are demanding more after the Kentucky senator’s office released a second image of him since his hospitalization.
The photo released on Monday shows McConnell smiling at the camera as he sits with his wife Elaine Chao by his side. Viewers were quick to point out it was eerily similar to the only other photo put out by McConnell’s team on July 12.
The 84-year-old senator’s lack of transparency six weeks after he was rushed to the hospital has fueled rampant speculation online, and MAGA has been front and center in questioning the longtime Republican establishment’s repeated claims.
“Lmao they want us to think this is real?,” wrote Eric Spracklen on X, who describes himself as a “MAGA realist.”
“Video or it’s all fake,” wrote the X account Catturd to its four million followers.
In another post, they wrote, “Every time they release another weird photo of Mitch McConnell and not a short video, I’m more convinced than ever that he’s gone.”
“I have an idea… Let a real journalist like Nick Shirley interview Mitch McConnell live and unfiltered. At this point, that may be the only thing people actually believe,” wrote conservative Gunther Eagleman to his 1.7 million followers, mentioning the right-wing YouTuber.
“New photo of Mitch McConnell and his wife just dropped. Physician says he’s ‘not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.’ LOL,” wrote pro-Trump Gina Milan.
“If you have to put out Proof of Life press releases, you probably should just resign from the Senate,” wrote self-described independent journalist Breanna Morello.
Another pro-MAGA account referred to McConnell’s new photo as “Proof of Life v2.”
“The Mitch McConnell situation proves that the government lies about everything,” wrote another self-proclaimed America First X user. “They cannot be trusted.”
In a rare move for Donald Trump, who often promotes speculation, the president has largely avoided weighing in on McConnell’s absence from Congress.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on July 8 that he had “no idea” how McConnell was doing and had not spoken to him, but he has barely addressed the senator’s health since.
The president, 80, said in a separate Newsmax interview right after the first McConnell photo was released earlier this month that he did not know much, before admitting he is not a McConnell fan. In the end, Trump said he hopes McConnell is fine, but he did not know.
Repeated inquiries from the Daily Beast to the White House on whether the president and former Senate majority leader have been in contact since McConnell was rushed to the hospital on June 14 have gone unanswered.
It comes as Republicans have been struggling to move forward with the president’s agenda with their slim majority in the Senate. McConnell has missed 38 votes since he was rushed to the hospital on June 14.
Statements attributed to the Kentucky senator and the office of the attending physician, released with the photo on Monday, indicate that the senator will miss further votes this week, as he is not set to return to Capitol Hill yet.
The attending physician statement said McConnell was maintaining a “strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation” but said he was “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.”
Republican Senate leaders on Capitol Hill have claimed they have spoken with McConnell, but they have not provided proof to back their claims. Other GOP senators have said they are in the dark about their Senate colleague, who has served in the Senate for 41 years.
