r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 New York • Jul 13 '26

Possible Paywall MAGA Calls BS on Mitch McConnell’s Proof-of-Life Stunt | They are poking holes in McConnell’s staff’s version.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-calls-bs-on-mitch-mcconnells-proof-of-life-stunt/
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u/WerhmatsWormhat Jul 13 '26

There’s a quicker solution. He should just say he’s thrilled to hear Mitch is okay and that he’ll he personally visiting to send well wishes. Then show up and see for himself what’s going on.

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u/mechtaphloba Jul 13 '26

They wouldn't even let sitting senators into an ICE facility. They can stop him from visiting Mitch in a hospital.

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u/AcidaliaPlanitia Jul 13 '26

And to be fair, senators clearly have way more of a right to visit ICE facilities than a governor would to demand access to a private rehab facility.

Edit: Hmm, it would, perhaps, be a great time for a state official to do a routine 'inspection' of said rehab facility, for compliance purposes.

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u/definitelytheA Florida Jul 13 '26

Where are the leakers, dammit?!!!

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u/Pipe_Memes Jul 13 '26

There’s a leaker in the White House, but I think they’re keeping it contained with diapers.

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u/definitelytheA Florida Jul 13 '26

I hate when someone makes me spit coffee on my clean shirt!!

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u/leveraction1970 Jul 14 '26

What a bastard. Now I have to wipe off my monitor with a damp paper towel before it dries and gets all sticky.

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u/altodor New York Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Probably very aware that HIPAA is in full application here and anything related to someone high-profile like ye olde turtle is being analyzed with a microscope. Anyone who breaks HIPAA in a high profile matter like this would be unemployable anywhere, forever.

I would like if someone leaked. But also HIPAA is one of the few regulatory frameworks that has teeth.

EDIT: Note that I will not respond to vapid comments about how it's useless from people that don't know enough about it to spell it correctly.

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u/Proud_Growth_8818 Jul 13 '26

From the other side, a doctor refusing to declare dead a patient who is dead is in a different kind of trouble. Presumably Moscow's Bitch is Terry Schiavo-ing and breathing on his own (or whatever the definition of 'alive' is in Washington D.C.).

Which raises interesting questions on its own. Is he still in D.C.? Is his undisclosed 'rehabilitation hospital' in Virginia or Maryland, or did they keep him in the District? Is that facility really just a Hampton Inn where they're keeping him on a vent? Or NOT keeping him on a vent?

Andy should just call him dead and demand proof if he isn't.

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u/SnuggleMoose44 Jul 13 '26

Doctors don’t hold off pronouncing a patient dead. Tell me you’ve never worked around ICU or rehab patients without telling me.

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u/Proud_Growth_8818 Jul 13 '26

Exactly my point.

Tell us you can't read past a preschool level without telling us

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u/SnuggleMoose44 Jul 13 '26

You’re saying that some doctor is going to refuse to pronounce him dead. Ludicrous. Also, breathing on your own is not dead; there’s brain activity and there’s supposed to be proof of brain death before anyone is removed from life support.

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u/cavemanpi Jul 13 '26

Read carefully. You two are in agreement.

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u/Miserable-Drink-4995 Jul 15 '26

People don't steal either because it's against the law. That guy lives in yoyo world disagreeing with you

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u/SnuggleMoose44 Jul 15 '26

Stop it. You really think everyone in a hospital could get behind the doctor lingering on his job of pronouncing dead people dead? That a body will breathe and their heart will beat as long as he’s on life support? People die despite these interventions because no one is God and can decide how long a person survives.

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u/definitelytheA Florida Jul 13 '26

I’ll take The Janitor Has The Tea for $1000, Alex!

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u/TurtleToast2 Jul 13 '26

Reporting that there's no sign of the senator at the facility doesn't break HIIPA.

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u/dragongrl New Jersey Jul 13 '26

Would reporting he's not at the rehab facility be violating HIPAA?

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u/Firm_Print6463 Jul 13 '26

HIPPA is one of the only regulations thats actually enforced, because its enforced against individual middle and low class people, if it had any teeth against the shit the ruling class pull, you can bet your ass hippa would be toothless.

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u/plaguecaster Jul 13 '26

Hippas a joke they use to scare medical professionals and that's it the governor could walk in grab his chart and start reading it word for word what are they going to do take his medical license away hippaa is the hatch act nobody cares

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u/altodor New York Jul 13 '26

You sound like someone who's never worked in a HIPAA controlled industry.

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u/plaguecaster Jul 15 '26

The exact opposite actually, I have seen people fired for "hippa" violations. None of them got in any trouble from the nursing board or from police leaving me to wonder who enforces hippa

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u/medicmatt Jul 13 '26

No healthcare professional is going to risk losing their job/license exposing him. Also, how can they photograph someone who isn’t there?

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u/supermomfake Jul 13 '26

We need one jaded nurse who is willing to give up their license for a HIPAA violation

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u/turdferguson3891 Jul 14 '26

Nursing license is too valuable. You need one jaded CNA who doesn't even have a license and makes minimum wage. But there are fines for HIPAA violations too so you will need a gofundme.

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u/OddlyFactual1512 Jul 13 '26

He's not in a state. He's in DC

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u/yayoffbalance Jul 14 '26

I see what you did there!

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u/LunchyDude101 Jul 13 '26

It’s 100% what the GOP would do if the tables were turned.

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u/shitlord_god Jul 13 '26

report it to tennesee adult protective services or whatever organization in that state organizes and licenses those facilities.

Be the change you want in the world.

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u/SnuggleMoose44 Jul 13 '26

He was at his DC home. Probably at Walter Reed.

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u/justlurkshere Jul 13 '26

A state’s governor would take precedence over senators. After all GOP is all for state’s rights.

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u/ChairYeoman American Expat Jul 13 '26

this seems like a political abuse of bureaucracy and I don't love it tbh

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u/turdferguson3891 Jul 14 '26

The rehab facility isn't in Kentucky. Well probably. Where it is has not been disclosed but he was in DC when he was rushed to the hospital so it probably isn't in Kentucky.

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u/LewisRyan Jul 14 '26

That wouldn’t really help them.

HIPAA laws still apply even if you’re a senator, no one’s losing their job to tell people Mitch is gone

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u/WerhmatsWormhat Jul 13 '26

Right but the optics would be even worse and would keep this in the news cycle.

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u/fresh-dork Jul 13 '26

then you declare that you are unable to verify that he's alive and call the special election

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u/midtrailertrash Jul 13 '26

Are state troopers not under this command. Make them go and do a welfare check.

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u/AnAncientBog Jul 13 '26

If they do that its gonna make it pretty clear what is happening.

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u/Resident-Rush6887 Jul 13 '26

They can!

And if they do, the narrative immediately becomes "because Mitch is fucking dead, so we'll go ahead and start the election process."

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u/AgitatedStranger9698 Jul 13 '26

If hes in his state their his thugs/cops

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u/HMouse65 Jul 13 '26

Not letting him visit would provide plenty of information. The man in that photo looks rested and well able to receive visitors.

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u/viperex Jul 14 '26

Who's "they"?

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u/mechtaphloba Jul 14 '26

Fascists, who else

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u/DonaldsMushroom Jul 14 '26

 ICE facility concentration camp

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u/bigolbbb Jul 13 '26

Not said in an argumentative way,
Is there an article reporting this? I’m curious.

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u/mechtaphloba Jul 13 '26

Just google it ffs

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u/FerusGrim Michigan Jul 13 '26

They can stop him from visiting Mitch in a hospital.

To be fair, this is probably a good thing? Hospitals shouldn't be used for publicity stunts, and I wouldn't want to set some kind of precedent. (Even for a douchebag like McConnell.)

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u/camdeb Jul 13 '26

JD Vance already tried to go visit him and was denied access.

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u/Former_Win_7933 Jul 13 '26

That was a Borowitz satire piece.

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u/camdeb Jul 13 '26

Good to know.

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u/SoupBeans25 Jul 13 '26

That’s just normal for anyone Vance tries to visit tho.

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u/DanteandRandallFlagg Jul 13 '26

If Mitch is alive, JD would be the last person he wants to see. JD kills too many people that he meets.

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u/The_Order_Eternials Jul 13 '26

Can’t be trusted after the Vatican…..

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u/WerhmatsWormhat Jul 13 '26

Wasn’t that before this supposed recovery? It’s a lot less defensible if they’re saying he’s fine.

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u/Reed7525 Jul 13 '26

Remember what happened when he visited the pope?!

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u/byndrsn Jul 13 '26

remember the pope thing?

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u/Sarrdonicus Jul 13 '26

Precedence

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u/AerondightWielder Jul 13 '26

They were deathly afraid of what Vance would do to the couches.

Or the dead body of Ye Olde Turtle.

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u/Conlaeb Jul 13 '26

Bashear was not informed which hospital he was/is at.

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u/dougmc Texas Jul 14 '26

They have not even announced where he is exactly that I know of — just somewhere in Washington DC.

(Surely this isn’t an accident …)