Connect with us

News

‘Owes the Public an Explanation’: Amid Concern, Critics Call for McConnell to Retire After Another ‘Alarming’ Episode

Published

on

After the second episode in just five weeks, critics are expressing concern but urging Mitch McConnell to retire after the U.S. Senate Republican Minority Leader once again appeared to “freeze” while talking to reporters on Wednesday, an event The New York Times labeled “alarming.”

President Biden told reporters on Wednesday McConnell is a “friend,” and he will be calling him.

McConnell has suffered several medical episodes this year, some of which went largely unreported.

READ MORE: ‘Smell of Desperation’: Legal Experts Slam State and Federal Republicans Pushing to Discipline or Derail DA Fani Willis

Back in July the 81-year old Republican, who has served the people of Kentucky in various offices since 1975, appeared to freeze for about 20 seconds while at a Senate press conference. He had to be helped to walk away but returned later that day, suggesting nothing was wrong as his fellow Republicans and his aides told reporters he was merely “lightheaded” and “dehydrated.” His office issued a statement saying he “plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do.”

On Wednesday, WLWT’s Hannah Thomas, reported this statement from McConnell’s team: “Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.”

Earlier, from Georgia, Thomas noted, “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.”

The American Independent’s senior political reporter Emily Singer, before McConnell’s office released a statement similar to the one in July, noted, “McConnell’s office owes the public an explanation of what’s going on with his health. He is clearly not ok.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, lumping McConnell’s latest episode in with her perceptions of other leaders, said: “Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nation’s leaders MUST be addressed.”

“These politician’s staff and family members should be ashamed of themselves by enabling and allowing their loved ones to remain in office all to hold power,” she continued. “We are talking about our country’s national security and it’s all at stake!”

Former GOP U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh wrote, “This is sad. Very sad. And I hope his health improves. But just like Diane Feinstein, Mitch McConnell really ought to resign from the Senate. Now.”

READ MORE: CPAC’s Matt and Mercedes Schlapp Attack ‘Satan’s Publication’ After Report Adds More Details on Sexual Battery Lawsuit

Keith Boykin, the former Democratic White House aide and political commentator said, “Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell froze again today in public, this time when asked by a reporter in Kentucky if he planned to run for re-election in 2026. Re-election? He’s 81. This feels like elder abuse to keep him in office. Let him retire.”

NBC News’ Ryan Nobles, one of the first to report on McConnell’s latest apparent health-related incident, adds that McConnell “is expected to see a physician before his next event,” according to a spokesperson.

In July, The Washington Post in a rare move spoke with medical experts about McConnell’s “freezing” episode.

“Four neurologists interviewed by The Washington Post who reviewed footage of the incident said it could be explained by a range of reasons: dehydration exacerbated by heat, a near-fainting episode, or a partial seizure or stroke. One said it also could suggest an underlying neurological disorder that has not been publicly disclosed,” The Post reported. “The specialists stressed that they cannot offer firm conclusions or diagnoses without examining McConnell and reviewing his medical history. They said it was premature to question the longtime Senate GOP leader’s fitness to serve, although they said Wednesday’s episode merited medical attention.”

In March McConnell suffered a serious trip and fall incident, and was hospitalized with injuries including a concussion.

In June McConnell had “trouble hearing questions from reporters who could be clearly heard by the senators next to him,” CNN reported last month. CNN also reported on a previously unknown trip and fall incident “in Finland when McConnell and a US delegation met with the Finnish president in Helsinki, according to three sources familiar with the matter.”

That incident occurred just days before the trip and fall that led to McConnell being hospitalized for five days with a concussion and rib injury, and out of Washington for six weeks, only returning after a news outlet reported his own Republican leadership team was making plans to find his successor.

Watch the videos above or at this link.
 

 

 

 

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Mark Robinson Scandal Could Bring Trump Down in ‘Reverse Coattails’ Effect: Expert

Published

47 mins ago

on

September 19, 2024

By

Thursday’s bombshell revelations about North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson could not only doom his gubernatorial candidacy, but Donald Trump’s campaign as well, according to one of the most respected political experts.

According to CNN, Robinson, the current Lt. Governor who is the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, “made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a ‘black NAZI!’ and expressed support for reinstating slavery.”

CNN’s KFile also reveals that Robinson, a far-right Christian nationalist who has targeted the LGBTQ community, “said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archived messages found in which he also referred to himself as a ‘perv.'”

On the website Nude Africa, “Robinson discussed his affinity for transgender pornography.”

READ MORE: ‘Straight Up Fascist Project’: Vance Slammed for Vowing to Call Legal Immigrants ‘Illegal’

“I like watching tranny on girl porn! That’s f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in!” Robinson wrote, according to CNN. “And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”

The article also notes that “CNN is reporting only a small portion of Robinson’s comments on the website given their graphic nature.”

Professor of politics Larry Sabato, the highly-respected political scientist and political analyst and founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Sabato’s Crystal Ball says his team has held an “emergency session” to review the report and is moving its prediction for governor of North Carolina from “Lean Democratic” to “Likely Democratic”:

“The Crystal Ball team has just met in emergency session, and in the fastest rating change in our history, we are moving NC GOVERNOR from Lean D to LIKELY D.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump Just Made One of His Most Racist Attacks Yet – and the Media Is Ignoring It

Sabato adds, “Our Crystal Ball rating for NC Governor has been Lean D. Mark Robinson (R) was going to lose even before this new story. The question is whether Robinson brings down the top of the ticket (Donald Trump) with him. Those 16 electoral votes could be the whole election.”

Asked on social media, “What kind of drag can the Gov race have on the Presidential race in NC?” Sabato replied: “Reverse coattails. It happens from time to time. Can dampen a party’s turnout.”

Trump also vociferously and enthusiastically endorsed Robinson. The Harris campaign was quick to post video of that endorsement after the scandal broke.

Political analysts have been saying North Carolina is a critical state given the current Electoral map.

“There are really only three states that will decide the presidential election: Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia,” Politico reported Thursday morning. “If Vice President Kamala Harris can’t carry Pennsylvania, her only hope is on a Southern strategy. Harris must win either Georgia or North Carolina. She has no other path to the White House.”

And if Trump “wins the East Coast trio of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, he will go back to the White House,” Politico added.

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: Yes, Republicans Are Lying — and They’re Not Going to Stop: ‘Enjoy It’

Continue Reading

News

Vance Demands Fact-Check on ‘Pet-Eating’ Lie Despite Knowing Truth Pre-Debate

Published

1 day ago

on

September 18, 2024

By

Ohio’s freshman Republican U.S. Senator JD Vance knew his claim “20,000” Haitian “migrants” were stealing the cats and dogs of Springfield residents and eating them was a lie before Donald Trump spread it to tens of millions of Americans in last week’s widely-watched September 10 presidential debate. Despite that knowledge, the vice-presidential nominee is now demanding reporters “fact-check” the falsehood.

“City Manager Bryan Heck fielded an unusual question at City Hall on the morning of Sept. 9, from a staff member of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The staffer called to ask if there was any truth to bizarre rumors about Haitian immigrants and pets in Springfield,” The Wall Street Journal reports Wednesday.

“He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” Heck told the staffer. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”

“By then,” WSJ noted, “Vance had already posted about the rumors to his 1.9 million followers on X. Yet he kept the post up, and repeated an even more insistent version of the claim the next morning.”

READ MORE: New GOP Strategy: Skyrocket the Cost of Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs

A day-and-a-half after the Trump campaign knew the racist and dangerous allegations were a lie, Donald Trump stood on stage and told 67 million Americans, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating, the pets of the people that live there.”

As of Monday, Springfield, Ohio had already received 33 bomb threats. Among the targets: elementary schools and hospitals. Those threats forced the evacuation, search, and closure of at least 22 government facilities.

“Over the summer,” The Journal adds, “outside neo-Nazi groups—which specialize in exploiting local controversy to foment outrage about migrants—had seized on a local controversy and fanned the narrative of pet-eating Haitians.”

“Then the Trump campaign blasted those rumors to the world—and kept pushing them even after they were exposed as lies. The Trump campaign continues to run hard at the controversy. Trump last Friday said he planned “large deportations” from Springfield—whose Haitian community is overwhelmingly in the country legally. Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to host a town hall in Springfield this Thursday. Vance said on Tuesday that Trump would like to visit Springfield, too, at some point. ”

READ MORE: ‘Huge Problem for Trump’: Joe Rogan Gushes Over Kamala Harris

On Sunday, Senator Vance told CNN he was willing to “create stories” to advance his and Trump’s agenda, a boast his opponent, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz ran with Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Vance dug in his heels. At an Eau Claire, Wisconsin rally, Vance said it was the responsibility of the media, and not him, to “fact-check” his claims.

The Guardian reports Vance’s Sunday comments to CNN, “in which he appeared to say that politicians can brazenly lie, drew immediate rebuke. But during his rally, Vance defended them and claimed that numerous constituents had told him ‘they’d seen something in Springfield’.”

“On top of it, if there are certain people who refuse to listen to them, who refuse to take their concerns seriously,” he said, “that’s when it’s my job as United States senator to listen to my constituents.”

But those claims from Vance’s constituents have been debunked and proven false.

Among them, most recently, as The Independent reported, “Vance used a police report about a stolen cat to justify pet-eating rumors. ‘Miss Sassy’ was hiding in the basement.”

The woman who filed the police report apologized to her Haitian neighbors. Senator Vance has not.

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Megaphone for Hate’: Vance’s Slam of Dem ‘Rhetoric’ Backfires in ‘Streisand Effect’

Continue Reading

News

New GOP Strategy: Skyrocket the Cost of Health Insurance and Prescription Drugs

Published

1 day ago

on

September 18, 2024

By

House and Senate Republicans and the Trump campaign are looking to repeal parts of President Joe Biden’s highly-successful Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and President Barack Obama’s highly-successful Affordable Care Act (ACA), with a sharp focus on the provisions that protect access to health insurance and have lowered health care costs and prescription drug costs for millions of Americans – and will do so even more next year.

Republicans this week have been discussing plans to repeal the protections that require private insurance companies to provide the same coverage, and at the same cost, to people with pre-existing conditions as it does for those without them. They are also looking to repeal the hard-fought right the federal government now has to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, turned 14 this year. Some Americans, especially those who came of age after it was enacted, may not be aware that before the ACA, insurance companies could and often did deny coverage based on “pre-existing conditions.” ObamaCare made that practice illegal.

“GOP healthcare plans, per the last 24 hours,” reports DC journalist Todd Zwillich, include “repeal pre-existing conditions protections in private insurance,” and “repeal Medicare’s negotiating power for Rx drugs.”

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) called the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that allow the federal government to negotiate prices for Medicare drugs, “the worst legislation I’ve ever witnessed in 10 years in Congress and 10 years in the state legislature.” He said he “absolutely” wants to repeal them, according to Axios. “No congressional Republicans asked by Axios argued for keeping the IRA drug pricing talks.”

READ MORE: ‘Huge Problem for Trump’: Joe Rogan Gushes Over Kamala Harris

“Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he ‘100%’ wants to repeal the negotiation provisions, while other drug pricing sections of the law would need to be evaluated based on whether they have ‘a positive impact on business.'”

Axios also reports that “multiple high-ranking Republicans told Axios they want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiations next year if they prevail in the elections.”

“This isn’t some wild accusation or scare tactic,” remarked Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “Republicans are admitting they would side with Big Pharma and gut the Biden-Harris law that lets Medicare negotiate drug prices, if they win. They are literally, openly, for higher drug prices.”

During last week’s presidential debate Donald Trump admitted that after years of vowing to “repeal and replace” Obamacare and after numerous promises he would release his healthcare plan soon, often in “two weeks,” all he actually has are the “concepts of a plan.”

Trump’s running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) on Sunday revealed what some of those concepts are.

Journalist Brian Beutler highlighted Vance’s remarks on Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” where the GOP vice-presidential nominee said, “we want to make sure everybody is covered. But the best way to do that is to actually promote some more choice in our health care system and not have a one-size-fits-all approach that puts a lot of people into the same insurance pools, into the same risk pools, that actually makes it harder for people to make the right choices for their families.”

Pointing to Vance’s interview (above), Beutler writes: “When Vance here says he wants to put the healthy and sick in different risk pools he’s saying he wants to make pre-existing conditions protections impossible. His claim to want to maintain them is a lie.”

READ MORE: ‘Megaphone for Hate’: Vance’s Slam of Dem ‘Rhetoric’ Backfires in ‘Streisand Effect’

“One of the ‘concepts’ of the Trump-Vance plan is to screw over people with pre-existing conditions, specifically,” he adds, pointing to his “Off Message” Substack. “Step one of the plan is to lie about it—say it covers pre-existing conditions. Step two is to kick out the regulatory tentpoles that make covering pre-existing conditions possible.”

Journalist Heather Parton Digby writes that Vance’s plan “would take us back to the time when I was denied health insurance because I had periodontal disease. (I’m not kidding.) When I finally found a health insurer who would cover me ( I was otherwise completely healthy) it cost well over a thousand dollars a month and it had a gigantic deductible. That’s the market we were living in if we didn’t have employer or government insurance. Vance wants to take us back to that and people really should know that.”

If Republicans are successful in eliminating protections, insurance companies could be able to determine what a pre-existing condition is, and whether they want to deny a policy to any individual who has a pre-existing condition, or to deny coverage for that condition and any related issues.

Up to 50 percent of all non-elderly Americans – up to 129 million Americans – have a pre-existing condition, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“A medical illness or injury that you have before you start a new health care plan may be considered a pre-existing condition. Conditions like diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, and sleep apnea, may be examples of pre-existing health conditions. They tend to be chronic or long-term,” according to Cigna, a healthcare and insurance company. “The ACA made it illegal for health insurance companies to deny you medical coverage or raise rates due to a pre-existing condition.”

The list of what could be considered a pre-existing condition is long, but after the coronavirus pandemic, it has grown longer and encompasses more Americans: An estimated 43 million Americans have had long COVID, and about 17 million Americans currently do still.

Near the end of the Trump administration, in 2020, KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation published a report: “Mental Illnesses May Soon Be the Most Common Pre-Existing Conditions.”

Also in 2020, House Democrats published a massive 197-page report: “Shortchanged: How the Trump Administration’s Expansion of Junk Short-Term Health Insurance Plans is Putting Americans at Risk.” It concluded these plans “present a significant threat to the health and financial well-being of American families. STLDI plans include limited protection for both catastrophic medical costs and routine medical care, and it is unclear what kind of value consumers are getting for their premium dollars, other than a false sense of security.”

Democratic former U.S. Congressman and Obama State Dept. official Tom Malinowski weighed in earlier this week:

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Remigration’: Trump Continues Attacks on Immigrants With New Vow of Forced Deportations

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.