The Mitch McConnell mystery
7/14/202626 min
You'd probably get fired for not showing up to work for a month — unless you're a member of Congress.
This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen and Ariana Aspuru with help from Denise Guerra, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao, in a photograph released by his office.
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First 90 secondsSean Rameswaram· Host0:00
Mitch McConnell is 84 years old.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:02
It's been 84 years.
Sean Rameswaram· Host0:04
[pensive music] That makes him older than Israel, super glue, and the microwave oven. Mitch McConnell, polio survivor, is older than the polio vaccine, and we've known for some time that he's not in peak physical form. It was back in 2023 when he took a nasty fall and was hospitalized with a fractured rib and a concussion, and it was that same year when he froze twice in front of cameras while speaking to the press, once for, like, a solid 30 seconds.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:35
This week has been good bipartisan cooperation and a string of, uh, uh- We're not gonna play the whole thing.
Sean Rameswaram· Host0:44
The point is, despite years of health issues, the former Senate majority leader still managed to mystify the nation when he ghosted on Congress and his constituents for a month. The Mitch McConnell mystery on Today Explained from Vox.
Speaker 30:58
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