Video of ‘zombie’ Mitch McConnell returning to the Senate causes internet uproar and raises more questions

Former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell’s return to Capitol Hill — his first public appearance in months — sent the Internet into a tizzy as footage showed the senator spacing out in a way commentators deemed zombie-like.

The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican has faced intense media scrutiny and questions about his ability to serve after he was hospitalized in mid-June following a fall and a mild case of pneumonia. He remained hospitalized, and later in a rehab center, for weeks until he was discharged in August.

However, he returned to cast a vote Monday when the chamber decided on a nomination to fill an opening on a district court bench in Ohio.

In a statement, McConnell described his recovery as “a long and often frustrating process,” and said that while he is not “quite back to 100%,” he will “do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me.”

Despite his attempts to reassure the public, footage TMZ published on Monday of McConnell in a car arriving on Capitol Hill with his mouth agape raised concerns about his ability to work.

“Mitch looks like he is a zombie being remotely controlled. This is SO STRANGE!!!! Is he even alive?” one X user commented.

“Mitch McConnell is the deadest alive person,” another X user chimed in.

Another X user commented: “It’s actually terrifying that Mitch McConnell gets to make decisions that affect all of us.”

Right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer also weighed in, writing on X, “Like I said, Mitch is brain dead.”

“You can’t look at his face and say he’s not a vegetable. He’s not even responding to cognition tests. It’s like wheeling a corpse around. Worse than what the Democrats did with Joe Biden to be honest. He looks incapcitated. Brain dead,” she said.

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