Two Doctors Have an Idea About What Could Be Causing Mitch McConnell to Freeze Up

By Richard Moorhead August 31, 2023 at 5:08am

Is this why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is freezing up in the middle of public appearances?

Two different doctors advanced a similar theory as to why McConnell has suddenly become silent and unresponsive during two different news conferences.

In a Wednesday interview, Dr. Marc Siegel, a physician affiliated with New York University’s Langone Medical Center, suggested on Fox News that the Republican Senate leader was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

“I have to tell you, at the top of that list, and again I haven’t examined him and I don’t have any background on this — except I’ve talked to some people in Congress and in the Senate — would be Parkinson’s disease.”

“That, in its later stages, can give you a freeze,” Siegel said of McConnell’s behavior, pointing out that the senator’s staffers hadn’t reacted with alarm bells.

McConnell became unresponsive and frozen for the second time in two months when speaking at a public function in Covington, Kentucky on Wednesday.

BREAKING NEWS: 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. We’ll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV

— Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023

Do you think McConnell is fit to serve in the Senate?

The event followed an incident in which McConnell became similarly unresponsive in the halls of the Capitol.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta had a similar theory for McConnell’s difficulties in a CNN interview, though he left open a range of different possibilities.

“There’s a lot of things that can sort of come to mind.”

Gupta also pointed out that McConnell’s aides hadn’t reacted with surprise, suggesting that the problems were “ongoing.”

“Someone who has a Parkinsonian-like condition, for example, whose medications are wearing off, or something like that.”

“That’s something that could sort of explain this behavior.”

Parkinson’s disease is a serious degenerative disease in which patients lose control over their nervous system, according to the Mayo Clinic.

A McConnell spokesperson has indicated that the 81-year old senator merely felt lightheaded, although he planned on consulting with a physician following the incident.

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