Breathe
By Lydia Cacho
In August 2023, the powerful Senator Mitch McConnell, leader of the Republican caucus in the United States, was paralyzed after stuttering strangely during a press conference on Capitol Hill while being asked if, at the age of 80, he wanted to be reelected for a ninth time as leader of the Senate. He was unable to answer because he had a neurological incident. His staff rushed him away. Sources close to the Senate told me at the time that the senator's medical records were sealed. He is the one who said during theimpeachment hearings for Donald Trump "It will not be possible to remove Donald Trump from the presidency. The case in the Senate is too weak." He then declared that he, as a Republican senator, is not impartial in the process against Trump: "it is a political process, there is nothing judicial about it".
After the neurological incident, McConnell gave Capitol Hill a simple note from his private physician assuring them, without evidence, that he had a neurological checkup and everything was fine. The most powerful leader of the US Senate has had a succession of serious health problems, from three pacemakers, to falls, fractures, osteoporosis, loss of memory and movement, but he is still there, in charge of the group that decides, almost always en bloc, wars, elections, invasions, immigration policies, etc.
This week, during the debate between Trump and President Biden, the latter froze in a manner identical to McConnell. American pundits have spent days talking very much in the corny American style -which venerates its political leaders- about the emotions and sensations caused by their country's president being disoriented, hesitant, unfocused and at times immovable. In a very American Dream sentimentalist outpouring , they grieve and fear what has been coming for a long time: that Biden is not fit to govern and that Trump, with his psychopathy, is stronger than ever.
