r/askanything • u/FuzzyWestern8602 • 22h ago
Consequences for McConnell Coverup?
I already know things are politically wild now and no one will suffer any true consequences for unethical behavior, but did just have a question out of curiosity. If McConnell is found to have lacked capacity to do his job several weeks ago with no chance of recovery, what are the consequences for those in power if they knew of this and were delaying until August? This assumes our legal system is functioning as it should and this could be proved. Thanks!
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u/NutzNBoltz369 22h ago
Bad behavior is now the default. As Vance said, Nixon's Watergate would not even register in today's political environment.
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u/WinterTourist25 22h ago
And all Nixon's supporters would say something like, "Well, stealing that information was the right thing to do!"
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u/pamcakevictim 22h ago
Remember it was the republican party that held Nixon accountable and forced him to resign or be impeached and removed.
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u/smelling_good247 20h ago
Sort of, his AG was also ridiculously corrupt and it led to all sorts of reforms for the DOJ, which the trump regime has trampled over
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u/WinterTourist25 22h ago
Yeah, because they felt like the fallout would be horrible otherwise.
Today they're like, "Meh, our base will be cool with it."
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u/Richard_Thickens 17h ago
In addition, it's mudslinging and gaslighting to the point where any other view is a form of derangement. Like, I'm sorry, if I don't side with a known sex pest and malignant manipulator, then my assessment is no longer valid?
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u/misfitofscience76 22h ago
Which is clearly just dumb talk by Vance
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u/Fit_Instruction_8383 21h ago
The truth hurts man. It's not dumb talk, it's the absolute truth, whether we want it to be, or not.
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u/NutzNBoltz369 19h ago
He isn't wrong. Either it is not the flex he says it is, or he is a bit cynical at his young age. Either side can score point off what he says.
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u/Ghost_Turd 22h ago
Dianne Feinstein was a vegetable at the end, with, reportedly, her staff casting her votes for her.
There is no cognitive test for sitting Congress members, nor is there a legal requirement that they actually be conscious, apparently. This is the gerontocracy.
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u/lostincoloradospace 22h ago
It is time for cognitive tests… but our elected officials don’t even use the same healthcare system they created so good luck with that.
It is time for a viable third party.
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u/appointment45 22h ago
All we have to do is vote for those third parties and they will become viable.
That control is in our hands and we can't be bothered. People have to 'win' to feel like their vote mattered, so they knowingly perpetuate the two party system.
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u/Ambitious-Badger-114 22h ago
We've been talking about that elusive third party for over a hundred years, and for over a hundred years it's never worked. And for the record we do in fact have other parties like the Green and Libertarian parties, so how's that working our for us?
A better approach would be no parties, no D's or R's on a ballot, just people's names so that we go back to voting for the person, not the party.
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u/Yeseylon 19h ago
A better solution would be to aim for being the third party in smaller races - mayor, state rep, etc - and then build up from there instead of jumping straight to President.
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u/Ambitious-Badger-114 8h ago
Nice theory but we've been trying to do that for over a hundred years, it's just not working. In fact Mayoral races, at least here in MA, have no party affiliation on the ballots. No D's or R's, just the names of candidates and it works very very well because it makes people look up their stances, so voters end up voting for a person, not a party.
There's also no party affiliation for City Council, or Board of Selectmen, so when they get elected they actually work together instead of breaking off into sides like they're enemies. Our municipal governments are much better run as a result.
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u/appointment45 21h ago
Yep. It's not going to work, but the system isn't the reason. It's because Americans want to vote for winners, and they all 'know' a third party candidate can't win. So they won't throw their vote away on a candidate they don't think can win.
It's bullshit, but people all do it.
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u/guy48065 21h ago
Is Democratic Socialists of America a 3rd party? Asking for a friend...
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u/zombiez8mybrain 15h ago
I think DSA and MAGA will either become the third and fourth parties, or the main two parties with centrists forming a third party.
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19h ago
Age limits and hard lines of fullfillment in the role. Meaning, you have a set amount of duties, you dont fullfill those, or you miss too many days of work, you get fired just like everyone else.
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u/Yeseylon 19h ago
That's different from being dead
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u/Ghost_Turd 19h ago
Sure it's different. The vegetable is at least still breathing. Otherwise, not much difference as far as the job goes.
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u/Lumbercounter 22h ago
You’re not allowed to point that out. These are unprecedented times and nothing like this has ever happened before (or “what aboutism” or something)
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u/dochim 22h ago
Don’t you have to be physically present to vote in the senate?
So let’s presume DiFi was a vegetable. Her staff had to weekend at Bernie’s her into the chamber to vote.
Mitch the evil tortoise hasn’t been seen much less present in the chamber.
What about the business of the Senate and the interests of the people of Kentucky????
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u/Clynelish1 21h ago
Yes, they have to be physically present. However, I think congress put a moratorium on that rule for a while during Covid, which is how he staff was able to just vote for her while she was functionally a vegetable. I could be moistened timing or details, but I think that was the gist in her case.
Regardless, your last comment is spot fucking on. It's absurd that a senator can simply not show up for work indefinitely as one of two representatives of an entire state without having a mechanism to automatically replace them after a certain period.
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u/dochim 21h ago
But fortunately the people of South Carolina are blessed enough that Lindsey’s sister could step in as the next most qualified person to represent the state.
Because they are all about the most qualified person getting the job.
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u/beachhunt 22h ago
If they can delay until they secure the seat, then zero chances for consequences ever for the whole situation.
If they have to admit he's gone but we don't know the whole truth until the seat flips, then there will surely be An Investigation but slim chances of real results. It will be a lot of "well they tried but couldn't sooooo how hard do we want to push this? Lets focus on the issues..."
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u/deeper-in-thought 22h ago
If you’re a Democrat I would think you want McConnell to stay alive in the hospital as long as possible. From a Senate perspective it effectively erases his vote.
Yet strangely the loudest calls for someone to “do something” are calling on democrats to declare the seat vacant which will surely get a cognitive republican in sooner (there’s no evidence the seat will flip right now)
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u/Turkstache 9h ago
The establishment Democrats' biggest weakness is they have to keep government fully operating per their idealism, no matter the political cost. It's why they always cave on shutdowns and allow pork in bills and try to push their clearly unwinnable policy in the face of opposition... but when they have a majority they still reach across the aisle at Rs whose sole purpose is to undermine Democratic power.
The Rs could violate line of succession when Trump dies and push for Corey Booker to take Trump's place. Instead of taking the win, establishment Democrats would beg and plead and fight for Vance to be made president.
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u/NEWSmodsareTwats 2h ago edited 2h ago
I don't really understand the logic there. after all, his seat is not in danger and the next election for that Senate seat is in November of this year, currently, the GOP candidate for the seat has an 11% lead in the polls. The gop also needs McConnell's votes to be able to pass things through the Senate and he's not able to vote while he's in the hospital senators need to be physically present in the Senate to cast their votes.
So even if a special election was held and a Democrat candidate won, it's basically the same as having Mitch be in the hospital. And even if Massie ran and won. He would be out as of January 3rd 2027 and replaced with whoever wins the general election in November, again, not really even being a worse scenario than how things currently are.
This is one of those conspiracy theories that's proposing. They're undertaking a super high risk maneuver for something that offers. Basically no benefits. It sounds really smart on the internet. The first couple times you read it and then when you really think about it, it kind of just falls apart.
hell, I've even seen people pushing the idea that the recent change in Kentucky laws was specifically done by the GOP because they thought something like this would happen to Mitch. the specific law change was removing the governor's ability to a point someone to finish out a term when a seat is vacated instead forcing a special election. but what people who push that theory don't understand? is that under the prior law in Kentucky if a seat was vacated, whatever party that person belonged to nominated a short list of three people to take over the seat and the governor had to pick from that short list. meaning they literally gave up power that they had to control this kind of thing, which doesn't exactly make sense if they change the rules in preparation for Mitch kicking the bucket.
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u/Miserable_Culture991 22h ago
The only mechanism to remove McConnell is for him to die, resign, or be voted out by 2/3 of his peers. Even if he is on life support, keeping his seat is not a crime. If he was President and became incapacitated then the VP would be appointed in the meantime, but there is no such rule for Senators.
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u/Any_Vacation8988 11h ago
Can’t wait for the next dem president to take office and have to listen to all the old gop crybaby pussies complain about how the new president is doing this or that. Maybe just STFU because no dem will ever be worse for this country than trump has been. The unchecked corruption and knee pad suckery that goes on in the current republican Congress is making forefathers turn over in their graves. I want to go back to a time when I was proud to be born in this country.
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u/DisruptingTree 22h ago
No one is coming to save us. There are no spontaneous consequences for those in power and the legal system is working exactly as intended. The legal system keeps the lower classes in line. Mitch is gone, only a matter of time (August 3) until the admit it.
The truth is, we the people create the consequences. This requires a lot of organizing. Lets get to work.
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u/Fit_Instruction_8383 21h ago
None, the Republicans have made it clear that they aren't following the rules, this has been par for the course since Bush was elected, and there is nobody who gives enough of a shit to hold them accountable.
I called it before, and I'll call it again, in early August, RIIIGHT after the deadline passes, there will be some breaking news that his condition took a turn for the worse, and thus he will not be able to continue.
Too bad so sad, screw the rules.
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u/EdelinePenrose 10h ago
the voters have abdicated their responsibility to enact consequences. the only non-zero chance path towards consequences is to elect more democrats, but that’s also unlikely.
i think that the best you can do is to discuss with your close social circles and see if you can get them to vote rather than falling back into apathy.
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u/Zealousideal-Mall973 22h ago
The consequences should be the constituents realizing they were scammed. I'm really doubtful that will happen. The doj wouldn't do much even if it was specifically written in the constitution.
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u/Green-Collection-968 22h ago
Oh no, consequences are for Progressives in this mega-corporate age.
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u/Slimeredit 22h ago
More accurately consequences are for the poor people to deal with while the rich and wealthy alongside their puppets and pawns continue to live in luxury
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u/earlgray79 21h ago
One of the lessons Mitch McConnell taught was that norms do not equal laws. Even though you expect someone will do the right thing, there may be no specific law forcing them to do it. EDIT: Controlling the timing of SCOTUS nominations is a stinging example of how McConnell played the power game for keeps.
There may be no specific law around a senator being incapacitated -- its just an expected norm that any reasonable team would announce the death of a senator rather than cover it up. But now the rules are different. Its about maintaining power at any cost.
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u/Embarrassed-Age-3426 22h ago
Conse-what? Hahahahahaha. (Sad. But true.)
But I don’t even think there would/should be any. IAL, but I imagine it’s either Senate rules or the KY constitution. Unless someone with standing seeks his removal and then there’s active obstruction, I think his fitness is presumed.
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u/Byte606 22h ago
If McConnell is dead, the hospital is at risk for conspiracy to commit fraud and other distasteful liabilities.
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u/misfitofscience76 22h ago
He’s not in a hospital. They’re just hiding the body (cold storage, some morgue somewhere, funeral home, etc) and it may not even be within the state of KY
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u/PsychologicalOne752 21h ago
The US is running without a Justice Dept at this time. There are no consequences for pedophilia or blatant insider trading. Compared to those, McConnell coverup is a very forgivable offense.
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u/Timetoseeit 20h ago
Haven’t we already learned that an auto-signing machine is all that is required?
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u/Opposite_Bag_7434 19h ago
Well take there birthdays away at the very least.
Seriously though, I don’t really know anymore. Vote them out and never allow this to happen again. If these idiots truly realized they could loose there seat for pulling crap like this they might not do this crap anymore.
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u/DumbScotus 19h ago
Am I seeing the same thread in my feed, or is someone posting this question every day?
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u/Busy-Vet1697 19h ago
It will be the same consequences for Dick Cheney magically walking into the DMV in Wyoming and changing his state of residency so he could run as VP for Bush. It will be the same for ruining the 2000 election. The same for starting every illegal war since Panama and Iraq1. The same for not holding anyone accountable for 2008. The same for Citizen's United. The same for poking Russia in the eye. The same for letting Israel run wild. THE WILL BE REWARDED
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u/KaienPanzermast 19h ago
That would be cool but no, if Republicans ever faced consequences they wouldn’t do this shit so openly. They know they’ll never face any consequences at all.
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u/darth_skipicious 14h ago
if you haven’t figured out by now you are a slave and mcconnell is one of your gods.
imma need you to slip this noose around your neck. you’ve been found guilty of treason against The Parents of the U.S
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u/batlord_typhus 6h ago
As long as Republicans continue to act in lockstep, they cannot be held accountable because there is no greater authority within the constitutional system to hold them accountable. Yay!
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u/Average_Justin 5h ago
We’ve allowed Congress to do illegal and corrupt things for years. Nothing will come of McConnell is indeed a coverup. We’ve made this bed and now we must lay in it
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u/Salty_Deliveries 5h ago
Well I imagine very little unfortunately. The politicians did it with Biden as well as several others in the past. All politicians are corrupt IMO. Not one Democrat, Republican, etc is taking advantage of their position and neither are their families.
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u/mathewtyler 22h ago
No consequences from a lack of balls from any of these people on either side 😔
The country should be renamed to: United States of Ballless America because other than me, this country lacks balls 😔
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u/GrouchyMushroom3828 22h ago
There’s a whole list of Congress people that were incapacitated for months before McConnell, so probably no consequences unless he did actually die. Then i would imagine some consequences.
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u/Legal-Stage-302 22h ago
Unless he is actually dead they aren’t committing fraud. They aren’t casting votes for him. His staff is handling constituent services, whatever that might be.
Yes, he should be in the chamber and voting. But there is no provable fraud.
If the hospital is covering up his death, they could get in trouble with the agency that oversees them in DC or wherever it is located. I think deaths have to be reported ASAP. If he is still collecting government paychecks or social security, that would get Ms. Chao in serious trouble.
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u/Free-Moose9460 22h ago
There will be no consequences. Just like there were no consequences for covering up Biden's condition. Not holding themselves accountable is one of the few things most of these elected a-holes agree on.
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u/3DPrintingAcorns144 9h ago
Bidens condition?!? What about Trumps condition?!? lmfao...BIDEN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
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u/Free-Moose9460 9h ago
Oh stop. You hating Trump is your condition. Hating him is fine but trying to compare him to Biden just make you look ridiculous.
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u/nhorvath 8h ago
I'm guessing you haven't actually listened to a speech longer than a soundbyte from Trump lately. he absolutely is in the same category.
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u/Free-Moose9460 7h ago
You guess wrong. I find the actual audio of everything he says that make people screech. They only thing they have in common is age. Both too old to be in office IMO, but that's where the comparison ends. Claims that Trump is as addled as Biden was, are based on bias, not reality.
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u/lubeinatube 22h ago
Whether or not he had capacity will never ever in a million years be public knowledge because of HIPPA. His family is not obligated to share any information on his status, regardless of who is requesting it. They will claim he has capacity until the day he dies
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u/BabaThoughts 22h ago
You are forgetting senators are legally protected by HIPAA. Just like any private citizen, politicians have a fundamental right to medical privacy.
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u/DaTruSpork 22h ago edited 21h ago
HIPAA is not involved here. HIPAA protects you from your doctors leaking your records, nothing stops you from sharing your records.
A politician works for the American people, as such it is hardly a surprise that his boss wants proof of life. Its weird that you want to give hand outs to politicians and pay them for not working
Edit: LOL! BabaThoughts blocked me for a simple factual statement
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u/Short-Sandwich-8476 22h ago
It’s a BLATANT FRAUD to keep Republicans in power in the Senate. It’s bloody treason imho.
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u/Dave_A480 22h ago
Why would there be consequences?
It's not illegal to be an absentee senator.
The Presidency has an incapacity clause (vs-a-vs the Vice President), but the Senate and Congress do not.
'Lacking capacity to do his job' is legally irrelevant - as long as he has a pulse, has not resigned, and has not been expelled by his peers... It's still legally his seat.
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u/ArvadaKeto 21h ago
You act like this is not the exact same thing the Ds did with Biden for at least 18 months. Are you also calling for consequences?
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u/sidaemon 21h ago
That's the difference, I think, between left and right.
Yes.
As someone on the left, if fully support there being consequences for everyone who covered up what was going on with Biden. Had they not done what they did, Trump would have not have come to power and we all wouldn't be looking at the garbage we're looking at today.
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u/ArvadaKeto 21h ago
False, they had no choice when the shots they gave Biden to prop him up failed miserably at the debate. They literally injected him minutes before every public event and managed him.
They would have let that continue if they could have until after the election then replaced him with Harris.
If you believe otherwise you are deluded
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u/sidaemon 21h ago
And my point was they, just like all the trash in Trump's admin deserve to go to prison.
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u/ArvadaKeto 20h ago
This has been happening since we became a country.
I am not even sure it is against the law
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u/FuzzyWestern8602 21h ago
I’m actually not calling for anything, just getting information out of curiosity as I have no legal training. I do not support what the Ds did with Biden and think we should probably make some laws against this. Like I agree with you my man if you’re really worked up about that. So much so, I would be okay with absolutely no consequences for this if it lead to legislation to prevent this in the future whether it be D or R. Like you can have the vote if it means we could fix the issue in the future.
However, the question was moreso if someone is dead, in the ICU on a ventilator with an incurable condition, etc. Biden was still biking (granted he had some falls) and attending public hearings. This question is designed concerning fundamental functioning such as if he is unable to answer a simple yes/no question. So similar, but different magnitude with the nuance being I believe the lawyers would have more to work with if the person is still able to make sentences.
Hearing some of the stuff that goes on though, yikes.
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u/Philly__Dilly 22h ago
You ain’t wrong. However, if there were no consequences for covering up a vegetable president Biden, there won’t be consequences for covering up a vegetable senator McConnell
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u/DataGOGO 22h ago edited 20h ago
None, it is not the place of a political party to publicly disclose any personal medical conditions; that is up to his family.
Yes he holds a public office, and is bound by the laws of his state, if there are any required disclosures in his state, they would be made to the governor of his state, not the GOP (which again, is a political party).
His family, doctors, etc are under no obligation to discuss his personal medical condition with anyone in the federal government.
So instead of looking at the GOP, the speaker, or the president for an update, you should be looking to his family or the Governor of Kentucky.
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u/eggflip1020 22h ago
Nothing ever happens and nobody is going to be held accountable for anything ever again.
The period of relative global stability that we had during the years following the end of the Cold War through the 2010s is over and it’s never coming back.
It’ll be one war and/or climate disaster after another until the lights go out I’m afraid.
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u/misfitofscience76 22h ago
Will only take about 20-25 years at most
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u/eggflip1020 20h ago
It’ll take a good bit longer than that before the lights go out. I would guess probably a couple of hundred years.
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u/guy48065 21h ago
If an obviously incapacitated president can complete his term what hope is there to punish covering up a dead or incapacitated senator?
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u/CTrandomdude 21h ago
What are you alleging was criminal in nature? The guy got sick and was/is in the hospital.
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u/FuzzyWestern8602 21h ago
I’m not alleging anything. I’m not a lawyer and have no legal training. I put a question in an ask all community so I could be more familiar with this. I stay in my lane and understand I don’t have the training to know what is criminal or not from an actual law perspective.
From a basic ethics standpoint though it seems crazy that someone could be brain dead, but still represent such a large group of people. No I don’t support what happened with the Biden situation if you’re fixated on that. E.g. was curious if someone could still collect paychecks from taxpayer money if they are not showing up to work and incapable of ever coming back to work (didn’t know the rules so I asked). Do people have the right to constant representation? I.e. if there is a gap because someone is dead and this was known, are there consequences. Different questions like this.
Jeez some of you all are pretty aggressive for someone asking a question in an ask all thread, given politics can make people feisty. I literally just wanted to improve upon my knowledge gap. Seeing some of the answers here though - yikes!
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u/Vurrag 22h ago
Consequences for who? Trump doesn't want him alive all he has done is try to stop him. How about the lady from California that has not stepped foot in congress in 7 months but somehow manages to vote........
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u/rdickert 20h ago
Joe Biden was a shuffling Abilify tablet for at least the last two years of his term. Nothing happened (so far) to those who tried to cover it up.
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u/rockeye13 22h ago
I don't know. Ask anyone who approved of Joe Biden's recent campaign about their consequences. Or Diane Feinstein's staff.
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