Were they all, perchance, born in Grovers Mill, New Jersey?
Near the Yoyodyne plant?
I dunno, there is a credible book published a few years ago that analyzes Trump’s rise, which gives a fair bit of historical credit to Newt. I started to read it, but it turned my stomach so much I had to stop. (Sorry I can’t recall the title; it’s on my Kindle, which isn’t charged now.)
What kind of testing would catch something like this unless Mitch just happened to bluescreen while taking the test?
From the John’s Hopkins site:
You may have absence seizures repeatedly for years before heading to the doctor for a diagnosis. You may have “staring spells” without thinking of them as a medical problem or a seizure.
An EEG is a test most often used to diagnose absence seizures. This test records the brain’s electrical activity and spots any abnormalities that could indicate an absence seizure.
This 2018 article in The Atlantic is probably by whoever wrote that book. The point is that Newt laid the foundation that made it possible for the evil that has come after, including for Mitch to operate as he has.
…
But few figures in modern history have done more than Gingrich to lay the groundwork for Trump’s rise. During his two decades in Congress, he pioneered a style of partisan combat—replete with name-calling, conspiracy theories, and strategic obstructionism—that poisoned America’s political culture and plunged Washington into permanent dysfunction. Gingrich’s career can perhaps be best understood as a grand exercise in devolution—an effort to strip American politics of the civilizing traits it had developed over time and return it to its most primal essence.…
Twenty-five years after engineering the Republican Revolution, Gingrich can draw a direct line from his work in Congress to the upheaval now taking place around the globe. But as he surveys the wreckage of the modern political landscape, he is not regretful. He’s gleeful.
“The old order is dying,” he tells me. “Almost everywhere you have freedom, you have a very deep discontent that the system isn’t working.”
…
An up-and-coming senator named Mitch McConnell was quoted crowing that opposing the Democrats’ agenda “gives gridlock a good name.” When the 103rd Congress adjourned in October, The Washington Post declared it “perhaps the worst Congress” in 50 years.
Yet Gingrich’s plan worked. By the time voters went to the polls, exit surveys revealed widespread frustration with Congress and a deep appetite for change. Republicans achieved one of the most sweeping electoral victories in modern American history. They picked up 54 seats in the House and seized state legislatures and governorships across the country; for the first time in 40 years, the GOP took control of both houses of Congress.
…
Sorry I can’t quote more. The upshot is that without Newt, there would be no Mitch.
The article is nauseating.
Yeah, i came here to say that while Mitch has done more direct damage, Newt paved the way for him to do it.
God i hate Newt Gingrich.
Ditto.
My bold.
This line from that article says it all. 
I watched the clip and kept waiting for him to pull his head back into his shell. It’s obvious he has something possibly serious going on- but if it strikes only for a few moments I’m not seeing the case that he has to step down. If he was an airline pilot, it’s disqualifying. If he’s lucid 99% of the time, that’s fine for a lawmaker. Even if he is a dishonorable reptile.
The GOP does seem to have a lot of Johns in their ranks.
I know that the Republicans make the list because the seat is currently held by a Republican, but I can easily imagine a red state passing a law that the replacement has to be a Republican regardless of the current person’s party.
U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…
I’ve actually read one person cite this as the reason that Republican’s must win elections in this republic.
As tough as it is to watch, I saw the latest video and a few things jumped out at me:
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His staff clearly know what is going on well before he does and they have a pre-set plan to hustle him away.
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He is gripping that podium for literal dear life. His female aide tries to get him to release and cannot budge him at all.
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He didn’t react the way a person typically would if the problem was that they didn’t hear the question.
If Mitch was a guy we were familiar with from visiting a seniors home, we would not be surprised if a week went by and he wasn’t sitting in his usual spot. Is he running for reelection in 2026? Let’s see if he makes it through August of 2023 first.
I think this whole scheme (which is also on the books in several other states) of requiring a governor to appoint a replacement Senator of the same party as the dead/resigning Senator is terrible policy and likely unconstitutional. Political parties have no special standing to claim the right to choose a departing Senator’s successor. We don’t vote for party lists in this country – we vote for individuals. There’s no logical or moral basis for saying that a Senator should be replaced by a Senator of the same party.
If Mitch does shuffle off, I hope Beshear tells Kentucky Republicans to pound sand and appoints a replacement of his choosing. Republicans would scream, but it would be up to the Democratic majority in the Senate to decide if the successor’s credentials are valid. I’m sure there would also be a court challenge, but there’s a strong argument that the Kentucky law violates the 17th Amendment and – even setting that aside – it’s a political question that the Senate answers in choosing whether or not to seat the replacement Senator.
Overall, I think it’s better if the party picks the replacement. Having the governor pick a person might be desirable in this case with a Dem governor, but that’s not the case all the time. If the governor was an R, then they’d pick a R replacement for a D senator.
It would be perfectly in line with Mitch’s ethics.
Yes, but given the current Republican “Yes, but what if we… didn’t?” approach to ethics and good faith in politics things are ripe for a bit of payback I think.
But why? What special claim does a state political party have that their choice is a more legitimate replacement than that of an opposite-party governor? I suppose the argument is that the voters who elected a Senator in the first place would want him or her replaced by someone of the same party. But people vote for candidates for all kinds of reasons beyond party identification. If the Senator ran on his or her service as a combat veteran, why not have the American Legion submit a list of candidates?
As far as the ethics of my recommended approach, there’s nothing unethical about Beshear rejecting an unconstitutional limitation on his authority as Governor. And he would be acting consistently – he cited the unconstitutionality of the statute when he vetoed it (he was overridden).
I didn’t forget him.
Maybe he can just leave the position open until the voters have their chance to cast a vote?
But really, the idea that party leaders get to decide the next Senator is bonkers. At a minimum make it the decision of the entire legislature, or the governor, but some hand picked members of an executive committee for a political party that anyone can join or leave at any time?
Because there is no more honor in politics. A R governor will pick an R replacement for a D senator since that is better for the R party. It doesn’t matter if that R replacement represents the constituents of the replaced senator or not. An R governor isn’t going to spend 1 second evaluating if a D replacement would be a better pick. All that matters to them is that the number of R’s goes up by one.
And chances are, if the constituents voted for someone from a political party, then someone from that party will better represent their needs and desires than someone from the other party. Unless there’s some big shift in voter sentiment since the last election, the party that won likely represents the desires of the majority of voters. If the voters in KY wanted their senator to be from a different party, then they would have made that clear in the prior election.