Gerth: Is it time for Sen. Mitch McConnell to step aside?

It's time for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to hang it up, head into a long-delayed retirement and say goodbye to the institution he loves.

Twice in the last month, he has frozen up during press conferences.

The one a month ago was scary. He looked like he had absolutely no idea where he was, what he was doing or what he should say.

At that event, near the end of July, when U.S. Sen. John Barasso asked if he wanted to go back to his office, he simply mouthed a one-word answer and shuffled away from the mic.

Wednesday, it was more of the same.

When someone asked if he would run for reelection in 2026, he first said he didn’t hear the question and then he froze.

Only this time he seemed even weaker. He looked thinner and when he regained his composure, his voice wavered when he said, “OK.”

I’m not going to masquerade as a gerontologist or neurologist and guess what is going on like so many people have done in trying to diagnose President Joe Biden when he has had senior moments – none of which have seemed as serious as these.

None of those wannabe doctors know what is going on with Biden; I certainly don’t know what is going on with McConnell.

But something is seriously wrong – it doesn’t take a doctor to figure that out.

I don’t say this lightly, nor do I take any joy in it.

If you know my politics, you can assume pretty accurately that I’m not a fan of McConnell. I've made it clear I think his policies are bad for the country, and his remaining quiet through so much of the Donald Trump debacle has hastened the decline of our once-and-occasionally-still-great nation.

To be honest, I can’t figure out why he is still doing this job, why he didn't call it quits some time ago.

I love what I do, but I can promise you, when I’m 81, I will not still be hacking out columns and trying to hit deadlines.

I’ve wanted McConnell to go for some time, but I didn’t want him to go like this – with people questioning whether he still had his physical and mental faculties to continue.

But that's where we are.

His decline since he fell in March at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington and suffered a concussion is palpable. So is the feeling that his staff is not telling us the truth.

We've learned that he has fallen multiple times since then and now uses a wheelchair.

These last two events, the official line was that the senator was “feeling lightheaded.”

I’ve been lightheaded when my blood pressure medications were out of whack or when I knocked my head on the door jamb when climbing into my truck, and I promise, I felt nothing like he looked.

At the end of the day, it’s not imperative that he step down. The U.S. Senate will operate the same whether he is there in a diminished capacity or if he quits. Senate Republicans' power to obstruct will not change no matter what he does.

But it’s painful and sad to watch this, just as it was painful and sad in 1994 when they strapped William Natcher ? then the 84-year-old U.S. representative from Bowling Green – to a gurney, complete with oxygen and intravenous tubes, and took him from Bethesda Naval Hospital to the House floor so he could continue his record streak of 18,401 consecutive votes.

He died less than a month later.

I'm not predicting that for McConnell, but at some point, it just seems like going home and spending time with your family is the right thing to do. It’s too bad the master strategist who has always prided himself on his ability to outthink his foes hasn’t gamed this one out.

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mitch McConnell should consider retiring after second public freeze