It has now been more than 80 days since 84-year-old Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance from his Washington, D.C., home on June 14.
The American public hasn't seen him since.
McConnell has been playing a rousing game of Schrödinger's Senator, releasing vague and infrequent breadcrumb updates while vehemently refusing to release any sort of video proof of life, despite increasing demands.
It's now been a full month since McConnell claimed he was out of the rehab center he was transferred to from the hospital and was recovering at home, and that was the last time anyone heard from him or his team.
At a time when Republicans are holding a razor-thin majority in Congress, McConnell has now missed 60 votes on everything from war power resolutions on Donald Trump's Iran war to housing affordability policies to the confirmation of new Attorney General Todd Blanche.
With the senator's Weekend at Bernie's bit stretching into its 80th day, The Daily Beast decided to pay a visit to McConnell's D.C. home, and what they discovered only served to make the situation even more bizarre and unsettling.
According to their report, the Kentucky senator's Washington home remains under heavy guard by an extensive security detail -- including three unmarked SUVs with darkly tinted windows parked right outside his home and two marked Capitol Police cars and officers posted on each end of his street.
The publication noted that the curtains were drawn throughout the entire house, save for one first-floor window, and no mail had accumulated outside, as it did when the senator was hospitalized.
The last photo anyone has seen of McConnell was released on July 27th and bore a striking resemblance to the photo his team released on July 12th. Those two photos were the only glimpse the public has had of the Republican senator since he vanished nearly three months ago.
McConnell has faced mounting calls for transparency, including demands from Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear that he release a video to prove to the country that he's even alive. McConnell and his office have ignored them all.
Yet, his aides continue to speak on the senator's behalf at local Kentucky events, acting as though this truly bizarre situation is simply no big deal.
The last public update on Mitch's health was released by his office on August 6, in which he said he would "maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home" and that he was remaining engaged with his staff and colleagues.
McConnell has suffered multiple health incidents in recent years, including several falls.
Even though 911 audio has confirmed that the senator required CPR by paramedics during his July incident that started this whole mess, McConnell's eventual statement on the matter claimed that this was all the result of a fall and a subsequent bout of pneumonia.
While a few MAGA allies, such as Scott Jennings, have repeatedly claimed to have spoken with McConnell, it seems no one can actually prove that he's alive.
In a time when the president of the United States is trying to convince us all that dead voters are a plaguing problem in this country, it certainly seems like they would be a bit more concerned about whether or not we're currently operating with a dead senator.
