Trump: 'We Have To Have' New Senate Leadership After Mitch McConnell Freezes On Live TV

Forty-fifth President Donald J. Trump commented that Republicans in the United States Senate are in need of new leadership after a very public health scare for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) left confidence in the 81-year-old senator badly shaken.

Trump, himself a spry 77-years-old, reacted to the startling scene that took place during a press conference last week that saw McConnell begin commenting to the press before trailing off wordlessly, a vacant expression on his face for about 20 seconds before being escorted away by staffers. He would return a few minutes later to brief the press claiming to be fine, but it seems the damage was done.

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson suggested that McConnell suffered a stroke in a post to the X App formerly known as Twitter, "After suffering a stroke on camera Mitch McConnell tries to laugh it off with a joke hastily written by his staff then proceeds to immediately freeze up again and stare off into the middle distance. McConnell is unwell. He is a cancer on the GOP. Resign"

In an interview with Breitbart, Trump commented that the state of affairs with McConnell was "sad." 

Asked if he wants to see a new leader in the Republican Senate leadership, Trump replied,

"I think we have to have that, we have to have that. We need it. No, we have some people in the Senate that are fantastic who'd be great in that position. But, it's just amazing that he'd do that. At the same time I hope he's well."

When asked who he might think of for that role, he said, "I have a lot of relationships, a lot of great relationships with the Senate." Trump went on to explain that people like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have been doing "really well" in Congress.

"Matt Gaetz is doing really well. He's a tough cookie and he's doing really well. Marjorie Taylor-Greene has done really well. A lot of people like what she has to say, a lot of people."

Trump hearkened back to a previous debilitating injury McConnell sustained in early 2023 when a fall saw him hospitalized with a concussion and a broken rib. The injuries required the minority leader to undergo physical therapy. "He had a bad fall, I guess, and probably an aftereffect of that," Trump theorized.

Pointing to McConnell's troubling policies again though he added, "But it was also sad that he gave trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars to the Democrats to waste on the Green New Deal, destroying our oceans and destroying our great, beautiful vistas and plains all over our country with windmills that are very expensive energy. So that’s a very sad thing also."

A statement issued by McConnell's office stated that he intends to serve out his record seventh term in the Senate, with the statement explaining, "Leader McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues, and plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do." The senator has held his office since 1985, becoming a member of the Senate leadership as majority whip in 2003, heading the Senate GOP Conference in 2007, and becoming majority leader in 2015.

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