Mitch McConnell Freeze at Press Conference

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About

Mitch McConnell Freeze at Press Conference, also known as Mitch McConnell Frozen at Press Conference and Mitch McConnell Freezing During Press Conference, refers to two viral videos of U.S. Senate Minority Leader and Republican Congressman Mitch McConnell appearing to freeze mid-press conference in late July 2023 and August 2023. Search interest for "Mitch McConnell stroke" and "Mitch McConnell pooping himself" peaked after the video went viral on Twitter and elsewhere, mostly due to curiosity and concern about what happened to him with those two scenarios being perceived by many as potential outcomes. Health experts speculated that he suffered an absence seizure or dehydration. Discourse, memes and quote retweets surfaced en masse across social media going into the following days. His second freeze moment happened at a press conference in Covington, Kentucky.

Origin

On July 26th, 2023, at approximately 2 p.m. EST, Twitter^[1] user @frankthorp tweeted two videos of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell freezing in the middle of a press conference and then being escorted away from the podium. The tweet gained roughly 9.9 million views and 12,500 likes in one day (shown below).

Two minutes later on July 26th, Twitter^[2] user @frankthorp replied to his first tweet^[1] with an "update" video, showing McConnell coming back to the presser. The second video received roughly 3.3 million views and 1,400 likes in one day (shown below).

A few minutes after the aforementioned tweet on July 26th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @RaquelMartinTV tweeted a different angle of the event, including the full audio of McConnell's frozen moment. In the video, McConnell is seen suddenly freezing up mid-sentence and then being asked if he had anything else to say. Over the course of one day, the tweet gained roughly 6.3 million views and 6,300 likes (shown below).

On July 26th, after he returned to the presser, news reporters asked McConnell if he was alright to which he responded, "I'm fine."^[11] Many reporters on the scene related McConnell's brief lapse to a fall he suffered months prior, which led many to concussion speculation.^[11]

Spread

Each of the aforementioned videos achieved virality via quote retweets, replies and reposts on July 26th, 2023. Many internet users subsequently started to speculate about what had caused McConnell to freeze. For instance, on July 26th, Twitter^[4] user @LauraLoomer asked, "Wow! Did he have a stroke?" in a QRT that gained roughly 4,400 likes in one day (shown below, left). Alternatively, Twitter^[5] user @fart claimed in a QRT, "he was shitting. he was staring straight ahead like a dog taking a shit," gaining roughly 75,600 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Humorous reactions to the event persisted online going into the next day. For instance, on July 26th, Twitter^[6] user @hungu1995 captioned the two videos tweeted by Twitter^[1] user @frankthorp with, "Me: where the hoes at???" and "Me when the hoes show up" (akin to the Where the Hoes At? format), gaining roughly 126,800 likes in one day (shown below).

On July 26th, Bluesky ^[7] user yesitscolin photoshopped the Xbox 360 "Please reconnect controller" notification on top of McConnell, gaining over 880 likes in one day (shown below, left). Also on July 26th, Twitter^[8] user @JUNlPER compared what McConnell saw to what the That Person Is Not Real woman saw in a tweet that received roughly 36,500 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Viral posts persisted online going into July 2023, spreading to both Instagram^[9] and TikTok, ^[10] among other platforms.

QAnon Reaction

On July 26th, 2023, Twitter^[12] user @davenewworld_2 tweeted screenshots from a QAnon forum where users were discussing McConnell's frozen moment. Many of the users in the thread referenced the "horrible crimes" McConnell was imagined to have committed, as well as an imagined lack of adrenochrome (examples shown below). Twitter^[12] user @davenewworld_2's tweet gained over 510 likes in less than a day.

Various Examples

Second Freeze Video

In late August 2023, Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze again in a video posted on August 30th, 2023, by X^[13] user @HannahPThomas. The moment happened at a press conference in Covington, Kentucky, directly after a reporter asked McConnell about re-election. The post gained roughly 21.4 million views and 13,100 likes in a day (shown below).

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV

— Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023

Online Reaction

On August 30th, 2023, various users on X quoted the video and replied, sparking viral discourse and memes that continued into the next day. Some posed concern about McConnell's health and age, additionally referencing Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. For instance, X^[14] user and political strategist @kurtbardella posted a Feinstein-related reaction, gaining roughly 5,900 likes in a day (shown below, left). Others on the app reacted more humorously, such as X^[15] user @ByYourLogic, who called McConnell their "Senate Comfort Character," gaining over 6,800 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Similar reactions surfaced in viral TikTok^[16]^[17] videos on August 30th, continuing into the days that followed the incident.