CNN’s Republican political analyst Scott Jennings unwittingly started a hilarious internet trend after claiming he spoke with Sen. Mitch McConnell on the phone on Tuesday despite questions swirling about whether or not the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican will recover from his more than three-week-long hospitalization.
“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky,” Jennings wrote on X, weeks after McConnell suffered a suspected heart attack and was found unconscious at his home in Washington, D.C., on June 14.
“He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible,” the former McConnell campaign adviser continued.
This came a day after controversial far-right influencer Laura Loomer weighed in on Monday in a post on X by claiming that a “high level source” told her McConnell is “brain dead” and is only “being kept ‘alive’ by life support machines."
Republican Senate leadership maintains that McConnell — who has had an abysmal anti-LGBTQ+ record over the course of his decades-long career — will return to work. GOP Senate leaders John Thune of South Dakota and John Barrasso of Wyoming also say they have spoken with McConnell since he was hospitalized.
After Jennings posted about his alleged conversation with McConnell, queer political commentator Matt Bernstein started a now viral trend when he wrote on X, “just got off the phone with my close personal friend mitch mcconnell. we spoke for six hours. he told me he is GAY and might be interested in exploring POLYAMORY. i look forward to him returning to work as soon as possible.”
Left-wing political commentator Hasan Pike quickly followed with his own twist on the trend in a post on July 7 that reads, “just got off the phone with mitch mcconnell. we had phone sex.”
Since then, people on the internet have been on a roll, posting their own versions with jokes about McConnell already being a ghost, pointing out that the Republican leadership seems to be trying to recreate Weekend at Bernie’s, and joking about dead celebrities they talked to on the phone for 20 minutes.
Keep scrolling to see the internet's best "I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell..." jokes.
