Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls McConnell ‘Not Fit For Office’ After Freezing At Event - Forbes

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Topline

Hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “not fit for office,” after the senator appeared to freeze when answering a question from reporters for the second time in just over a month on Wednesday.

Key Facts

Greene posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, just after McConnell’s freeze, saying: “Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nation’s leaders MUST be addressed.”

She included President Joe Biden, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)—the latter of which both had to take leaves from the Senate for health issues this year—as “examples of people who are not fit for office” in the post.

McConnell, 81, went silent for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he was considering a run for reelection in 2026 during an event in Kentucky, before saying, “ok.”

In a follow up social media post, Greene wrote the “staff and family members” of the politicians she mentioned “should be ashamed of themselves by enabling” them to hold office, saying the 25th Amendment should be in consideration—even though the amendment deals with presidential succession and disability, but doesn’t mention senators.

Forbes has reached out to McConnell’s team for comment.

Key Background

McConnell’s Wednesday freeze came just weeks after a similar incident in which he froze suddenly while talking to reporters in D.C., which sparked questions about his health and ability to hold office. After the first freeze, an aide said the senator felt “lightheaded and stepped away for a moment,” though he returned to keep answering questions. The freezes in speech aren’t McConnell’s only health problems in recent years. In 2019, he fell outside his home in Kentucky and fractured his shoulder, and he took another fall this past March at a hotel in Washington D.C. That fall left him with a concussion and broken rib, forcing him to take six weeks away from the Senate. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1985 and was the chamber’s majority leader from 2015 to 2021. Feinstein and Fetterman were also away from the Senate earlier this year: Feinstein took time off due to shingles, while Fetterman was hospitalized for depression.

Tangent

Greene entered Congress in early 2021, and has faced near-constant scrutiny—including from some members of her own party—for her often-incendiary rhetoric and previous openness to the QAnon conspiracy theory. McConnell appeared to criticize Greene for spreading “loony lies and conspiracy theories” two years ago. Earlier this summer, Greene was ousted from the House Freedom Caucus—a group of ultraconservative Republicans—after she repeatedly made attacks on members of her own party. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) told NBC Greene wasn’t a member of the caucus because she “consistently attacked other members of the Freedom Caucus in an irresponsible way.”