Fox News contributor and frequent guest host Joe Concha stopped pulling punches this weekend while discussing Sen. Mitch McConnell, demanding that the long-missing lawmaker either show up for work or resign.
McConnell, the Kentucky senator best-known for his years as the hugely powerful and notoriously obstructive Senate majority leader, was rushed to the hospital in mid-June after being found unresponsive in his home. He has not been seen or heard publicly since then, leading to intense speculation that he was either dead or in extremely poor health, with his office being accused of keeping it a secret to protect his seat. His staff has insisted that the senator is recovering and has released various statements attributed to him, but the lack of video evidence has done little to quell the conspiracy theories.
On Saturday, Concha discussed the situation on Fox News’s “The Big Weekend Show,” only a few days removed from the 80-day milestone since McConnell was first taken to the hospital. The contributor at the conservative network was blunt about his frustration with the senator, demanding that he either return to the Capitol or leave office, while also setting a personal ultimatum.
“I’ll say it,” Concha began. “If he does not come back in September, he needs to step down. Enough of this already.”
He added further: “How many months has it been since we’ve even heard from him directly? I don’t want to see ‘proof of life’ photos from a hospital bed anymore. He needs to get in front of a microphone and prove that he can do this job. And if he can’t, he needs to step aside. Period.”
The statements from McConnell’s office have claimed that he was found unconscious in his home due to a fall, something he has repeatedly struggled with in the halls of Congress, and that he was kept in the hospital due to a “mild case of pneumonia” and later moved to a rehab facility.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has repeatedly called for McConnell to release video “proof of life” evidence to help quell public outcry. He also claimed at one point to have heard from certain sources that the senator was already dead.
Early this week, McConnell’s office claimed that there was still no firm timetable for his return to the Senate. Despite that, the following day Kentucky Rep. James Comer claimed that he expected McConnell back on or around September 14.