Posters mocking US Senator Mitch McConnell have appeared across Washington DC, claiming the Kentucky Republican is a “missing person” as he remains hospitalized and away from public duties. The posters, shared by the Save America Movement (SAM), feature a picture of McConnell recovering in a hospital bed and use the phrase “MISSING PERSON” in large red letters.
The signs describe him as “84 years old. 5’9 feet. Turtle-like” and list his “known for” details as “blocking something in the Senate”, with “tortoise like appearance” given as a distinguishing feature.
The group said the posters were placed on poles outside the US Capitol and near an emergency room. “We put those flyers up because this has gotten absurd,” SAM, an anti-Trump political group, said in a Wednesday Substack post.
“For more than a month now, the senior senator from Kentucky has not cast a vote, has not appeared for the work of the chamber, and has not, in any provable or functional sense, represented the four and a half million people who sent him there,” the group added.
McConnell, who is due to retire at the end of his current term in January 2027, was admitted to hospital on 14 June after a fall, according to his spokesperson.
For several weeks, his office provided limited updates about his condition, leading to speculation after footage emerged showing first responders outside his home.
On 12 July, McConnell released a statement alongside a photograph of himself in hospital with his wife, former US Labour Secretary Elaine Chao. He said he had suffered a fall and later developed a mild case of pneumonia.
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” McConnell said. “I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital.”
His office issued another update on Monday, saying the senator was “still working hard to get back to my full schedule”.
A doctor treating McConnell said he was undergoing “physical therapy and rehabilitation” and had not yet been “medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office”.