Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) ongoing absence from Congress has left Republicans scrambling to compensate, as rumors swirl over the lawmaker’s health and his capacity to finish his final term. McConnell is “continuing his recovery” while hospitalized, said his office. But staffers have “released no details” about McConnell’s “condition during his weekslong hospitalization” or “whether he will be at the Capitol when the Senate returns next week,” said The Associated Press. 

McConnell’s staff has “not disclosed what prompted his hospitalization” or “what treatment he’s receiving,” said The New York Times. This episode is the “latest in a series of health issues” that have plagued McConnell in recent years. The “scant detail about what sent him to the hospital” last month, coupled with “alarming audio from an emergency dispatcher,” has “fueled speculation that McConnell’s condition is much worse than his staff has acknowledged,” said The Hill. 

The reason why most Republican lawmakers “aren’t speaking about Mitch McConnell’s condition” is because “we know nothing about his condition,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on X. Already, a “number of other MAGA figures have demanded” McConnell’s office confirm that the senator is “still alive while also questioning why it has not already done so,” said The Daily Beast.

An extended McConnell absence could “make matters more difficult for Republicans to pass legislation this year,” said The Washington Post. It also “further complicates matters for the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is already running behind schedule” and is “split evenly between Republicans and Democrats” while McConnell is away.

A Supreme Court ruling that affirms babies born on U.S. soil are automatically granted citizenship has “unleashed a new wave of right-wing panic,” said The Independent. Administration figures and allies have spoken of the decision in “apocalyptic terms, effectively comparing the ruling to treason.” Accordingly, MAGA leaders have “quickly pivoted to a new plan,” said Axios: “blocking pregnant foreign women from entering” the U.S.

Discussions to target pregnant travelers “reflect the administration’s determination to project momentum” on one of Trump’s “signature priorities despite the Supreme Court setback,” said Politico. White House officials are focused on “reassuring supporters” that the court’s ruling “will not derail the administration’s broader efforts to curtail illegal immigration.” Some MAGA organizers are now “seriously talking about preventing pregnant women from entering the country,” including through “forced sterilization” or forcing travelers to take “pregnancy tests before entry,” said Greg Sargent on his Daily Blast podcast.

“Would there be the possibility of cracking down on pregnant aliens who are coming over here?” said Megyn Kelly on her eponymous podcast. “Revoking visas? Pregnancy tests even? I mean, how far could we go with that?” The U.S. should give pregnant travelers a “one-month visa and then kick your ass out,” said Ben Shapiro on his eponymous show. “These are things that we can do.”

The prospect that individualized pregnancy data might “get into the hands of the federal government, much less the state governments,” is a “really dangerous proposition,” said Katie O’Connor, of the National Women’s Law Center, to Axios. “I just don’t know what to expect from this administration.”

A just-announced ‘Trumpapalooza’ event in Dallas offers risks and rewards for Republicans worried over brutal electoral headwinds in the fall