Nikki Haley calls the Senate the ‘most privileged nursing home in the country’ and tells Mitch McConnell, 81, he should ‘know when it’s time to leave’ after second freeze

Republican presidential nominee Nikki Haley said Thursday that the Senate is the “most privileged nursing home in the country,” after 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze for a second time.

Haley, 51, appeared on Fox News and was asked about McConnell’s health problems on Wednesday.

When she launched her presidential campaign in mid-February, she called for mental competence tests for candidates over age 75, which would apply to both President Joe Biden, 80, and former President Donald Trump, 77.

“It’s sad,” Haley said of McConnell. “No one should feel good about seeing that, any more than we should feel good about seeing Dianne Feinstein, any more than we should feel good about a lot of what is happening or seeing the decline of Joe Biden.”

“What I’m saying is that the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country right now,” she continued. “I mean, Mitch McConnell has done great things and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave.’

On Wednesday, 80-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds at an event in Kentucky. McConnell showed similar behavior at a press conference in Capitol Hill in late July

On Wednesday, McConnell was speaking at an event in Kentucky when he appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds.

He displayed similar behavior at a press conference on Capitol Hill in late July, ahead of Congress’ summer recess.

McConnell missed work for weeks earlier this year after falling, sustaining a concussion and breaking a rib while dining at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., the former Trump hotel, in March.

He attributed Wednesday’s freeze to a “temporary light-headedness.”

The attending physician of the United States Congress, Dr. Brian Monahan, cleared McConnell for duty the next day.

“After evaluating yesterday’s incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically safe to proceed with his schedule as planned,” a statement from Monahan said. “Occasional light-headedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected due to dehydration.”

When asked on Thursday about McConnell’s fitness for office, Biden sang a similar tune.

The president called McConnell a “friend” and said “he was the old one on the phone” when they spoke earlier in the day.

And because I have a little understanding of dealing with neurosurgeons and one of the leading women on my staff, her husband, is also a neurosurgeon, it’s not at all unusual to have a reaction that sometimes happens to Mitch when you had a severe concussion,” Biden said. “It’s part of the recovery.”

“And so I’m confident he’ll get back to his old self,” the president said.

Biden replied that he was not worried about McConnell being able to do his job.

Though Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, hasn’t completely detached herself politically from her former boss – signaling during last week’s debate that she would still support him as a candidate even if he were convicted of a crime – did she do? A lot of work was done on the idea of ​​a generation change.

In her announcement speech in Charleston, she suggested that candidates over the age of 75 submit to a mental competency test.

She explained how she would see that work in her interview with Fox.

“The way you would do that is if someone is running for office, he or she gets a message from their doctor about a mental competence test,” she said.

“That’s different from a health test,” the 2024 hopeful continued. “A mental competence test is, you know, a series of questions like, “Name what city you were born in?” or, you know, “Say four words that start with the same letter?” or “How many grandchildren do you have?” As if there were multiple questions, and they would submit those mental competency tests at the same time they were running for office.”

The grandchild question was a dig at Biden, who for years would not acknowledge his seventh grandchild, Navy Joan.

“It’s not disqualifying,” Haley said of the test results. “But what it is, it’s transparency for the voters so that they know and know when they make their decision. Just as we must make financial disclosures when we run for office.”

“We should do a mental competence test so people know if this person is fit,” Haley said. “And I think it should be done for the incumbents, I think it should be done for all (new) people who are running for office.”

Haley said it was “worrying” to see McConnell and 90-year-old Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein remain in office while battling health issues, some of them related to old age.

“But the ones who get hurt are the taxpayers, the ones who are tough on the American people and we need to make sure these people know when to move on,” Haley concluded.