Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was repeatedly heckled during a speech in his home state on Saturday where rowdy attendees booed and chanted “retire” at the aging lawmaker.
During the annual “Fancy Farm Picnic,” McConnell, 81, said “it’s not hard for Republicans to look good these days,” but the audience drowned out the elderly senator with loud boos.
Attendees also chanted “loss the Senate,” but McConnell refused to acknowledge the scorn for the duration of his speech.
Video of the heckling was widely circulated on social media.
“This is why I love Kentucky. Watch McConnell get absolutely blasted with boos and jeers for 5 minutes straight,” one Twitter user posted.
Veteran Ryan Shead tweeted, “Mitch McConnell was greeted with boos and retirement chants as he arrived at Fancy Farms picnic in Kentucky. It’s time.”
“The video of Mitch McConnell tells you all you need to know about the #Geriacracy (Geriatrics in Power) in America. People think it shows he is out of touch reading through the ‘boos’ and ‘retire’ chants. Prove to me he can even hear them (even knows where he is). #RetireMitch,” tweeted podcaster Kyle Seraphin.
The heckles come after McConnell was escorted from the podium during a recent press conference when the Kentucky senator froze in the middle of a sentence and stood there, not moving, for an extended period of time.
Former President Donald Trump slammed McConnell as “perhaps the worst leader in the history of the country” during a speech at the South Carolina Republican Party’s 56th Annual Silver Elephant Gala over the weekend.
“These guys, what they’re doing with the election interference and the Senate has to step up and do something. The House is doing a lot of things,” Trump said. “The Senate under, perhaps the worst leader in the history of the country running the senate, Mitch McConnell has to stand up and do something.”
“And you [South Carolina] have some good ones, and that guy right there,” he said, pointing at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “He’s working hard but they need a lot of other people and to stop handing out money every time.”
“I’m telling you Lindsey: they have something on Mitch McConnell. There’s no way he’s doing this. They got something on Mitch McConnell,” Trump added.
