By

Margaret Hartmann,

senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012

After Mitch McConnell was hospitalized on June 14, his office let wild speculation about his health fester for a full month. Then on Sunday, hours after the death of another GOP senator, McConnell released a statement saying he had fallen at home and briefly lost consciousness, then developed a “mild case of pneumonia.” The Kentuckian also released a proof-of-life photo, which was styled to look like we just happened to catch him smiling with his wife, Elaine Chao, while perusing Sunday’s Washington Post sports section.

Unsurprisingly, this didn’t deter the MAGA conspiracy theorists or the casual Mitch meme enthusiasts.