Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds on Wednesday while speaking with reporters after a speech in Covington, Kentucky.
The incident is similar to an episode McConnell experienced at the US Capitol late last month and is likely to raise additional questions about the fitness of the 81-year-old to lead the Senate Republican caucus.
Wednesday’s episode occurred when a reporter asked the Republican leader if he was planning to run for reelection in 2026. McConnell had to ask him to repeat the question several times, chuckled for a moment, and then paused.
Someone at his side then asked him, “Did you hear the question, senator, running for reelection in 2026?” McConnell did not respond.
Article includes video of the incident.
Sounds kind of like when my maternal grandma had a series of micro strokes for a few months before having the Big One.
Time to retire, Mitch. For both our sakes.
Maybe Mitch and Dianne can agree to retire at the same time
A little ditty about Mitch and Diane…
Oh yeah, their terms go on…
Long after their cognitive functions are gone.Jesus, that’s some dark humor there. Hilarious, but dark.
Dark humor or sad truth?
Yes.
I’m surprised Dianne Feinstein isn’t running again. I thought she would have been stubborn enough to try to stay in office well into her 90s until she achieves lichdom just to troll us.
She is currently 90, and her term isn’t up until 2024. Apparently she isn’t running again, but she might think she is…
I feel at this point it’s gotta be ego.
Like…you have so much power that you don’t even sweat elections.
Maybe it’d be a better course to work with your party, find a worthy successor that you agree on and start preparing the way for them.
Public functions, etc. get them in the spotlight. Then when the time comes, go out on the campaign trail with them, endorse them, tell your loyal base that the new person will now carry the torch.
If you pick the right person, in a state that’s so consistently supported you, it shouldn’t be too too difficult.
Not doing it this way is the elected position equivalent of RGB refusing to retire in the Obama administration and fucking the very SCOTUS (and American people) she claimed to be wanting to serve. Now she’s going to forever have the tainted legacy of having great views, but being too proud to do the sensible thing, and choosing her own ego over her ideals.
“Okay, fine. On three… One… Two… … … … …”
four hours later, we are still not sure if they’re waiting for the other to blink, have bluescreened, or both
All these old fossils need to GTFO. Him, Feinstein, all of em.
But McConnell in particular has royally fucked this country. No member of Congress should have that much power. But he used it quite effectively for his own ends. So fuck him
Its either happening frequently and just happens to have been caught on camera twice, or it could instead be related to hearing well enough to understand.
My grandparents were like this. Even if they could hear you, a lot of times it seemed out of context to them because they missed some other important piece.
The people handling him knew exactly what was going on there. This happens all the time, I’m guessing.
Source: youngest grandchild of a huge family.
You’d think if it were a hearing issue he would just say “Could you repeat the question?” and not stand there like a deer in headlights.
🦌💡💡
He did ask them to repeat the question, several times, before just standing there blankly.
Schrödinger’s McConnell: competent enough to lead the Republicans in Senate, not competent enough to answer questions about Trump under oath.
Yeah, that’s not a hearing issue. I’ve seen people with hearing issues who zone out because they can’t hear / follow the conversation. But, they’re not at a podium at the time. When that happens they know they can just back out of the conversation and hang out until the conversation is over, or the meal is over, or whatever.
When you’re at the podium you know you’re the focus of attention and need to respond. You can’t just stand there with a blank look. That looked more like a stroke or a seizure than a lack of hearing.
Yeah idk if auditory processing goes with age but you can also have delays from that.
That said if this were that you’d think he’d get hearing aids after the last one
Senators are among the most powerful politicians in the US, as well as on the planet, and they know it. They don’t stand there befuddled because they’re socially awkward. If they’re befuddled, it’s because they’re befuddled.
We are seeing the human version of the Mac’s spinning beach ball. I have a cat with the same problem. I would not nominate her for a seat in the Senate.
Mitch has had a series of bad falls over the past year, this isn’t just poor hearing. Something else is going on and this is elderly abuse keeping him in office
My sister’s absence seizures turned out to be stage four brain cancer. I know he’s an arsehole, but doesn’t he have anyone looking out for him? At all? He needs help.
Did you see the look on that lady’s face? She wasn’t even worried, she was annoyed. That’s the world Republicans want to create for everyone. A Russia-like society where no one gives a fuck about anyone outside their immediate family, because it makes people much easier to control.
Ugh yes. It was like her gadget had malfunctioned, AGAIN.
I kind of hope he doesn’t retire and goes out in an explosion of bodily fluid on live TV. What a show that would be.
Nah.
Have him die as he lived, peddling lies and attacking democracy.
Silly, he’s still young for a senator
he’s set for a presidential run soon 😂😭
I’m pretty sure that time was in 1984.
I’m good with him staying on in a state where he can’t fuck us over more. My worry is who then pulls the puppet strings.
Glitch McConnell.
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Timezone difference, they pushed updates to their clients over night, just standard practice.
But it’s still funny that they force-reboot like Microsoft.
That explains drumpf’s incoherent ramblings, corrupted bios after a failed flash.
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Glitch McConnell is at it again!
That made me laugh, thanks
He should step down and fuck off into the sunset, warmly recalling with what little neurological function he may have how he fucked so many Americans. It’s probably best that I not write the rest of what I’m thinking about this piece of shit traitor.
I’m fully rooting for Mitchs dementia. Much the same as I am a big fan of Limbaughs cancer.
Sometimes nature rolls a nat 20.
I figure a nat 20 in this context would be a little more dramatic than simple sundowning… We could shoot for shitting himself on camera, moments of brutally honest verbal diarrhea, endless painful kidney stones…
Whatever the case, I wish McConnell all the health outcomes he so richly deserves.
I would also wish him the level of healthcare he’s supported for Americans in general, but we know that he’s rich enough for a proper level of care.
dementia […] cancer
more dramatic […] shitting himself on camera, moments of brutally honest verbal diarrhea, endless painful kidney stones…
Interesting to see a few short moments of temporary and trite social embarrassment portrayed as a worse fate than the gradual and drawn-out ablation of everything that you are.
The dementia is already underway, these would be bonuses. That said, the verbal diarrhea would probably do the world some good - though it’s not as though the modern GOP has standards for that kind of thing.
I think he’s past stepping down, he can’t knowingly do it. He needs family and medical intervention.
Stepping down? He’s better at falling down these days.
It all seems kind of pointless doesn’t it? You screw over your compatriots only to become a lukewarm wet towel yourself.
May he receive thoughts and prayers. And no other form of healthcare or support.
The world will become a slightly better place when he finally dies.
That is hard to watch. I hate his guts and everything he’s done and stood for in politics, but it’s still rough to watch a man just fade away like that.
He needs to retire and stop clinging desperately to power. The stress of it alone is probably literally killing him.
Edit: Just so we’re clear, here, I’m not offering him sympathy. I have none to give for a monster like Mitch McConnell. The man has done enormous damage to the country, and people like him are why I worry about the future for my kids (both LGBTQ+).
I was only trying to express that on a gut level, it’s still unpleasant to see someone basically drain away like that.
He lost all potential sympathy from me when he denied Garland and rammed in Barett during an election year before RBG was fucking cold in the ground. That decision and denial of representation has made shockwaves of regression in terms of civil rights, voting rights, women’s bodily autonomy and LGBTQ rights …and that’s what we have gone backward in…so far (birth control and gay marriage being illegal again is coming) and we will feel these effects for several decades way after he’s gone.
tots and fucking pears, goddamn ghoul.
Yup. SCOTUS is eternally corrupted thanks almost exclusively to one man, and the sooner he’s worm food the better. Hell, even the fucking worms will gag on his bones.
Umm what stress? No really I am asking. There is no realistic scenario where he will have to choose between medicine or food, face homelessness, have his career destroyed, or really any major setbacks. Also he is probably a psychopath so even if some relative of his gets killed it isn’t going to impact him.
I am a regular middle class family man. It would take nearly nothing to destroy everything I have. One dark spot on an x-ray, one bad car accident, me and my wife both losing our jobs at once, a kitchen fire. The Turtle’s wealth, pension, power, and lack of emotional attachments means he is shielded from everything. How can someone who can’t lose anything be worried about anything?
The very worst thing that could happen to him is his party doesn’t have as much power. Which isn’t even really a thing on him, it is on the vile ideas that he has.
Um do you say the same thing about artists and celebrities who experience depression or commit suicide from the stress? I don’t disagree with Moscow Mitch being a motherfucker or being undeserving of sympathy, but your comment is equally as brain dead. Constant moving around, traveling, talking to people who (rightfully) are trying to attack you, etc. produces stress on the body.
Not all stress is created equally. Consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
I feel the same. Terrible human being. But taking joy in the suffering of others is not something I will do.
Don’t worry, I will take enough joy for us both. There is no hell, he is going to the same dirt we all are. If I want to feel a bit glad that one less terrible human is around causing problems I won’t feel bad about about feeling bad. Humanity as a whole will be better off the faster he dies. My feelings won’t change when that event happens and express an honest evaluation of the situation.
Every single teenager girl in America trying to abort her incest fetus with a metal hanger is because of that fucker.
“Your account has been suspended for posting violent content. The suspension —-“
Just kidding, this isn’t Reddit
Don’t worry I’ll have your share, get fucked Mitch.
I know McConnell is just a lightning rod for hate for the GOP and as soon as he’s gone some other amoral, sociopathic mercenary will take his place, but damn if he’s not just the worst.
Convince me that’s a human being.
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Whether he clings to power and dies from stress is kind of his decision.
I don’t enjoy seeing a person, even him, suffering illness. Even as much as I despise that horrible piece of shit.
Exactly this ^
The insane vitriol of some people on here, wishing death to this man, rejoicing in very obvious cognitive decline, it’s harrowing.
The policy this man has supported and even pioneered is horrific, and frankly he should never have been allowed to push that shit nor would I ever support it, but you can bet your fucking ass I’m not going to be sat here laughing about an old man in clear mental distress or wishing death on him, because I’m not a piece of shit and I actually have some form of morality.
Don’t worry, though, if the tables were turned Mitch himself would gladly cackle to himself knowing that some policy he enacted resulted in your suffering, so long as it earned him a buck in the process.
Fuck him. Right in the ear. With a pineapple. On a drill.
Honestly fuck the dude above acting like it’s some superior morals to coddle a scumbag. That’s how you reinforce their behavior and teach generations that being a corrupt piece of shit has no downsides, as everyone has to be nice to them anyway. It’s a lie that keeps masses from revolting against corrupt politicians/rulers/governments etc. Fuck that shit let’s remind those at the top its us at the bottom who support their little lavish lifestyles and can take it away in a damn instance.
I want him to stop hurting people. If that means voluntary retirement that’s cool. If it means dropping dead or becoming too disabled to continue that’s still preferable to him continuing to hurt people. I wish him a long retirement, specifically I hope it’s the rest of his life long.
Na I hope he has a very painful and suffering filled decline full of mockery so shitstains like him understand they will reap what they sow. Treat them like anything other than that and you create a system that is ripe for abuse as we see today. Enough following the bullshit rules of power that allow corrupt greedy narcissists to remain in power because we should treat them kindly even though they are not treating others the same. That just rewards corruption and abuses of power, and I do not fuck with fascists.
Utilitarian moral theory is an entire field of ethical philosophy, even if you don’t agree with it. Someone who believes strongly in this could argue that we should have actually killed Mitch decades ago to prevent all of the pain, suffering, and death that he has wrought on this world.
I think what you meant to say is that you have some form of feeling morally superior.
The same utilitarian ends could have been reached, and should have been reached, in any one of thousands of different ways, years ago, that wouldn’t require this.
Fuck the ghoul and all he’s done. But just think of the level of political degeneration required to get to the point where a malicious actor gradually being paralyzed by illness in public is your most feasible option for resolving a political problem. I can understand why you would cheer for this, but the reminder that your country is even in such a situation that cheering for it makes any sense at all is itself something that I find horrifying.
Besides, the entire point of utilitarianism is to evaluate possibilities dispassionately, and choose what results in the most useful outcome and end state. Like the other commenter said, “There is nothing utilitarian about taking ghoulish delight in the suffering of an evil old man”— The entire concept of evil is a more deontological or virtue-based construct— He’s on his way out, great, so celebrate the fact that he’s no longer causing harm, but once he’s gone, he actually doesn’t matter anymore— Contain the damage, tunc damnatio memoriae.
Idk. I feel for y’all, I guess. In a well-functioning democracy, this should have probably been resolved almost an entire generation ago, and you should barely even have any reason to know his name anymore. Everything about this situation is horrifying, from what he’s done to what’s happening to him now to the fact that he even still matters at all in the first place.
There is nothing utilitarian about taking ghoulish delight in the suffering of an evil old man.
He’s falling apart and you’re enjoying it because you hate him. At least be honest with yourself.
I don’t believe in utilitarian morality. They have no means to calculate, never solved the utility monster problem, it is a single value virtue system, and it ignores how humans work. Especially the last point, if morality doesn’t help humans live a better life it serves no purpose.
Not to mention that the first example that people always go to when trying to explain utilitarianism is always to use it to justify setting a precedent of murder, as long as doing so might feasibly produce benefits for somebody else in the future.
Plus the future is never certain, while the present is arguably more real in any moment. Consequentialist frameworks in general are basically betting away guaranteed morality in the present in exchange for possible/imagined gains in the future.
Personally I’ve also found that because everything is just so complicated, depending on what axioms you start with in a consequentialist perspective, you can also not only justify but make it compulsory to do literally any awful and disastrous things both to yourself and to other people.
(Plus you necessarily end up having to introduce some sort of a concept of a “causal event horizon”— How far forwards into the future you are willing and able to try to predict events in order to evaluate the consequences of actions— If you actually try to apply and use utilitarianism or any consequentialist framework— Which means that your ethics change depending on your computing power, plus you’re in constant and actually agonising pain because having to always try as hard as you can to feel the consequences of future outcomes as far in advance as possible is fucking excruciating. … or maybe that was a specific situation (but still, what use is ethics if it just mutilates you as soon as difficult questions need to be asked?))
Utilitarianism: The preferred ethical system for edgy youth, sheltered academics, idealistic extremists, and B-movie villains since the 19th century! …I say this having previously positioned myself somewhere between those categories.
I do tend to think deontology is just delusion, and virtue is just ego, though— … Human “philosophy”, and academics: Maybe some dead old dudes being paid by Kings and Churches to sit around doing nothing but think weren’t actually the best qualified to empathise with how people actually live, and understand what is the right and wrong way to do it— The incentives for sounding good in a clean and neat published paper can hardly be expected to align with the incentives of actually being applicable to the messiness of reality, can they?
Just don’t hurt people, Ffs— (And define “hurt” rigorously in terms of game theory and preserved options for autonomous constructive personal growth and equitable power dynamics, epistemology and the preservation of knowledge and feeling plus metaphysics and the preservation of identity and self, and thermodynamics and the avoidance of unconsensual entropification, if you need to)— just don’t hurt people; it shouldn’t be that complicated…
Must be nice on that high horse.
For fucks sake, it’s not some superior morals to allow a corrupt abuser to die or suffer for the agony they caused. It’s a lie to keep a power systems masses docile and in check. It’s even worse morals to know what this guy does and hope for the best for him instead of him dropping dead. Fuck that, and fuck all this shit that allows corruption to remain unfettered because oh we need to be kind to the fascist narcissistic egotists or what we have to deal with them like we always have. You should be aware of how they act and be ready to address that shit from day one when it’s called out. We know we need chemo to kill a tumor why the fuck are we acting like we should be feeding it and nurturing these shit stains who are actively cannibalizing the human races ability to survive over greed. Cut the tumor out or fucking irradiate it to death. Any fucking fascist peice of shit should be getting the same treatment. You don’t want to be mocked and laughed at as you die in old age? Well than start by giving a fuck about others first and maybe we will return the favor. I treat others based on how they treat others, fuck around like a shit stain get laughed at and paraded around like the shit stain you are.
After reading all the comments about wanting his life to be over and the counters about feeling bad for him etc. I think ive come to a conclusion on how to ethically handle him.
I’m going to laugh. I’m going to laugh at how foolish he looks having a stroke on stage. How despite all of the terrible things he has done to this country on a socio-economic level trying to line his pockets and stay in power, he is standing up there, feeble and barely coherent, looking like he simultaneously shat himself and forgot his name, I’m going to laugh.
Because if he wants any semblance of dignity, any ounce of respect, he needs to admit that he is done and bow out.
“But he is still human, have some empathy” No, why should I? This man has engineered tearing the country apart so he can put his grubby hands all over it and smear it in his own grease. And he is still trying to keep doing it!
What I see up there is an old man trying to walk across the freeway, with a dozen people telling him not to. And he is not only ignoring them but lifting his nose high and walking out into the road anyway. So when I see that mack truck hit him like it did on that stage, I laugh.
“The grace of God knows no bounds. But my mercy has some practical limitations.”
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Pretty sure he died years ago.
He was replaced by three snakes in a suit and they are old enough now to have mini strokes
Tots and pears
Technically we are all dying
That’s the look you get on your face when you’re standing at the podium and look out to see a skeleton wearing a robe and holding a scythe pointing at you from the back row.
Someone made basically exactly that comic last time this happened: https://files.catbox.moe/dow37c.webp
Awesome!
This one sparks joy.
No fair he’s looked like that for 20 years
Americans stop voting old white dudes and ruining the rest of the world please.
Just stop voting old dudes period. A white old dude is as unsuitable to govern as a non-white old dude.
Vote for younger and more progressive generation.
I’m from UK and we need to stop that shit also.
But BoJo, Liz, Rishi and Starmer aren’t that old.
if you could choose one…
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it’s hard when the DNC and RNC hand-pick the candidates for us. Our primaries are a sham
This is the real problem.
Bingo. The problem here is old, not white or men. Only white, or only men is a separate problem, which is maybe what they meant.
I’ll disagree. Old is part of the problem but the huge majority of the problem is OLD AND WHITE. Literally America’s biggest issue. If you don’t think so, you’re either a troll or you live in a bubble.
If you don’t think so, you’re either a troll or you live in a bubble.
Weird, on a totally unrelated note: what do you think is driving the burgeoning popularity of white supremacists across the U.S.?
Just curious what your take is, considering you’ve clearly thought about this topic.
Have you not noticed how many towns and cities across the USA are designed? White people tend to live in the northern part of the city, while darker people tend to live in the southern part of the city.
That’s not by accident, the city planners design it that way, and they have different regulations and taxes and shit depending whether you live north or south of the highway or tracks…
I don’t fuckin want them either. It’s our fuckin boomers who want to take everything to the grave with them.
Let’s not be descrimatory here. I don’t think Dianne Feinstein is doing too well either:)
Weekend at Feinstein’s
Kentucky is going to Kentucky. Hold my beer while I burn the state to the ground. I lived there and it was disheartening how many people vote against their self interest.
Because to most people in Kentucky keeping America safe from Hillary Clinton is more important than healthcare, abortion access, or school funding. Those voters have shown us their priorities, time and time again, and they truly care more about culture war nonsense than anything else.
Keep in mind though, that it’s not that the people of Kentucky are inherently bad or stupid, they have been intentionally poorly educated, miseducated, and are heavily propagandized. Many of these people are effectively trapped, surrounded by messages of hate and religion and they are taught to blame their problems on specific others. This is done on purpose so that they are easier to manipulate into voting as needed to maintain power structures.
They’re just voting for the only party who pretends to care about them.
Democrats have spent almost no energy on making rural voters feel included.
If you saw everything you’ve ever known decay into the shambles of globalization, then some orange guy comes and starts yelling about how he’s going to fight for your way of life, while the other guy is talking to the people who have been shaming you for decades, who do you think you’d vote for?
If we want a better future, we’re going to have to get over all this hatred towards our neighbors. Waving your hands around a map and saying “fuck allll these (rural) people” isn’t going to work anymore, because China/Russia know exactly how to exploit that hate.
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Can’t help but enjoy this, given what a despicable human being he is.
illustrates the love his party members have, keeping him working even after he’s had a stroke on tv twice.
Not only that, but to ask him about his reelection plans.
Get this man into a nursing home.
No matter what, he’ll be sure to recover enough to start posting on Twitter, like Herman.
I love how republicans will say Biden is too old and make fun of him while also down playing this BS…
Both can be true. I doubt Biden is the one making decisions. This guy is too old and both parties are as corrupt as it comes on this earth.
Oh both can be true, but acting like only one is, well that’s peak hypocrisy.
Also, yes both parties are corrupt, I’d agree with that, they’re out there enjoying the lobbying on both sides. But the corruption on one side is on VERY different levels.
I think both men are clearly too senile to make any decisions on their own. McConnell more than Biden, but both for sure.
Stating “acting like only one is” is in itself implying that only one side is stating this, thus creating your own hypocrisy. Slam dunk on that theory when your final line brings corruption into the argument which is irrelevant to the topic, as both sides are doing it. Regardless of party, people who are senile should not be in office.
Non American commenting here. Just want to see people make kind, and considerate word choices. Let’s bring people together. There are kind loving people, and there are hateful discriminating people on BOTH sides. If the scales are tipped towards one of those sides, we should not discriminate against the kind loving people still left on that side.
There are kind loving people, and there are hateful discriminating people on BOTH sides
If by both sides you mean specifically the U.S. Republican Party and the U.S. Democratic Party, sure, if you mean right and left, no.
The whole point of right wing politics the world over is discrimination against those not part of the in-groups in power. The whole point of the left is to resist this hate and discrimination. Now, some on the left might choose problematic methods but that is a different conversation.
I strongly disagree. In different words, you’re saying the left is there to defend against the evils of the right.
Left-wing politics tend to emphasize social equality, government intervention, and progressive policies. This includes support for programs such as universal healthcare, social welfare, and environmental regulations. Right-wing politics, on the other hand, prioritize individual freedom, limited government intervention, and traditional values. This often includes advocating for lower taxes, free-market economics, and a conservative stance on social and cultural issues.
Having 100% of either side is evil. Too left, we get Stallin. Too right we get Hitler. Which is more evil, is not relevant. The only thing that matters is that there is a balance between the 2. I’m not saying a 50/50 balance. Just a balance. Everyone will have a different point of view of where that balance lies, and it’s societies job to determine where it lands. I think society gets fucked up, when one or both sides stop seeing the balance and only see ‘us vs them’.
We should be striving for a society where differing perspectives are respected and where a nuanced understanding of complex issues is valued can help avoid the pitfalls of extreme ideologies. It’s essential to promote open dialogue, collaboration, and compromise to find solutions that benefit everyone while avoiding the pitfalls of ‘us vs them’ mentalities that can lead to division and discord.
Great reply! Well argued, you didn’t needlessly insult me. You rock just for that. I disagree though.
… This includes support for programs such as universal healthcare, social welfare, and environmental regulations.
Too left, we get Stallin. Too right we get Hitler.
IMHO it’s important to add another dimension to this conversation libertarian < --> authoritarian.
I’m way on the left (I call myself like anarcho-communist/solarpunk), ultimately I don’t think that a central organization powerful enough to provide universal healthcare should exist (though as a realist in 2023 I think we need universal health care until my anarcho-society can come about).
And I think the problem with both Stalin and Hitler wasn’t their position on the L-R scale, it’s their position on the libertarian < --> authoritarian scale.
lol okay you clearly need to brush up on american politics because no one who supports the party of not feeding or housing poor children is loving
Yes, there are bad people on both sides, but acting like both sides are equal is naive. One side is taking away health rights and literally banning books and outlawing the teaching of sexual education and slavery. A pretty good litmus test is if your side is banning books, you’re on the wrong side of history.
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I approve this comment.
“I never killed anybody, but I have done just the same thing. I have had a great deal of satisfaction over many obituary notices that I have read. I never got into the habit of killing. I could mention the names of many that it would please me if I could read their obituaries in the paper in the morning,”
Clarence Darrow
*Hamburger time
Last comment was deleted, so I guess I’ll repost it with edits.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer piece of shit.
Lot of folks trying to take the high road here out of compassion.
This guy single-handedly fucked democracy sideways for at least a generation. The reverberations of his Supreme Court shenanigans are going to be responsible for the deaths of thousands.
I hope he spends the rest of his days confused and shitting himself.
