Mitch McConnell just froze. Again.

Questions need to answered.

In late July, Mitch McConnell — aka the most powerful Republican in the Senate — froze. Literally.

He was answering questions from reporters in the Capitol when he just stopped talking. And stayed like that for more than 20 seconds before being escorted away.

Here’s what it looked like:

Scary, right? His aides downplayed the whole thing and insisted it was just an instance of the Senate Minority Leader being “lightheaded.”

Which seemed to minimize what looked to be a very serious situation.

As I wrote at the time:

My broader point here is that SOMETHING happened to McConnell on Wednesday. Something more than we know. And his office needs to explain further.

I have felt light-headed many times in my life but it has never caused me to do what he did — a total, extended freeze.

Well, it just happened again.

At a press availability for reporters in Kentucky on Wednesday, McConnell was asked about the prospect of running for another term in 2026. Then this happened:

Again, McConnell appears to lock up or freeze. Again, he has to be escorted away. And, again, his aides have tried to explain it all away by saying he was just feeling lightheaded.

A McConnell spokesman told CNN’s Manu Raju that McConnell “feels fine” and “as a prudential measure, the leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.”

Uh, yeah.

Look, I am a broken record here but something is clearly wrong. Which, well, I am not a doctor. But you know who is? Sanjay Gupta who, after McConnell’s last episode, said this:

…I really think he needs to be seen. I mean, you know, one thing about things like a TIA, which is a transient ischemic attack, also known as a mini stroke, is that untreated it could lead to more mini strokes and even lead to a more significant stroke. The key is to actually get that checked out in time. If there’s one thing that people know about strokes, it’s that time is really important. Again, this is speculative, but he clearly had some sort of neurological event there. I think, again, that video is something that his doctors would probably be examining as well.

Doesn’t that go double (or more!) now? Especially when you consider:

1. This is McConnell’s second freezing episode in as many months

2. He’s 81 years old

3. He has fallen 3 times this year — that we know about — including one tumble in the spring that causes a concussion and a fractured rib.

There’s a human element here. Something appears to be wrong with McConnell. Not addressing it — for whatever reason — feels irresponsible.

And, then there is the political reality. Did I mention that McConnell is the most powerful Republican in the Senate — the man in charge of crafting policy and strategy for the GOP?

At this point, he and his staff need to have a press conference to fill in reporters (and the public) on what, exactly, his condition is and why this keeps happening. “Lightheaded” just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

McConnell is, of course, a pillar of the Senate and will be extremely resistant to any talk that he might bow out or leave leadership.

On the first front, the Kentucky legislature passed a law in 2021 that effectively took the power to appoint a Senate replacement out of the hands of the governor and put it into the hands of the executive committee of the party of the resigning Senator. Which would mean, of course, that if McConnell bowed out sometime soon, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear would not have the power to pick his replacement.

But, as Politico’s Jonathan Martin noted, Beshear has been very cagey about whether he would follow that law — or take the appointment process into his own hands. So, well, who knows.

If talk of McConnell resigning — and what it would mean for Kentucky politics — is delicate, then chatter about McConnell needing to step aside from his leadership position in the Senate is even more so.

John Bresnahan of Punchbowl reported Wednesday that McConnell had called South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the 2nd ranking Republican in the chamber, and other members of party leadership following his latest freeze to assure them all was fine. As Bresnahan reported “a Thune aide said McConnell sounded good.”

The thing is that this is politics. It’s a rough game. And when you look weak is when people start to pounce. So whatever anyone says publicly over the next 24 hours, you can be SURE there is jockeying and plotting to address all the possible outcomes of the current McConnell situation happening. It’s like a duck; he looks totally placid floating on the surface but under the water, he is paddling furiously.

McConnell may well have been able to dismiss concerns about his health after the July incident — citing it as a one-off. Well, now it’s happened twice. And there’s NO way that he can get away with simply saying he, again, felt lightheaded.

An explanation is needed. And depending on what that explanation is, we could be talking about a very different future for McConnell in the Senate.