Health scares and violent threats highlight the vulnerabilities of lawmakers

Members of Congress they are vulnerable. They are not supermen and women. They are flesh and blood like anyone else.

A series of unrelated events in recent days spoke to the vulnerabilities of those working on Capitol Hill, as health scares hit three high-profile congressional figures.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellR-Ky., fell during the Senate’s weekly luncheon last week. DC Fire and Rescue arrived at the Capitol to evaluate the GOP leader after he cut his face and sprained his wrist. He was later seen with an arm extending through the hand and thumb. He was initially “authorized to resume his schedule.” However, McConnell did not appear at the Capitol later in the week and his office said he was working from home.

He suffered a concussion last year after falling in a hotel and was out for two months. McConnell also froze at several press conferences, both in Washington and in Kentucky. He fell at home in 2019, fracturing his shoulder.

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McConnell, 83, is leaving his position as the top Republican in the Senate in early January, but will remain. in the room. McConnell is the longest-serving leader of either party in Senate history.

McConnell did not appear Tuesday at what is presumably the final news conference of the Senate GOP leadership. He also did not attend a ceremony with the other leaders of the bipartisan, bicameral Congress to light the Capitol menorah for Hanukkah.

McConnell isn’t the only prominent lawmaker to stumble of late.

Former President of the Chamber Nancy PelosiD-Calif., was hospitalized in Germany after a fall that required a hip replacement. He was there with other lawmakers for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

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“I was right next to him,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas. “She likes to wear high heels. Very high. She was on one of the last steps of this marble staircase that didn’t have a rail, and she lost her footing and fell to the floor.”

McCaul later said he spoke with Pelosi by phone.

“He had a lot of energy. Very bold,” McCaul said of the former president.

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Retired Rear Admiral Barry Black isn’t a senator, but frankly, his rumbling, commanding bass is better known than many senators’ voices. Always sporting his bow tie, Black has served as the Senate’s chaplain since 2003. He suffered a subdural hematoma and brain hemorrhage last week and has been hospitalized.

“Chaplain Black is one of the most beloved people in the entire Senate. Every day we come into session, he is always here to begin prayer, with his deep sense of wisdom, grace and eloquence,” said the majority of Senate leader Chuck SchumerDN.

The only thing more resonant than Black’s powerful vocal instrument are his words. Black artfully weaves friendly pastoral counsel into his daily intercessions. He prayed that senators “do not allow fatigue or cynicism to jeopardize friendships” in 2019 ahead of the first impeachment trial of President-elect Trump.

During the 2013 government shutdown, Black gently reprimanded senators who shut down the government, even as U.S. Capitol Police continued to work and was injured during a wild car chase and shootout that shut down the Congress complex.

“Deliver us from the hypocrisy of trying to appear reasonable while being unreasonable,” Black prayed.

Not much is reasonable on Capitol Hill, and perhaps the most unreasonable thing to hear over the past week came from U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.

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While the chief was just the messenger, Manger told a Senate committee that his department recorded an astounding 700 individual threats of violence made against lawmakers in November alone. More horrifyingly, Manger said there was a record 55 swatting calls. against legislators at home.

“Swatting” is where someone calls in a fake distress call. The police then send the “SWAT” team to the address, usually staggering the intended targets.

“It used to be that if you knew when you went home, maybe you could relax a little bit,” Manger testified to the Senate Rules Committee. “Those days are gone.”

On Thanksgiving, threats were made to the entire Connecticut House and Senate delegation.

Some lawmakers face more problems than others.

“Unfortunately I hold the record possibly for hit calls,” lamented Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

And these false threats sometimes result in absolute calamity for innocent bystanders.

David Metroka, a member of the Rome, Ga., bomb squad, was running to join the rest of his squad at Greene’s home when he crashed into a car driven by Tammie Pickelsimer. He later died in a hospital.

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In fact, the threat to Greene’s residence wasn’t even playing out in real time. It was emailed to the local police and ended up in a spam folder. Officers found the message several days later and sent in the bomb squad.

How do lawmakers protect themselves in such a supercharged environment?

“I’m a gun owner,” Greene said. “It’s very important to be able to defend myself if necessary.”

Lawmakers have long faced threats. Some of the most tragic and chaotic moments in recent congressional history have involved violence. January 6 The shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Ron Barber, D-Ariz. The congressional baseball shooting that nearly killed House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

And then there’s something else that spooked everyone who works on Capitol Hill, especially lawmakers who have been targeted before: a recent cold-blooded murder in midtown Manhattan.

“I find it worrying that there have been public figures who have remained silent or come dangerously close to rationalizing the assassination of Brian Thompson (CEO of UnitedHealthcare) said Rep. Richie Torres, DN.Y. “If we, as a society, accept the idea that political differences can be resolved through violence, then that is the end of our civilization.”

“I think the worst part of it is when you saw the reaction where people support the killer,” added Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio.

At some point, the threats may be too much for lawmakers.

“We’re not here to put ourselves or our families in harm’s way,” said Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt.

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Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., has served in Congress since 1997.

“The level of contempt, the level of hate has gone up,” Smith said. “When I first arrived as a freshman, I would never have thought for a second that I was in greater physical danger because I was a member of Congress than anyone else walking down the street.”

But this is the reality of Congress.

And everyone is vulnerable.