Hawkish Hawley says MIA Republicans hurting MAGA agenda

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., issued a blistering rebuke of Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence, which could be equally applied to Congressman Tom Kean Jr.’s four-month disappearing act in the wake of a nervous breakdown, possibly brought on by the liberal Republican’s support for draconian policies during President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

Kean supported Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which will eliminate Medicaid and nutrition assistance for tens of millions of poor working-class Americans to fund massive tax cuts for billionaires.

Hawley, a conservative populist, said that “at a certain point you do have an obligation to your constituents and the country to tell them what’s going on.”

Kean never informed anyone when he was hospitalized in a mental health facility following a nervous breakdown this year.

Although he promised to come clean once he returned to work, Kean never disclosed where he was hospitalized, whether he had been prescribed medication for his mental health problems, or if he was using psychotropic drugs when he made decisions about supporting controversial laws.

Critics have questioned whether those medications may have affected Kean’s brain function, altering his mood, thoughts, perceptions, or behavior when he cast decisive votes on important legislation.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old former Senate majority leader, has been absent from Congress for over a month now after a fall at his home left him hospitalized. His absence, coupled with the sudden death of late Sen. Lindsey Graham, leaves Senate Republicans down two crucial votes amid a dead sprint to wrap up key parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Kean went missing for four months, and his minions continued to issue press releases, social media statements and execute stock trades without letting anyone know that he was hospitalized in a mental health facility.

What may not help in his bid for re-election is the fact that nobody even noticed Kean was missing until a reporter for a political gossip blog did a wrap-up of what New Jersey’s congressional delegation was up to.

Kean has not said if he suffered symptoms of psychosis, such as delusions and hallucinations, or what might have brought about depression or anxiety that required his hospitalization.

Experts say Kean would likely have been treated with drugs that influence the levels or activity of neurotransmitters—the brain’s chemical messengers, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

By altering these chemicals, the drugs Kean might have been treated with to rebalance the brain circuits responsible for specific psychiatric symptoms commonly have side effects that often include drowsiness, insomnia, weight changes, sexual problems, and dry mouth. They also could have influenced his decisions to cut Medicaid and nutrition assistance or to authorize Trump’s army of Gestapo-like immigration agents and the construction of concentration camps to hold detainees, like the one proposed in Roxbury, New Jersey.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is rapidly expanding its detention capacity through a massive $38.3 billion “Detention Reengineering Initiative” aimed at creating space for tens of thousands of detainees. The strategy involves acquiring empty, massive industrial warehouses and converting them into high-security holding facilities with an eventual national capacity of nearly 100,000 beds.

ICE has openly compared its new detention network to Amazon’s logistics operation—buying large logistical warehouses located roughly 45 minutes to an hour outside major city centers.

The agency has already purchased and begun retrofitting sites in several states, including Maryland (Hagerstown/Williamsport), Pennsylvania, Georgia (Social Circle), and New Jersey (Roxbury).

Deaths inside of immigration detention centers are now occurring at a rate of roughly one every six days. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, more than 40 people have died in immigration detention, the highest number recorded in such a short period.

“These are not isolated tragedies, but the predictable outcomes of a system rife with neglect, abuse, and impunity,” said Haddy Gassama is a Senior Policy Counsel at the ACLU. “Recent deaths span multiple facilities with documented medical failures and unsafe conditions. At Fort Bliss, the Florence Correctional Center, and the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, individuals have died from homicide, untreated infections, and delayed emergency care.”

“In many cases advocates and medical experts have found these deaths to be preventable,” said Gassama. “For example, a tooth infection was left, untreated until it turned septic, or a chronic condition was ignored until it led to organ failure. The ACLU and our partners have repeatedly documented substandard medical care and the routine withholding or delay of medical records within ICE facilities.”