'Mitch McConnell Frozen' Memes Take Over The Internet, But Why Did He Freeze? The Congressman's Brain Lapse, Explained

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been a Congressman for quite some time. At the ripe old age of 81, it might come as no surprise that McConnell froze yesterday when speaking at a press conference. The odd moment has since led to speculation and memes.

On Twitter, Reddit, TikTok and elsewhere, politics junkies and anarchists alike are ripping this moment from its context, pairing it with captions and making it seem like McConnell froze for a humorous reason.

So, why did Mitch McConnell freeze? Who started all of the memes about the awkward moment? Let's explain.

Why Did Mitch McConnell Freeze?

Mitch McConnell froze on stage yesterday, July 26th, right in the middle of a press conference. He was mid-sentence when he started to zone out. After a couple of seconds, the people standing behind him started to look worried. One man asked him if he had anything else to say. Soon after, he was escorted away from the podium.

Odd moment: McConnell freezes at start of Senate GOP leadership press conference and is escorted to the side by his colleagues pic.twitter.com/hT5bLnstOS

— Raquel Martin (@RaquelMartinTV) July 26, 2023

Despite exiting in a strange fashion, McConnell returned to the press shortly after. According to CBS News, he told the press "I'm fine." Many of the reporters speculated as to whether or not the lapse was related to McConnell's fairly recent fall and concussion.

UPDATE: McConnell is back at the presser. pic.twitter.com/hrAdKXpAVX

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 26, 2023

Who Started The 'Mitch McConnell Frozen' Memes?

The memes started after two Twitter users, @frankthorp and @RaquelMartinTV, posted videos that were taken at the scene of the crime. Through various quote retweets, replies and reposts, the videos were paired with many captions that matched McConnell's vacant state.

me sauntering back into the house party to get another drink after falling off the porch balcony backwards in front of everyone pic.twitter.com/h4kOkGYTPO

— bfa agonistes (@superloafcat) July 26, 2023

After the video memes came the image macros which similarly portrayed McConnell as dangerously lackadaisical. Other meme creators joked about what actually froze McConnell. Some related him to the plane woman while others referenced the dreaded Kubrick stare.

How To Make A 'Mitch McConnell Frozen' Meme

So far, the most popular meme format to make fun of Mitch McConnell freezing is a video format in which meme creators simply caption the Mitch McConnell videos in a tweet or Facebook post.

There are three videos worth captioning, one that shows him freezing, another one that shows him being escorted away and another one that shows him coming back to the podium. All are included below to download and use.

Another popular meme to caption is a GIF of Mitch McConnell freezing as the camera zooms in on his face. That's included below for download, too.

"Frozen Mitch McConnell" memes are projected to persist going into the coming weeks. The video and meme format seems to have already proven itself as one of the top political memes of 2023 so far.

For the full history of Mitch McConnell frozen, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for even more information.