After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
froze mid-sentence during a press conference Tuesday, Google searches for the term “gerontocracy” — oligarchical rule by the elderly — spiked, according to Google Trends.
In the days before the episode, virtually no one was searching for the term. In the afternoon hours, as news of McConnell’s episode spread, Google searches for the term began to rise then quickly quadrupled, peaking around 7 p.m.
McConnell, for his part, has insisted that he is “fine,” though both he and aides have
declined to comment on his medical status. Earlier this year, McConnell suffered a traumatic head injury from a fall. While his office disclosed details of the episode, they did not mention a
reported second fall two weeks ago and that he sometimes uses a wheelchair to get around.