The footage was shared on Wednesday, with Parkhomenko writing in the caption “I’ve obtained new footage of Mitch McConnell standing up for America.”
🚨: I’ve obtained new footage of Mitch McConnell standing up for America. pic.twitter.com/PZTGBGOrjt
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) 3 апреля 2019 г.
He again promoted the tweet a day later, noting that the video got 368,000 views overnight and suggesting that “Mitch McConnell does not want you to let this video get up to 1,000,000 views.”
Yesterday I posted this new found footage of Mitch McConnell standing up for America. 368,000 views overnight. Mitch McConnell does not want you to let this video get up to 1,000,000 views. pic.twitter.com/PZTGBGOrjt
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) 4 апреля 2019 г.
The tweet was met with angry reactions from users, who mostly brought attention to the fact that Mitch McConnell had polio as a child and his leg is partly paralysed as a result. “Where is our empathy and compassion,” asked Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain who died last year, adding that the video was “gross and heartless.”
Mitch McConnell had polio as a child and his leg is partly paralyzed because of it — again, where is our empathy and compassion? Fight him on policy if you disagree with him but this is just gross and heartless. https://t.co/tyMiZhxpPV
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) 5 апреля 2019 г.
Other tweets expressed displeasure as well.
Mitch McConnell suffers lifelong disability from childhood polio. He has my sympathy and I feel very sorry for him as a fellow human being. I only hope he can extend that same understanding of his own illness to millions of Americans who need health care and lifesaving vaccines.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) 5 апреля 2019 г.
Of course he blocked me. This guy is a prime example of everything that’s wrong with today’s political operatives. Stay in your bubble, captain. Wouldn’t want to hear anything but approval from the 15% of psychopath partisans who think a polio survivor on the stairs is hilarious pic.twitter.com/Sx4aWMJmPS
— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) 5 апреля 2019 г.
Democratic strategist makes fun of polio survivor who has trouble navigating stairs because of childhood illness that affected his legs. 2016 National Field Director for the Democratic Party. You people own this guy. https://t.co/3BhlUWG3jv
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) 4 апреля 2019 г.
Mitch McConnell @senatemajldr is a polio survivor who has to use a handrail to move up and down stairs at the Capitol… https://t.co/pzxOBHbl8L
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) 4 апреля 2019 г.
READ MORE: McConnell Blocks Dems Motion for Bill Calling on DoJ to Release Mueller Report
Parkhomenko reacted to the outrage with a tweet saying that he would not delete the tweet “until Mitch stops trying to take away coverage from those with pre-existing conditions or…in general.”
