A California psychic business is advertising a 20-minute "chat" with Senator Mitch McConnell as part of a spirit reading, while the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican remains out of public view after a June hospitalization.
The Original Venice Beach Psychic, a storefront operation at 1101 Ocean Front Walk on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, posted flyers around the area promoting the offer. "Enjoy a 20 minute chat with Mitch McConnell," the flyer reads, pitching the session as a spirit reading, a service psychics typically market as communication with the dead or the absent. An Instagram account called @creative_dissent_lab amplified the promotion, posting a caption that read: "Do you too have questions for Senator Mitch McConnell? Hop on down to @the_originalvenicebeachpsychic and ask for a spirit reading today."
McConnell is alive. He was hospitalized after a fall on June 14 and has not made a public appearance since. On July 12, he posted a photo with his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the only sign of life from the senator in weeks. The promotion treats a sitting U.S. senator's medical crisis as a punchline and a sales hook, and the ad drew sharp criticism online.
One commenter captured the unease the stunt provoked even among McConnell's political opponents: "As much as I disagree with practically everything he has done, I don't wish that upon him."
The psychic shop's promotion lands at a moment when McConnell's health and fitness to serve are genuine political questions, not material for a carnival act. Since his June 14 hospitalization, the senator has been absent from the Senate floor. Kentucky's governor has demanded McConnell prove his fitness or step down, and Democrats have moved to capitalize on the vacancy in influence.
The July 12 photo with Chao was the closest thing to a proof-of-life moment the public has received. McConnell's office has not responded to the psychic shop's promotion, and given the senator's condition, no response was owed. But the ad's existence says something about the coarsening of public life when a man's hospitalization becomes someone else's marketing opportunity.
McConnell's absence has also created real legislative disruption. Senate Republicans have struggled to advance key priorities with one of their most experienced members sidelined, and the SAVE America Act stalled in the upper chamber in part because of the thinned GOP ranks.
The business behind the promotion is not a fly-by-night pop-up. Bianca Marino, the psychic associated with The Original Venice Beach Psychic, claims the family shop has operated on the boardwalk for 35 years. She describes herself as a "gifted Psychic" who specializes in "Palm Torot card readings love marriage finance career all matters of life," and advertises tarot card, crystal, and palm readings at parties starting at $200. She says she has done more than 250 parties in the last two years.
The business runs three locations, two storefronts on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and a third on Lincoln Boulevard. That is not a one-woman hustle. It is a commercial operation that made a calculated decision to use a hospitalized senator's name and condition to draw foot traffic.
The relationship between the Instagram account @creative_dissent_lab, which promoted the spirit reading offer, and the psychic shop itself is unclear. The account tagged @the_originalvenicebeachpsychic in its post, but whether the two are run by the same people or merely affiliated is not established. The name "creative dissent lab" suggests a political bent that goes beyond palm readings and tarot cards.
The broader political context makes the stunt harder to dismiss as harmless boardwalk weirdness. McConnell's prolonged absence has triggered serious maneuvering in Washington. Democrats have made their move in response to growing questions about whether McConnell can return to the Senate at all.
None of that excuses turning a man's health emergency into a psychic-shop gimmick. McConnell has served in the Senate for decades. He led his party through some of its most consequential fights over judicial confirmations, spending battles, and institutional power. Reasonable people can disagree about his record. Treating his hospitalization as a chance to sell $200 tarot sessions is not disagreement. It is exploitation.
No legal complaints, cease-and-desist notices, or official responses related to the promotion have been reported. McConnell's office has not commented.
When a man is in the hospital and strangers are hawking fake conversations with him on a boardwalk, the problem is not the psychic, it is a culture that lost the line between opposition and cruelty a long time ago.
