Article Lead Image

Gage Skidmore/Flickr

The MyPillow guy is running for RNC chair

Mike Lindell may actually have a real shot.

 

Claire Goforth

Tech

Posted on Dec 16, 2022   Updated on Dec 15, 2022, 10:43 pm CST

Dirty Delete is a weekly column that goes deep into the social media history of politicians that runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.

Let us crawl the web for you. Subscribe to web_crawlr here.

Mike Lindell remains one of the loudest proponents of lies about election fraud.

The multimillionaire who built an empire on bedding has a new goal: being the next chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

He’s up against current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and Trump world attorney Harmeet Dhillon.

In the before Trump times, Lindell was best known as the founder of MyPillow. His was an inspiring tale of a recovering addict turned self-made millionaire.

Lindell could’ve ended his narrative arc there. Someday he may wish he had.

Instead, he went way, way down the rabbit hole in 2020. Lindell dumped tons of money into funding fruitless, half-baked efforts to overturn the election in favor of Trump.

 After he got bounced from Twitter a few weeks after the Capitol riot, Lindell launched Frank Speech. It’s basically a livestream of him going on tangents while whoever he convinced to go on camera with him either makes even wilder claims than he does or bobs their head and wishes they could teleport. He also created a social media network that makes Truth Social look robust.

 While others could be accused of insincerely pandering when they blather about the election being stolen, Lindell is the truest of believers.

As a Twitter parody of him puts it, Lindell “brings all the seditionists to the yard."

 In September, Lindell reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had confiscated his phone and questioned him about unauthorized access to voting machines in Arizona. Lindell hasn’t been reinstated on Twitter (yet), but he’s on Facebook, Telegram, Gab, Gettr, Parler, Truth Social, Rumble, and his very own Frank Social.

 Read one Lindell feed, read them all. It’s nonstop screeds about election fraud, conspiracy theories, and MyPillow product promotions. Points for consistency, Mike. 

Why it matters

 I’d like to say it doesn’t matter. But Mike Lindell is a multimillionaire with uncommonly high energy levels and dedication.

If he puts his mind to something, he’s either going to make it a smashing success like those damn pillows, or run it so deep into the ground you almost feel sorry for him.

 If there’s one thing the Republican Party has shown us in the last six years, it’s that they’ll vote for candidates most of us wouldn’t trust to feed our cat over the weekend.

Lindell may actually have a real shot at becoming chair of the RNC.

Like what you are reading? Sign up to receive web_crawlr, a daily newsletter from the Daily Dot, in your inbox each morning.

Share this article
*First Published: Dec 16, 2022, 6:00 am CST
 

Featured Local Savings

Exit mobile version