Outside the Beltway

“Mike Lindell” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

I’m Beginning to Think That Mike Lindell Isn’t Very Smart…

And that he doesn’t understand how elections work.

Steven L. Taylor
17

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Via CBS News: Mike Lindell says he will fund statewide hand recount after losing Minnesota GOP primary by double digits.

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder who finished a distant second to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in the Aug. 11 Republican primary for governor, announced Wednesday that he will personally pay for a hand recount and audit of every paper ballot cast in that race, at an estimated cost of $825,000.

[…]

“One of the few good election laws Minnesota does have is that as a candidate, I have the right to completely audit and hand count every ballot in the state,” Lindell said in the announcement, adding that he intends to use that right “to the full extent of the law.”

The move follows a lopsided loss, with the House speaker beating Lindell by roughly 11 percentage points. That gap is far outside the 0.25% threshold at which Minnesota pays for a recount automatically. A wider margin would mean that any recount would have to be requested and paid for by the candidate.

I can think of a lot of better ways to spend almost a million dollars, but I am just a simple country political scientist who can’t fathom the depths that the state of Minnesota would go to deny Lindell the Republican nomination for governor.

How could it be that a guy whose residency was in question and whose expertise is (checks notes) selling pillows could possibly lose to the sitting Speaker of the Minnesota state House?

I mean, it has to be fraud, right?

I am sure that Lindell’s utter inability to prove fraud in the 2020 election (indeed, quite the opposite) does not demonstrate detachment from reality on the question of elections. And, surely, that 11-point gap will be proven to be false!

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17 responses to “I’m Beginning to Think That Mike Lindell Isn’t Very Smart…”

  1. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    His understanding of elections is: The MAGA candidate always wins unless there’s fraud.

    4
    1. Moosebreath Avatar
      Moosebreath

      To be fair, that seems to be the default position for about 30% of the electorate, including the President.

      2
  2. James Joyner Avatar
    James Joyner

    Maybe someone forgot to carry a two or something.

    3
  3. Charley in Cleveland Avatar
    Charley in Cleveland

    Wasn’t that long ago that Lindell wept before a federal judge, claiming he was broke. He claims he spent $80M “fighting to secure our elections in the United States,” and:

    Lindell has said he has no money with which to fund his campaign, and he has several court judgments against him which may result in more losses. His campaign has used hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor money to buy his own book, which Lindell gives out at events in lieu of conventional campaign literature.

    But now he has $825K in an effort to prove that losing to a fellow REPUBLICAN in a primary just has to be fraud? Perhaps “delusional” is more accurate than dumb or dishonest…although none of terms are mutually exclusive.

    1
    1. Eugene Avatar
      Eugene

      Or perhaps he does what his current ideal (Trump) does: say whatever suits his present mindset/need without regard to reality. They’re both mostly in the business of brand building. The process is called “fluffing” iirc.

      1
  4. Jc Avatar
    Jc

    It likely sells pillows. Morons out there probably buy pillows in support. “Mike is fighting the system, I love this guy” as they provide their credit card, which they are making the minimum payment each month, but guys like Mike give them hope. At least they will have a pillow to bury their face in as they cry themselves to sleep as they overpay for gas and have nightmares about boogeymen that don’t exist. Meanwhile Mike continues to grift knowing Damn well he lost, but there is money to be made in staying in the moron tunnel news cycle…as morons are easy to dupe. That 825k is just moron marketing expense.

    1
    1. Eugene Avatar
      Eugene

      And the real beauty to it is that NONE of them will ever find out if he even went through with paying for the recount. This story is over now: He said he’s going to demand a recount paid for personally. Who cares whether he does or doesn’t?

      2
  5. Scott F. Avatar
    Scott F.

    There’s a lesson here. When you’re only “Buy your own social media company” rich versus “Buy Twitter or your own corporate media company” rich, your means of seizing power over our lives is significantly curtailed.

    Bring down the billionaires, but leave Mike Lindell alone. He destroyed himself already.

  6. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    Anyone remember the 2022 incident where a Republican contested an election he lost in a very blue district where he got less than 20% of the vote? At this point maybe Walter Mondale ought to have cried fraud in 1984.

  7. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    Lindell was a crack addict for decades. I’m pretty sure that had a deleterious effect on his cognitive faculties.

    1
  8. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    Lindell was a crack addict for decades. I’m pretty sure that had a deleterious effect on his cognitive faculties.

    1
  9. Michael Cain Avatar
    Michael Cain

    I don’t know Minnesota law, but assume Lindell will have to post a bond for the $825,000 before the state will undertake the hand recount. Given reports about his finances, does he have that much in cash or equivalent?

  10. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
    Jay L. Gischer

    You know, I had the same conversation over at LGM this week. Loomis, I think, posted an update on his book about the stupidity of MAGA, but some of his examples seemed less stupid and more lies. Lies intended to make the liar look good in the moment.

    And when the moment is passed, the story is over. Nobody ever checks back.

    That’s how I file this stuff, too. I’m with @Eugene

    1
    1. Michael Cain Avatar
      Michael Cain

      Campos is writing the book on stupidity.

      1
      1. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
        Jay L. Gischer

        Woops. Thanks for the correction.

  11. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    I can think of a lot of better ways to spend almost a million dollars, but I am just a simple country political scientist who can’t fathom the depths that the state of Minnesota would go to deny Lindell the Republican nomination for governor.

    He says he will pay out of his own pocket, but I assure you that he will be fundraising to get that money into his pocket and that his pockets are very sticky. Fundraising costs money, don’tcha know?

    It’s a grift. It might be a grift that backfires and he loses money on, because he is pretty stupid from all the crack, but it’s a grift.

    ——

    For many, many years in Washington State, Tim Eyman was always fundraising to pay for signature gatherers to put right-wing initiative spam on the ballot. He, of course, owned the company that did the signature gathering. If his initiatives managed to pass, they were usually overruled by the courts as unconstitutional.

    You could say that he had a 10% track record on getting initiatives into law (and mostly really dumb ones, like requiring a non-binding referendum on tax changes), or you could say that he had a 100% track record for getting paid.

    I wonder what happened to him after he was arrested for stealing a chair from an Office Max? Anyway, we have a new right-wing initiative junkie.

    ——

    Mike Lindell is just another one of those. In a just world there would be consequences.

    It’s times like these that I mildly despair at being an atheist — I don’t need an eternal reward for trying to be a good person, but I so want eternal damnation for these shitheads. Ideally a giant pillar of fire somewhere that people could drive up to and have picnics around while watching people like Mike Lindell be tortured in hellfire for eternity — it would be educational and informative.

    Maybe there could be a little sign somewhere that says “at least fucking try.” And a few angels staffing concession stands selling waffle fries and corn dogs and who would say things like “drive safely” in ominous tones to a few people who aren’t meeting that incredibly low bar.

    Religions need less mysticism and more clearly defined metrics and consequences.

    ETA: I am not a crank!

    1
  12. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    I am sure that Lindell’s utter inability to prove fraud in the 2020 election (indeed, quite the opposite) does not demonstrate detachment from reality on the question of elections. And, surely, that 11-point gap will be proven to be false!

    It still amazes me that Trump ‘created’ the biggest lie in American history – that our national elections are rife with fraud.

    In the absence of ANY statistically significant evidence of voter fraud, he has convinced about half the electorate to drink the MAGA Kool Aid and set about to compromise or destroy state-level voting control and procedures.

    We are a dangerously stupid country right now.

    1

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