Mike Lindell
Michael James Lindell (born June 28, 1961), also known as My Pillow Guy, is an American businessman, conservative political activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and CEO of My Pillow, Inc. , a manufacturer of pillows, bedding and slippers.
Lindell is a prominent supporter and advisor to former US President Donald Trump. Following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Lindell played an important role in supporting and financing Trump’s attempts to overturn the outcome of the election; Spreading false conspiracy theories about widespread electoral fraud in those elections.
Background
Lindell was born in 1961 in Mankato, Minnesota. He was raised in Chaska and Carver, Minnesota. Lindell’s gambling addiction began to emerge in his teenage years, preluding his downfall to addiction. He attended the University of Minnesota after high school, but dropped out a few months into his studies. In his 20s, Lindell became addicted to and a frequent user of cocaine. This addiction became worse after he switched to crack cocaine in the 1990s. Lindell was also incurring gambling debts. The build up of his addictions between the 1980s and 1990s led to the foreclosure of his house and his wife filing for divorce.
my pillow
Lindell invented the My Pillow in 2004 and has grown her business into a major manufacturing company in Minnesota.
In 2017, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) revoked My Pillow’s accreditation, lowering its rating to F based on a pattern of complaints from consumers. BBB cited a buy one, get one free offer that became an ongoing offer and therefore the normal price of the product, not a free sale or offer price. In a statement, Lindell said, “Naturally, I am deeply disappointed with the BBB’s decision.”
In 2020, Lendl appointed his son Darren as the company’s chief operating officer, citing his possible future political ambitions.
In 2021, some major retailers stopped carrying My Pillow products. Lindell suggested this was a result of his allegations regarding the results of the 2020 US presidential election, although outlets such as Kohl’s and Bed Bath & Beyond have stated that this is due to market research and low customer demand.
Career
In the 1980s, Lindell launched and operated a number of small businesses, including carpet cleaning, lunch wagons, and a few bars and restaurants in Carver County, Minnesota.
Website
In March 2021, media reported that Lindell was launching an alt-tech social media platform, which he described as a cross between YouTube and Twitter, that would be different from Gab and Parler. Originally called “Vocl,” a dispute from a company that owned a web site called “Vocal” led Lindell to rename his site “Frank”. Frank launched on April 19, 2021, experiencing many technical issues which Lindell ascribed to a “massive attack”. Frank has no social networking features and primarily offers embedded video streams, including Absolute Interference, a two-hour video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
Lindell has said he has spent millions of dollars developing Frank. According to invoices published by a Salon writer, obtained from a leaked video conference with Lindell’s IT team, Lindell spent about $936,000 on hardware, labor, and services to launch Frank. Jared Holt, an extremism and far-right media researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab opined that Lindell was “being had by the people around him… All the various products and ventures Lindell has going on, whether it’s a pseudo-documentary film or a social media platform, are very expensive endeavors. Someone is taking Lindell’s money from him to produce this stuff.
Political Activities
In August 2016, Lindell met then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump,[6][38][39] and became a staunch supporter, calling Trump “the most amazing president this country has seen in history”, following his 2016 election victory. [40] In a speech at Liberty University in August 2019, Lindell said: “When I met Donald Trump, I felt like a divine appointment, and when I left this office I decided to go all out.”
On October 19, 2016, Lendl attended the final presidential debate in Las Vegas. He spoke at a Trump campaign rally in Minneapolis on November 6, 2016, and attended the official Donald Watch party on November 8. He attended Trump’s inauguration, and Trump gave him the inaugural lapel pin as a personal gift.
In 2017, Lindell sat next to Trump at an industry round table at the White House.
At a rally in Fargo, North Dakota, on June 27, 2018, Trump praised Lyndell for his “business acumen.” Lindell spoke at a Trump rally on October 4, 2018 in Rochester, Minnesota. Lindell spoke at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, where he touted Trump as “the greatest president in history” and a “god-chosen one.”
In 2019, Lindell met Trump and his staffer about opioid addiction issues. It was there when Trump signed a bipartisan bill addressing the growing opioid crisis and trying to prevent opioid abuse and death.
In a March 2020 appearance on Fox News, Lindell said his company’s bedding factories had refocused on producing face masks at the behest of the Trump administration. Later that month, Lendl appeared with Trump at a White House news conference on the coronavirus, where Lendl praised Trump: “God gave us the blessing on November 8, 2016 to change the course we were on. God has been taken out of our schools and neighborhood, A nation has turned its back on God. I encourage you to use this time at home to get back to the talking. Read the Bible and spend time with our families.”
Lindell considered running for governor of Minnesota in 2022 against incumbent Democratic President Tim Walz, at Trump’s request. He attended the Republican Governors Assembly meeting, where he was encouraged to run. In May 2020, he became the president of Trump’s re-election campaign in Minnesota. In July 2020, Lendl said he was “99% sure” of running for governor of Minnesota.