MyPillow guy Mike Lindell is whining again. Suffering from MAGA paranoia, the founder and CEO of the unofficial mouthpiece for Trump’s Big Lie is blaming the big box stores for the collapse of his business.
Lindell is auctioning off hundreds of pieces of equipment and subleasing some manufacturing spaces that the embattled Trump sycophant calls “a massive, massive cancellation.”
In an interview with the Star Tribune, Lindell said MyPillow lost $100 million from “attacks by box stores, the shopping networks, the shopping channels, all of them did cancel culture on us.”
Several retailers, including Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s, pulled MyPillow products from their shelves after Lindell continued to claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Trump.
What Lindell is not mentioning is that it is his inflammatory rhetoric that is at the root of his business problems. He has been both sued and subpoenaed for his role in the 2020 election. First, he has been sued by Dominion Voting Systems for accusing the company of “stealing millions of votes” and rigging the 2020 presidential election after Dominion warned him to “cease and desist” making false claims about Dominion’s voting machines being involved in fraudulently rigging the election.
Dominion is accusing Lindell of using his conspiracies to get more airtime on TV, boost his sales, and create a polarizing brand that would make millions. In the lawsuit, Dominion’s attorney Tom Clare wrote, “Lindell — a talented salesman and former professional card counter — sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.”
Proof of their claims include Lindell using conspiracy phrases as discount codes, placing millions of dollars in ads on conservative media outlets, and the fact MyPillow’s revenue was pushed to $300 million in 2019 as his political presence grew.
Then he has also been sued by the House Select Committee on January 6 over a subpoena of his phone records. His persistent efforts to push the Big Lie placed him at the center of the political storm that has torn this nation apart since Trump lost in 2020.
According to an article from The List, Mike Lindell expects to lose $65 million in pillow revenue this year alone, thanks to the boycotts by major retailers.
Now, the Minnesota-based manufacturing company appears to be using the website K-BID Online Auctions to sell items including forklifts, conveyors belts, printers, electronics and commercial supplies, clearly signaling the collapse of his business. Lindell claims he can replace any auctioned items if the retailers “ever came back.”
He told the Star Tribune that the company is also subleasing some of its manufacturing spaces in Shakopee, Minn., as its demands are different for direct sales than what was needed with retailers.
“If the box stores ever came back we could have it if we needed it, but we don’t need that,” Lindell told the Star Tribune. “It affected a lot of things when you lose that big of a chunk [of revenue].”
Lindell is still facing a $1.3 billion defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems and he was ordered in April to pay $5 million to a software developer who debunked Lindell’s data about the election after the MyPillow CEO vowed to pay that amount to anyone who could debunk his data allegedly proving election fraud. An arbitration panel ruled that software expert Robert Zeidman successfully disproved Lindell’s claims and ordered the payment within 30 days.
Lindell refused to pay and filed a motion in May to have the ruling tossed out. Zeidman responded and filed a petition in a federal court in Minnesota to get Lindell to pay the $5 million plus 10 percent interest per year until it’s paid. According to reporting from The Washington Post, vacating the award would require the court to determine the panel committed misconduct, exceeded its powers or that the process was corrupt.
This is highly improbable and not likely to happen. However, the astronomical legal fees and payments that Lindell has racked up might be enough to bankrupt him even without the collapse of his sales.
