Written By: Anton Sawyer
Move over Jeffree Star, James Charles, and every other online makeup influencer who thrives on drama, there’s a new “gruesome twosome” in town: The Republican News Machine and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The absurdity of their beef has been nothing but awe-inspiring in providing ample amounts of entertainment—if you are into hypocrisy anyway. Watching this battle develop has been like watching a human fecal sample and a pile of vomit point fingers at each other about who smells worse, and both being utterly convinced each is right.
Today I ask you to join me in looking at these two combatants, what set them off, and how below the surface level of petty bickering there is something evil lurking underneath. It’s important to keep in mind that most of these events have taken place between July and August 2021 (unless otherwise noted). There was a lot of back-and-forth at that time, so I’ll keep the events and timings as clear as possible but there is a recap of everything at the end.
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This political dramageddon all stems from the 2020 Presidential Election and the claims of voter fraud that permeated the political landscape shortly thereafter. Now, I don’t want to minimize the damage these claims have done. From millions of taxpayers’ dollars being flushed down the toilet all to satisfy a red herring, to people losing their lives on January 6th, 2021, nothing good has come from the tendrils of this lie. Of course, when you look at the official GOP response to all of this, it has been incredibly murky. Some Senators and House members have come out against the stolen election lie, while others have clung tightly to it. It wasn’t until Dominion, the maker of the voting machines, came out with guns blazing with many defamation lawsuits to go around that the lie became impacted. It’s this reason why Fox News and many conservative media outlets are being so coy about the voter fraud issue.
In 2021, these suits have been making their way through the courts and have finally settled on who the targets will be; lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, along with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The final nail in the coffin of their appeals process came in August 2021 from Federal Judge Carl Nichols (a Trump appointee) who ruled that the three major defamation lawsuits will go forward to trial. The ruling is a devastating blow to Powell, Lindell, and Giuliani as they continue to fight the case. Nichols not only gave a green light for Dominion's cases against each of them, but he also made clear that it may be possible for the company to prove in court that Powell, Lindell, and Giuliani made false statements recklessly, even after being told they were wrong—a key component in defamation cases. During this time, many of the conservative talking heads, pundits, and news outlets have done everything they can to avoid talking about the election fraud out of fear they would be added to the list of defendants. I do have to give credit to the GOP for one thing, even in the face of adversity, they still use every trick in the book to stay on message.
The best example I can give of how the Republican party is still making sure to toe the line when it comes to perpetuating the voter fraud myth is by not having their talking heads of radio speak directly about the fraud. Rather, they bring on “credible” guests to espouse this deception.
A prime example of this took place in late June 2021 when ex-President Trump went on the “Clay and Buck” conservative talk show. Neither host openly mentioned voter fraud, thereby ensuring they wouldn't add to the lawsuit from the Dominion voting machine company, but presented information in such a way as to elicit the “correct” response. When asked about Fox anchor Tucker Carlson being spied on by the DNC, it allowed Trump to pivot to the dirty tactics of the liberal party. “I think it’s true. It’s totally unbelievable. If you look at the whole thing with what’s gone on and what’s going on right now, no, I think it’s true. They’re trying to suppress the vote. They’re trying to suppress going into elections to find voter fraud. They want those people suppressed. They don’t want anything to do with that because the election was totally fraudulent.” He continued “They don’t want people looking into the election because they’ve been caught. Election was fake. And those states, those so-called states that we lost, we won. And we won ’em big. We won ’em big.” It is this thinly veiled subterfuge that has kicked off the intramural skirmish of who is the most filled with crap between Lindell and Fox News as a whole.
Lindell and MyPillow had been advertising for years on Fox News and almost every other conservative news outlet in the nation. Lindell himself has been a keynote speaker at many notable conservative events, including the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He has been around the big leagues enough to know how things are “supposed to go”—or so the GOP thought. When the defamation suits from Dominion began, almost every major GOP news outlet was told to either avoid the situation or be incredibly delicate as to prevent any legal entanglements. You see, the morals of the Republican party only go to the point of inconvenience. Once something becomes too problematic for the leadership, or party as a whole (like after Obama showed his birth certificate), every elected official will get behind whoever their majority leader is and follow their lead.
Lindell showed that he is the epitome of the Republican die-hard follower by sticking to his guns no matter what the leadership, or facts, say. It’s not surprising that this zeal has made him a personal favorite of Trump. It’s also made it incredibly difficult for those who are trying to pull off a balancing act between the leaders, the media, the die-hards, and various levels of deception. But one man has tried. He’s been pretty unsuccessful, but he’s tried—Sean Hannity.
With Hannity being one of the biggest proponents of the election fraud lie, he’s been walking the line in some of the most sickening ways imaginable, catering to both the gatekeepers and commoners alike. It’s important to know that Lindell had started to pull all his ads from Fox News due to them not backing him completely on his election fraud stance. Because he likes to advertise himself as an incredibly moral man who stands by what he knows is “right.” He was fully willing to remove the ads as to not financially benefit those who perpetuate the “lie” that Biden won the presidency, no matter the damage to his "pillowy" pocketbook. Lindell has made it known that this separation from Fox was incredibly destructive to his business. He spoke to "Real America's Voice" host Steve Bannon shortly after pulling them, revealing that his war with Fox News is costing him $1 million per week. "Fox and Fox Business are the only ones that didn't approve [the direct message ad]," Lindell explained. "Are they in on it when they called Arizona [for Joe Biden] the night of the election early? Are they part of this whole thing? I don't get it. I know they're part of the cancel culture because shame on Fox." He continued, “This is about a million dollars a week that MyPillow is going to lose again because you can't just take a direct response ad and go somewhere else. But I want nothing to do with them if they're going to ruin our country." This is not the only example of the relationship between Lindell and Fox News souring. During this entire kerfuffle, he’s gone on record saying things such as, “I said the other day [Fox News] should be a weather channel, and the next day I changed my mind because they wouldn't report an oncoming storm." He also called Fox the “worst station in history.” Lindell has also lashed out at host Sean Hannity during this time as well for not continuing coverage of the election fraud by saying, “The truth is, you’re not saying anything on your show.”
This has put his friend and Fox employee Sean Hannity in a very precarious position. At night he’s on Fox News, but during the day he runs a bunch of advertisements for Lindell’s company during his radio broadcast “The Sean Hannity Show.” The best example of this tight-wire act Hannity is dancing upon comes from a statement he made shortly after the city of Kabul fell to the Taliban. He took the opportunity to use the death of innocent lives as a way to sell Lindell’s pillows. “How would you like to be in Kabul today, as an American, and you can’t get to the airport?” he asked listeners. “Where are you thinking your life is headed? If you’re one of those family members, I bet you’re not sleeping. I don’t even think MyPillow can do it. MyPillow.com. That’s where I go. I fall asleep faster; I stay asleep longer. These are going to be a lot of sleepless nights for so many of our fellow Americans. We’ve got to get them home.” Yes, Sean Hannity used human death and suffering to sell the pillows of a man that has become “persona non grata” at the news company where Hannity is employed.
So, to recap everything:
Trump started the lie of election fraud.
The GOP and Fox News backed it.
Dominion became involved and had a legitimate suit against the election fraud lie.
The GOP told all their news outlets to stop talking about election fraud out of fear of litigation.
Mike Lindell became the poster boy for the portion of the Republican party that cannot accept reality—due to the influence of misinformation from Fox News.
Lindell is totally surprised that even though he’s going to be sued protecting the truth and honor of the Republican party, the party itself doesn’t want much of anything to do with it.
Hannity comes in with his white horse to play the referee between the two parties because he knows how important it is that this election fraud lie perpetuates.
Rinse and repeat.
The GOP die-hard response to the thought of voter fraud has been deadly, dangerous, and an attempt at a complete dismantling of our political foundations. The GOP knows that they must placate the die-hards just in case either the 2022 or 2024 elections don’t go the way they’d like, so they can fall back on the excuse of an illegal election stealing their rightfully earned political victories. To be honest, I think that the Dominion defamation trial will have the greatest impact on voting in America even more than any voting right legislation. If it is ruled that perpetuating lies about election integrity knowingly and willfully can develop into serious legal charges, it could change the game with how the results in all future elections are reported and accepted. Until then, we can at least sit back and watch these two warring conservative factions try to out-lie each other.
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