MyPillow Guy Smothers Campaign

 

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has quite a story. He doesn’t just manufacture great pillows. He’s an unabashed patriot, and he has consistently confronted Election 2020 integrity concerns with courage. Unlike Fox News, which decided to settle, Lindell showed commendable resolve, forcing Dominion to drop their lawsuit against him.

His background story is praiseworthy, too. Before becoming a Christian, he was a cracked-out drug addict. His dependence was so bad that even his dealers wouldn’t give him drugs when they noticed that he had been going without sleep for days! He survived, and now he thrives.

Mike Lindell is the embodiment of the American Dream. He suffered through adversity to success. He makes a great product, earns lots of money, and he puts part of his profit to good use for love the country that blessed him these wonderful opportunities. Furthermore, he’s not ashamed to share his Christian faith or his fervent support for President Trump.

With such a great background and record, his decision to campaign for governor on amnesty is beyond disappointing.

Truth be told, I don’t think he’s the best candidate to run for Governor. Minnesota is still a left-of-center bastion. For decades, Minnesota Republicans distanced themselves from the national party, just like their Democratic counterparts from the DNC, due to the progressive foundations. An independent streak is essential. In general, activists don’t make great candidates. They have spent decades sharing their opinions and taking stands on controversial issues without regard to nuance--and they have the broad social media profiles to prove it. Running for office requires less “Tip of the Spear” and more “Meeting of the minds.”

Winning elections requires more than running rallies or saying great things on TV. Candidates have to connect with everyday people, and they need to come off as down-to-earth, interested in the day-to-day issues of voters, not just partisan activists who want to talk MAGA all day. Lindell is a party loyalist to Trump. He will face more hurdles than opportunities with that alone.

Minnesota is still not easy territory for Republicans, even though the Minnesota Republican Speaker Lisa Demuth (also candidate for governor) has worked incredible wonders stopping the worst excesses of progressive knucklehead Tim Walz and the Minnesota Democratic Farm and Labor Party.

Is there a chance that Republicans can capitalize for victory? Of course. In 2016, Trump was just 40,000 votes away from snatching Minnesota from Hillary Clinton. A Trump victory would have been a Republican feat forty-four years in the waiting. However, in 2020 and 2024, Trump lost by seven and four points. If Minnesota Republicans want to take back their state, they need to message MAGA principles while sounding “Minnesota Nice” and cracking down on the rampant immigrant fraud in the state.

However, being nice doesn’t mean that a candidate should turn a blind eye to illegal immigration.

The rampant welfare fraud and the repeated anti-ICE protests across the Twin Cities prove that this midwestern state is Ground Zero for the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegals. No Republican candidate can win if they start moving to the left on this issue.

And yet, that’s precisely what Lindell did.

Here are key, disturbing points from his interview on CBS Minnesota, where he laid out a really bad immigration program:

1.      He claimed that the immigration system is broken. Red flag right away. If the federal government enforces the law, which Trump is doing, then the system works. If states would comply with federal law, then nothing would be broken. The problem isn’t the systems. It’s the bad actors who don’t comply.

2.      He talked about his trip to California to purchase supima cotton crop for his MyPillow company. The farmers told him about how competing farms were hiring illegals, paying them way below market wages, and that such competition was driving them out of business. The solution is not to enable more illegals, Mike. And California is not Minnesota. Who cares what those farmers think? Have you talked to Minnesota farmers?

3.       Lindell insulted millions who have been victimized by illegal immigration when he stated—with a straight face: “Illegal immigrants are good people. They’ve never committed a crime. And they’re in hiding.” Are you kidding me? I wanted to stifle my screams with a MyPillow when I heard those remarks. Illegal immigrants, by their very status, are already committing a crime! Of course, they shouldn’t be in hiding, because they should be leaving, going back to their country! And since when does it matter whether they are good people are not?! Enforcement of our immigration laws is not a popularity contest.

I would expect to hear something that egregious from someone on the left, from retiring Governor Tim Walz, or US Senator and gubernatorial candidate Amy Klobuchar. But for a MAGA Republican like Mike Lindell to start talking like a Big Government-Big Business Bush Republican, one has to ask: Who is consulting for this guy?!

4.      He spent some time in the interview talking about how illegal immigrants are themselves victims of crime. Americans have had to listen to these brazen attempts to tug on our heartstrings for years. After four years of Open Borders Joe Biden flooding the country with illegals, and allowing migrants to overwhelm major cities, Americans have had enough. Illegal aliens are in the country … illegally. If they don’t want to be victimized, they should return to their home countries.

Speaking of victims, how about focusing on Americans, Mike? Would he like to meet with the Angel Moms and Dads whose children were killed by illegals? Would he care to speak with business owners in major cities who compete with under-the-table contractors and sidewalk vendors, all operating illegally and undercutting their business? How about some respect for the American taxpayer who has been repeatedly fleeced and robbed by illegals scamming our welfare systems and taking advantage of public education and local hospitals, which per federal law cannot turn away patients.

5.      The last insult in his interview, Lindell discussed handing out work VISAs to illegals so that they could work American farms without fear or arrest and deportation. What happened to American workers? What happened to ensuring law-abiding employment? This proposal is more DIGNITY Act nonsense, with no dignity and lots of disgrace.

Republican candidates with a fighting chance to win statewide office in blue states have to pick their fights, but they have to fight for the issues that resonate the most with the base, then make their case to the rest of the state. Affordability issues are ravaging Minnesotans’ wallets and budgets, just like everyone else’s. Most Minnesotans like their guns, even if they’re leery of constitutional carry. Walz’ latest gun control efforts went out with a bang (Thank you again, House Speaker Demuth!).

I thought Republicans had learned to ignore the sob stories of the “poor illegals” and focus on poor, hurting Americans. Does Lindell think such a bleeding-heart pivot will help his chances?

Despite well-deserved backlash, Lindell has been doubling down on his amnesty proposals. At this point, he’s smothering his campaign chances. Minnesotans must elect a serious Republican who can read the room, get the votes (without amnesty-pandering), and save the state come November.