Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and an ardent loyalist to former President Donald Trump, announced on Monday that he is running to become the next head of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Lindell, who is currently facing a defamation lawsuit with the potential of having to pay $1.3 billion to Dominion Voting Systems for consistently lying about the efficacy of their voting machines in the 2020 presidential election, announced his decision on a podcast hosted by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
“With all my due diligence and in prayer, I am 100 percent running for RNC chairman against [current chair] Ronna McDaniel,” Lindell said.
Lindell added that he is running because he doesn’t believe the RNC is adequately funding legal challenges to elections that he, Trump, and others have repeatedly alleged were decided through fraud.
“The RNC collects money and then they don’t do anything with election crime,” he said.
There is no evidence that widespread fraud affected the outcome of federal elections in 2020 or 2022, and nearly all of Lindell’s claims have been debunked. He has, for example, claimed that voting machines in Arizona were infiltrated by foreign hackers, who switched the votes to help Democrats win — an assertion that is completely unfounded, as the voting machines were not connected to the internet. Lindell has also hosted “cyber symposiums,” events in which he supposedly demonstrates that election fraud took place, despite overwhelming evidence proving the contrary.
Although Lindell has directed millions of his own income toward funding research on election crimes, tangible proof that elections were fraudulently decided in favor of Democrats has yet to materialize.
Despite the fact that he is now selling off his assets in order to fund his defense in the defamation lawsuit he’s facing from Dominion Voting Systems, Lindell is considered a star in the Trump world, viewed by the former president’s loyalists as an authority figure that has already exposed wrongdoing and fraud, even though he hasn’t.
His support from Trump’s loyalists notwithstanding, Lindell faces tough odds in the race against McDaniel to become RNC chair, as the incumbent has already received endorsements from a majority of GOP officials taking part in the intraparty vote this January. Lindell will have to convince the remaining delegates, plus change a few people’s minds, in order to win the race.
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