Mike Lindell deemed 'a clear threat to the nation' after he spends 'tens of millions' undermining US democracy
Trump-loving MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been the most fervent promoted of election conspiracy theories, and journalist Anne Applebaum has grown so alarmed that she's deemed him "a clear threat to the nation."
In a new piece for The Atlantic, Applebaum revealed that she recently spent time with Lindell and found him "affable" and "devout," before also declaring that he's a danger to the American republic.
In particular, she writes that he's spending a fortune -- literally "tens of millions" of dollars" -- in his quest to undermine the 2020 election and reinstall former President Donald Trump to the White House.
"Along with Bannon, Giuliani, and the rest of the conspiracy posse, he is helping create profound distrust in the American electoral system, in the American political system, in the American public-health system, and ultimately in American democracy," she writes. "The eventual consequences of their actions may well be a genuinely stolen or disputed election in 2024, and political violence on a scale the U.S. hasn't seen in decades."
What's more, Applebaum believes that it's dangerous to simply dismiss Lindell as a "clown" by noting that similarly eccentric businessmen such as American businessman Henry Ford, whose anti-Semitic ravings proved influential among Nazi leadership in the 1930s.
During an interview with Lindell, Applebaum pressed him on his claims that he's being persecuted.
"I don't see anybody arresting you," she pointed out
"Okay, I'm not talking about the government," he said. "I'm talking about social media. Why did they attack me? Why did bots and trolls attack all of my vendors?"