The Great Novelist In the Sky, the one whose real life characters are so much better than anything that our best scenarists could ever devise, has foreshadowed the impending doom of Mike Lindell with a metaphoric device.

One of the doors just fell off of Mikey’s plane as he was on his way to the Ozarks, of all places.

I say “of all places” because the number of people in the Ozarks who can relate to private jet problems are probably even fewer and farther between than in the rest of the population. Here’s what that looked like.

Not to mention that the FBI still has his phone and Dominion Voting Systems still has his number.

In two weeks we will see Election 2022 come and go and when the votes are all tabulated, some Republicans will win and some Democrats will win. That is the nature of elections. But in this political ecosystem, and with the help of Mike Lindell, chief proselytizer of the Big Lie, whatever the final numbers are, expect confusion to reign supreme. And why? Because according to the New York Times, “He is now at the heart of the right-wing media landscape.”

Already the largest single advertiser on Fox News’s right-wing opinion prime-time lineup, according to data from the media analytics firm iSpot.tv, MyPillow has since early last year become a critical financial supporter of an expanding universe of right-wing podcasters and influencers, many of whom keep election misinformation coursing through the daily discourse.

His chief vehicle for that support is a sprawling system of promo codes handed out to podcasters, pundits and activists, giving them a stake in each sale and incentive to promote Mr. Lindell’s products — and, in the process, his election theories.

Steve Bannon may look like he’s ready to doze off when Lindell is on, but that doesn’t keep him from booking the guy again and again. Bannon has described Lindell as “the most significant financier in all of conservative media.” He’s certainly significant to Bannon, picking up 1/3 of the promotional time on his podcast, although that share has fallen since, according to an analysis by the analytics firm Magellan AI, the Times reports.

And so democracy goes riding into the valley of the shadow of its possible death, with Loony Lindell at the forefront of the Big Lie madness.

Mr. Lindell’s message is being received. He has called on his followers to find evidence to back up his claims, and they have inundated election officials with requests for voting records, audits and even access to voting machines. Mr. Lindell and his network of allies are mobilizing right-wing activists to act as self-styled election vigilantes searching for evidence of misconduct in the midterm elections.

Some critics — including the voting machine companies that have sued him for defamation, libel and slander — charge that Mr. Lindell’s operation is simply an enormous grift. “The lie sells pillows,” lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems argued in a still-pending $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against Mr. Lindell last year.

Dominion may be the knight on the white horse that finally makes this madness stop. But until that occurs, look for post-election insanity.

On a recent episode of BardsFM, a podcast that layers Christian nationalism, anti-vaccine beliefs, QAnon and election denialism, the host, Scott Kesterson called the coming election a “a clown show” that would be stolen via an “algorithm.”

You wouldn’t think it could get much worse than that, but you would be wrong.

At the recent gathering in Springfield, activists from all 50 states, many of whom gather weekly on calls hosted by Mr. Lindell, took turns describing their hunt for evidence of malfeasance in American democracy, notably turning their focus beyond the 2020 election.

Activists from Alabama said they had fed fake ballots into machines ahead of the primary election in an attempt to prove how easily they could be tampered with. A county Republican official from Oklahoma urged attendees to be diligent in monitoring voting in midterm elections — even telling them to videotape absentee ballots as they are opened.

It’s a cult within a cult. The larger cult is the Cult of Trump and The Big Lie cult is the inner cult, the analogue of termites eroding the foundation of democracy. If and when elections become an effort in futility because extremists who are indoctrinated with lies refuse to believe that the voting system works and keep challenging the results, the Tower of Babel is imminent — if it’s not here already.

It was bad enough to be relitigating 2020 for the past two years but now what? We add 2022 to the mix? And then 2024? Where does it stop? Or, maybe it never stops and this is just an eccentric subculture that we learn to deal with and basically ignore. That’s possible.

On the other hand, just as NARA, a group of librarians may end up saving democracy, so might a voting machine company. Sounds far fetched but it could well be the case.

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9 COMMENTS

    • He and anyone else on board including the pilots is incredibly lucky it DIDN’T happen at altitude. That high or above (and private jets like his cruise at anywhere from the high 20s to the mid 30s) the explosive decompression would kill anyone so quick you can’t imagine. Being a golfer (well, not anymore) I of course recall the great Payne Stewart and his friends (and the pilots) death due to explosive decompression.

      An entire door coming off wouldn’t give anyone a chance in hell of getting an oxygen mask on in time. In fact, something like that would suck the air right out of their lungs and the cold would quickly overcome any ability to get hold of and properly fit an oxygen mask. Lindell, if told how fucking lucky he is will probably spin it as “God saving him” so he can continue his bullshit work. But an entire door coming off? Who the fuck does he pay to maintain that aircraft? It will be an interesting NTSB investigation to be sure.

      • Denis, thanks for clarifying what could have happened. Of course Mikey would have prayed to his god in private, but also would likely have done so out loud and in public. Often. He will keep tilting at his metaphorical windmill till it does him in.

        Question: Isn’t it the responsibility of the flight crew or pilots to assure that the aircraft is flightworthy?

        • Yes, in the end it’s up to the pilot(s) to ensure an aircraft is flightworthy. Of course there is a system for maint. and records and a certain amount of trust is involved from the aircraft mechanics all the way to the actual flight crew. A good crew (pilots and engineer if an aircraft is large enough to warrant one being part of the flight crew) will do a visual inspection of certain items in addition to going through a series of checklists. A “Walk Around” to check certain items – landing gear/tires, control surfaces (to ensure no obstructions to their operations – more on that in a bit), a look for any damage, etc. It’s fairly basis and getting down to checking the hinges on a door or the locking mechanism is beyond the scope. But a review of maint. history (via records – a “gripes list” and whether it’s safe to fly with a given issue or has it been fixed) is standard practice. That’s where the trust the system part comes in. As for visual inspection incredible as it might seem being lax can lead to tragedy. I lost two friends in the crash of the University of Evansville basketball team back in the 1970s because the pilot didn’t do a walk-around. It was an old aircraft (WWII era) and due to high winds that day the ground crew left the “gust locks” (wood battens that keep the flaps in place) as long as possible. Not doing a walk around meant the pilot didn’t see they were still in place and therefore call the ground crew to remove them before starting the engines. Without working flaps the place couldn’t operate properly and crashed shortly after takeoff.

          So who knows? It could be the “gripes list” included notes that on recent flights there’d been an issue with getting that door to properly shut/seal, or opening it up. Perhaps even a recommendation to have it serviced before using the aircraft again, and because the pilot was in a hurry or had grown complacent he didn’t notice it. That’s what NTSB investigators find when they start digging and as with all aircraft accidents they will do their work and do it well. It takes time, often many months so we won’t get answers anytime soon I think.

      • It wasn’t explosive decompression – it was a valve failure, so it was slower, and they would have been unconscious long before they died.

  1. Did the door fall off while in flight and suck pillow man out of the plane? No? Then this is not news or anything approaching news. Yes, there would be a risk to anyone else having the misfortune to be trapped on the same plane with this moron but to have one less moron in the U.S…..well, people die every day. I hate to be callous but it really has gotten to the point where ridding our country of morons ought to be the prime objective.

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