Mikey is 14 today. Yes, that’s how many years Mike Lindell has been without crack, or, according to the way these things work, any other mind altering substance. It’s that last part that we need to take a look at. First of all, if anybody can act as manic and deranged as Lindell does, without chemical assistance, either he’s not being rigorously honest, or maybe he’s got something medically wrong with him. Or, maybe he’s bi-polar and all we see are the manic outings in public. (I don’t even want to think what the depressive lows look like.)
Then there’s the matter of his transference from one addiction to another, i.e., he may have been into crack but now he’s into conspiracy theories and election fraud.
The problem there is that CT and the Big Lie may not kill him, but it could kill democracy. That’s the biggy.
Unlike Republicans who demagogue the scourge of drug addiction for cheap political points, Lindell actually has done the hard work that makes a difference. I give him credit for that. That said, his addictive personality has shifted from self-destruction to destroying democracy. pic.twitter.com/Xc9EPqzWqw
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 16, 2023
I agree with Ron Filipkowski. What Lindell is doing now is far more harmful to far more people. He’s attacking the very foundation of our democracy.
Oh, and lookey here at what Twitter just found.
The Lindell recovery network dot org is supposed to be free. All of the legitimate recovery programs, AA premier amongst them, are supposed to be free. Oh yes, they pass the basket after every meeting but I’ve never seen anybody solicit contributions of tens of thousands of dollars.
Twitter is hot on the case tonight.
No surprises here… pic.twitter.com/eiSRad7glt
— Sandra King (she/her) (@Sandy253Ch33z) January 16, 2023
The entire concept of the 12-step program paradigm is that people contribute their time and their best efforts to help somebody get and stay sober, for fun and for free. It doesn’t look like Lindell is doing either the for fun and for free part, nor does it appear that he’s actually got a legitimate professional detox center going, licensed by the state, staffed by professionals, all that.
Ergo, he’s in some Twilight Zone of the world of recovery and asking for big bucks.
Can’t say as how it surprises me. Say, maybe he can get some insurance money for people he “helps and treats.” I hear Donald Trump, Jr. is in the insurance business right now. Oh, yes. You can’t make this stuff up.
Junior is selling patriotic insurance. pic.twitter.com/3Mp1ileFN6
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 16, 2023
Maybe America First could underwrite policies for Lindell to treat people? Bookmark this. If we find out in a few weeks or months that that is exactly what’s happening, you’ll know they got the idea here first.
IF he’s kicked his addition to crack and other mind-altering drugs/substances (and it’s not unfair to say it’s questionable) then he’s replaced one drug(s) addiction for another. Make no mistake, the adoration that comes from celebrity even on a small scale (say a high school “star” athlete) can be addictive as hell. Lindell got addicted as so many others have to fame and influence with real power, and a President is as powerful a person to have influence with as there is. His drug of choice became The Big Lie. And like Trump with his infamous rallies “events” that get Lindell attention are his “fix.” (Trump not having had one of his rallies in so long likely accounts for most of his rants. Cold-Turkey withdrawl is difficult even for tough, disciplined people and Trump is neither.(
Trump’s going nuts without the attention he used to get. There’s a dopamine high to having people pay attention. As you point out, even the high school football hero, or the lead in the play, the class leader making a speech. All that is a high. Blogging can be a real dopamine high when it’s going well. So magnify that to being the king of MAGA and yes, I’m sure it’s got its own kind of intoxication.
I experienced some of those golden moments starting my senior year in high school. Both in performing arts and on the basketball court. My reaction to the first couple of times in performing arts was more embarrassment over the attention. The firs truly huge one, in front of thousands of people was a huge home win against one of the top Class A teams in the state. I knew I was having a really good game as it went along, but was focused on doing what I needed to do including making sure teammates were able to play up to their potential so I didn’t realize how I’d stood out until the guys put me up on their shoulders and carried me around. The cheers were great. I won’t lie about that. But it also scared me some. It was a town of 10k people and I’d seen my share of old guys trying to relieve glory from decades past. It could be pretty sad. And I didn’t want to someday be looked at like that.
Seeing the movie Patton, and that narration at the end about Roman conquerers being told “All glory is fleeting” stood out to me and at moments in life when something I did stood out enough to get lots of praise I’ve reminded myself of that. A couple of years ago I got a phone call from out of the blue a few months after a team I’d played on was inducted into our sports HOF. The guy was a several years younger brother of a classmate who as a b-ball player was a lot like me. What I’d never known all these decades was the he and his friends/future teammates would see me out practicing at a goal on a paved parking lot across the alley from his house. They watched me for years, working away. I’d heard before I moved away my high school coach once said he’d had quite a few much more talented players, but never one who got as much out of the talent he had as I did. What Danny told me was what others had hinted to me back when I lived back there – that what made me the crowd favorite by the end of my senor season was people knew that although lacking the physical talent others who’d come before had people saw me out there practicing away, for the day I would have my chance.
Yes, the glory, the adulation raining down from thousands of people is a helluva feeling. But if one lets it go to their head as I saw happen with others, and one doesn’t do the normal, quiet things that might set an example for others it’s not worth shit. If one tries to live off having been that big shot” they are likely to become one of those sad old men others talk about behind their backs. I’d heard enough “he was so good in the such and such game but geez, it was decades ago!” to know how cruel those thoughts and words actually were. All glory IS fleeting.
And as the ritual from the Masonic Rites says: “in the grave all falacies are detected, all ranks leveled, all distinctions done away. Here the scepter of the Prince and the staff of the Beggar lay side-by-side.” Folks should think about that.
Very well put Denis. Thank you.