MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell uses Fox News interview to push baseless conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems
Lindell: “I dare Dominion to sue me because then it would get out faster”
Published
Citation From the January 26, 2021, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Well, of course, you will likely recognize our next guest. His name is Mike Lindell. He runs My Pillow. He advertises every night on this show and across FOX News. He is one of our biggest sponsors and we are grateful for that. He is sponsoring free speech when he does it. But of course, the enforcers of orthodoxy are not impressed. They're enraged. For the crime of having different opinions, Mike Lindell has just been banned from Twitter. Several retailers have also stopped selling his products. That happened today. That would include Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl's and Kroger. Again, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl's and Kroger. Those are just a few. When you support freedom of speech, you're no longer allowed to speak. That's the new rule. This network is one of the last places in this country where Americans are allowed to speak. We're honored to have Mike Lindell on tonight to give his perspective. One note for you, the transmission line that connects his studio to our studio got cut minutes before the show. We are not exactly sure how, but thankfully, Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow has FaceTime and he is on it right now. Mike, thanks so much for coming on.
MIKE LINDELL (CEO, MYPILLOW): Thanks for having me on Tucker. That list is bigger. There's also HGTV, the shopping channel, Shop HQ. I mean, they just keep, you know, turning in their POs and saying, we don't want My Pillow anymore.
CARLSON: So your views on politics, whether our viewers or anyone else agrees to them or not-- are the views of millions of other people, and you've expressed them, you have now been shut down. It seems pretty clear, they are sending a message. People -- the public recognizes, we cannot step out of line because you might convince others to do the same. Do you take another message? Or do you think that's why they're doing this to you?
LINDELL: Well, this one, you know, I've always backed this great, great President Donald Trump. I've always had his back since 2016 when I first met him. But when I went back to Minnesota in 2016, to say, hey, I met the candidate Donald Trump. I was attacked by bots and trolls, and I reached out to the media and did a press release, and I was just called a racist and everything you could imagine.And I thought, wow, are these people real? No, they weren't real, they are attack groups and their bots and trolls, so I've been through this before. Last spring, I spoke out at the Rose Garden and said we should all get in our Bibles and reach out to Jesus, stay in the word, spend time with their families. We were attacked then.So we're used to this and my job. But this time is different.
This time, about 17 days ago, when someone put up on the internet, actual machine -- new machine election fraud, I retweeted it, and they took my Twitter down. Now, when they took it down, this was interesting, they didn't take it down all the way, I just couldn't do anything, and they were running my Twitter like they were me. My friends are going “you're not tweeting very much, and when you do" -- I said, “I'm not doing that," so I tried to take it down, and I got a tweet, a thing from Germany saying, “These are Twitter rules and you cannot do this, take anything down." So, they ran my Twitter for about 14 days, 15 days.
Then, yesterday, they put it back up so I could run it, and I made one tweet and the tweet was a good -- a good letter written by one of my employees because I'm getting attacked about my integrity and stuff, and they took it down five minutes later. And then a week ago, they did a -- Dominion, went online, went on TV and said they were going to go after Mike Lindell. Well they did, they hired hit groups and bots and trolls went after all my vendors all these box stores to cancel me out. This cancel culture, fake stories coming out to attack my Lindell Recovery Network which helps addicts across the country. It's just a shame, Tucker. What they -- if they can do it to me, believe me, they can do it to anyone out there, but we're not -- I'm not backing down. We cannot back down out of fear this time, nobody can.
CARLSON: I totally agree.
LINDELL: I told these box stores, you guys, these aren't real people, these are trolls and bots. The real people will buy the products and will support you. You can't do this just because they cancel you, try and cancel culture.
CARLSON: Can we -- may I ask you one question, since you grew up in this country. If they disagree with you or think that you're saying things that are incorrect, why don't they explain what those things are and why don't they try to convince you that you're wrong? I mean, I thought the rules were if you think someone is saying something incorrect, you explain how it's incorrect and you convince his audience that actually you're right and he's wrong. When did that go away? When did we decide force was the only answer to disagreement?
LINDELL: Right. And that, you know, they -- I can't even livestream on Facebook, they've shut it down. But you're exactly right, Tucker. What I'd say to them, with this particular thing that's going on now, I've been all-in trying to find the machine fraud and we've found it, we have all the evidence. So what all these -- all these outlets that have been calling me from The Washington Post, New York Times, every outlet in the country, they go, “Mike Lindell, there's no evidence and he's making fraudulent statements." No, I have the evidence, I dare people to put it on. I dare Dominion to sue me because then it would get out faster. So this is, you know, they don't -- they don't want to talk about it.
CARLSON: No, they don't.
LINDELL: They don't want to say -- they just say “Oh, you're wrong." And I'm going --
CARLSON: Well, they're not making conspiracy theories go away by doing that. You don't answer -- you know, don't make people kind of calm down and get reasonable and moderate by censoring them. You make them get crazier, of course. That's ridiculous.
LINDELL: Yes. You know, why wouldn't everyone want to know the truth of this country? Just let the truth be told. If there's nothing to hide, let's bring it out so we all can see it. Instead, they are trying to erase Mike Lindell and erase My Pillow. Well, I'm not going to be erased. I mean, all of these -- all my friends that lost their -- they lost their YouTube channels, they lost their Facebook, two million followers, one guy has 12 employees, he's gone. His livelihood he built up is just gone. Anybody -- any business and churches that supported the President, that's a whole another issue, they are being attacked and they're going to be just now canceled.
CARLSON: No, I've noticed. Michael Lindell, I really appreciate your coming on tonight. Thank you very much.
LINDELL: Well, thank you, Tucker. Thanks for having me on. And God bless you. Thank you.
CARLSON: Amen. God bless you. Mike Lindell, he sells pillows. Why is he even censored? But by the way before you say, oh, it's Mike Lindell -- anyone who is censored has been wronged as an American. Period. And the censorship of any person diminishes the rest of us and diminishes this country. Period. It doesn't matter what they're saying. It doesn't matter whether you agree with them. In fact, if you disagree with them, you should argue more forcefully that their voice should be heard and then argue against the points they are making. Anyone who is been censored is welcome on this show as one of the last venues where you can speak for real anyone, whether they agree with you or not.