my pillow

Far-right conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell continues to falsely insist, with increasing absurdity, that former President Donald Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, and that he'll eventually be reinstated as President.

Lindell's fantasies are easily debunked. He's assured that he has enough "evidence" to imprison 300 million people for life—the vast majority of the country and far more than the number who voted in the 2020 election—for voter fraud. He's absurdly said that technical glitches on his bizarre cyber symposium were due to attacks from the left.

Despite the erosion of his mainstream credibility, many continue to buy into Lindell's delusions. For proof, you can look to a situation unfolding right now in Idaho.

In the 2020 election, Trump won the state of Idaho by more than 30 points, but Lindell still insisted that Trump won by an even greater margin, baselessly claiming that widespread fraud cheated him out of the bragging rights of a bigger victory.

Due to complaints from Lindell's sycophants, the Idaho Secretary of State's office launched an inquiry into Lindell's claims that elections companies switched electronic ballots for Trump to ballots for Biden. Of course, Lindell's fantasies collapsed under the slightest scrutiny. For starters, Lindell claimed that electronic ballots were switched in every single one of Idaho's 44 counties, but numerous counties in Idaho don't even use electronic ballots.

Nevertheless, Officials hand recounted ballots in Butte and Camas counties which predictably upheld the results of the 2020 election, with the hand recounts exactly matching or landing within the margin of error for the original electronic tallies, disproving Lindell's delusions.

Chad Houck, Idaho's Republican deputy Secretary of State, said at the time:

"We also felt [Lindell's accusations] would be very easy to disprove. By disproving even a handful of lines on that sheet, we could have confidence the rest of the components of that sheet were likewise fabrications.

But conservative supporters of Lindell are committed to the conspiracy, and now—months after the Secretary of State's office further debunked Lindell's absurdities—it looks like these conspiracy theories could impact the Republican primary for Idaho's Secretary of State.

Houck was a candidate in that primary, but dropped out after threats from Lindell's supporters, according to a report from Allan Smith of NBC News.

Houck said:

“I did not want to subject my family to the kinds of threats we were starting to see over this issue. I had someone actually approach my daughter in a threatening manner over this issue. She’s 17. That’s out of line.”

Again, Trump won Idaho by more than 30 points, yet Lindell's supporters insist there's fraud afoot and that Houck—a Republican—allowed it. What's more, there are all too many candidates in the Republican primary for Idaho Secretary of State who believe Trump's and Lindell's lies about the 2020 election. In such a solid red state, the winner of the primary will almost certainly win the general election.

The paranoia and complete denial of reality Lindell's claims have injected into the political landscape have people concerned.

What many found baffling is that Lindell continues to claim electronic votes were switched even in the counties that don't use electronic ballots.

The Republican primary for Idaho Secretary of State will be held on May 17.