Trump Hands Mike Lindell His Endorsement and Lindell Immediately Reminds Everyone He's An Idiot
The MyPillow CEO celebrated the president’s backing with an interview full of inflated fundraising claims, excuses for unpaid property taxes, and recycled election conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump has made his pick in the Minnesota governor’s race, and it’s exactly who you’d expect. The president endorsed MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Wednesday, writing on Truth Social that “nobody has sacrificed more than Mike Lindell in fighting for our country, especially when it comes to Election Integrity,” a reference to Lindell’s years-long crusade to prove the 2020 election was stolen, a crusade that has produced no evidence, several defamation lawsuits, and by Lindell’s own accounting, the loss of most of his fortune.
Within hours of the endorsement, Lindell gave a victory lap interview to the Minnesota Reformer that undercut nearly every argument for his candidacy.
Start with the money. Lindell told the Reformer he has raised “upwards of $3 million” for his campaign. Minnesota campaign finance records tell a different story: his campaign has raised just over $1 million since he entered the race in December, and had roughly $12,000 cash on hand at the end of May. Twelve thousand dollars.
When the reporter pointed out the discrepancy, Lindell’s response was to question which report she was reading and insist the money was spent as fast as it came in.
Then there are the taxes. Lindell wants to manage Minnesota’s state budget, but Hennepin County records show he has struggled to manage his own.
The Reformer reported earlier this month that Lindell owed about $48,000 in unpaid property taxes on his $2.5 million Tonka Bay home — including delinquent 2025 taxes of more than $32,000 and late payments from the first half of 2026. Lindell claimed the checks “went out.”
Asked about it again after the endorsement, he pivoted to grievance, telling the reporter she was wasting his time and that late payment “is not illegal — it’s just you have to pay a little more.” He also acknowledged he simply couldn’t afford the taxes last year and had to sell property to cover his debts.
This is the candidate whose central pitch is that he’s a businessman who will streamline state government and eliminate Minnesota’s income tax.
And of course, the election denialism hasn’t gone anywhere. Asked whether Trump actually won Minnesota in the last three presidential elections, as the president claims, Lindell said Trump won in 2016 and that he believes Trump won in 2020, citing his “cyber guys.”
In reality, Trump lost Minnesota in 2016, 2020, and 2024, by 1.5 points, 7 points, and 4 points respectively. Lindell couldn’t bring himself to state that plainly.
The stakes here are real. The winner of the August 11 Republican primary will face Senator Amy Klobuchar, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who holds a massive fundraising advantage and is Minnesota’s most proven statewide vote-getter.
A recent poll showed Klobuchar leading a potential matchup with Lindell 53% to 36% and even Minnesota’s own Republican Party chairman has publicly called Lindell unelectable, citing his “serious financial baggage” and delinquent taxes.
But Trump’s endorsements carry enormous weight in GOP primaries, Trump-backed candidates have won 220 of 227 primary races this cycle, which means Republican voters in Minnesota may be about to nominate a man who inflates his fundraising numbers, doesn’t pay his property taxes, and still insists an election he has spent tens of millions of dollars investigating was stolen.
A man who couldn’t keep his own house in order wants the keys to the state. Minnesota deserves better.
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