Mike Lindell wants to count ballots like he says he makes pillows — by hand

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Fresh off being ordered to pony up $5 million over peddling election conspiracies, pillow maker Mike Lindell is pushing election conspiracies at this year’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Lindell — contrary to all evidence — continues pushing election conspiracies, even as many Republicans gathered at this convention center just outside of the nation’s capital have rejected former President Donald Trump’s losing 2020 strategy and are now encouraging early voting, including by mail.

The MyPillow guy dismisses members of his party — from local officials to those at the Republican National Committee (RNC) — encouraging vote-by-mail in 2024.

“They're completely insane. That's an insane thought there,” Lindell told Raw Story. “They can’t. They're wrong, they're wrong and they're wrong.”

That’s becoming an increasingly lonely position within the GOP, though Trump seems to be one of the few Republicans left in Lindell’s corner after he recently promised to end vote-by-mail if he wins this November.

“Mail-in voting is totally corrupt,” Trump told a Michigan crowd earlier this month. “Get that through your head. It has to be.”

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Minneapolis ruled Lindell has 30 days to pay $5 million to software developer Robert Zeidman.

Zeidman beat Lindell’s so-called “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge with a 15-page paper debunking his 2020 conspiracies by proving – first in arbitration and now in a federal court – they’re based on misrepresentations and incomplete data sets.

Lindell plans to appeal. He says the key issue in 2024 is the need to unplug all voting machines in America and go completely wireless.

“You have to go to paper ballots — hand counted — and we will get there,” Lindell said.

Lindell can hardly think about anything else.

“Mike, why aren’t you running for public office?” an older CPAC attendee asked Lindell in-between questions from reporters.

“Because I'm too busy trying to get rid of these electronic voting machines and save the country,” Lindell re[lied. “That's my focus. Nothing else matters.”

Veteran political journalist Ben Jacobs also tried to get Lindell on a different subject at CPAC, to no avail.

“Mike, just a slightly different point,” Jacobs asked. “What do you make of Liz Truss being here?”

“What’s that?”

“Liz Truss, the former prime minister?”

“Who?”

“The former prime minister of the U.K., Liz Truss?”

“What about it?”

“She’s here.”

“I didn’t know,” Lindell replied. “You’re telling me this stuff. I’m focused on machines, guys.”

Lindell also rebuffed questions about MyPillow and its operations.

“Are you changing your behavior and the way you do business using apps and phones and machines?” another reporter asked.

“What now?”

“That's the dumbest question ever heard,” Lindell said. “It's just like this, some things are better done manually, like making my pillows. I make my pillows manually. Every single one of them. You can't have a machine weigh the patented filling and do that right.”

Raw Story stayed on topic.

“Do you trust encrypted apps on your phone? Do you think there’s no way to safeguard…?” Raw Story asked.

“Of course, there's no way to safeguard. Are you kidding?” Lindell said. “Come on, give me a break. Everything –- you cannot use computers in our elections.”

The made-for-TV businessman says the pillows and sheets he peddles are different from elections.

“I have a huge business. If we get hacked, or businesses get hacked … let's say it's a breach, a cyber breach … insurance covers it. It's all about money and life goes on. It's all about money,” Lindell said. “But when elections get hacked, you lose your country. Everything's based on election, not selections. We have to have elections.”