I decried President Trump’s endorsement of clown gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell last week in “Put a MyPillow over it.” Running in a multicandidate primary field, according to a KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, Lindell now predictably appears to have extended his lead over competitors including endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls and House Speaker Lisa Demuth. That is a shame.
Lindell is a joke. I would have said that before it was reported Lindell is not even registered to vote in Minnesota. He is registed in Texas. However, that is the least of it. Lindell should have no problem when he gets around to voting for himself in the primary. Minnesota’s same-day registration is easy as it gets.
I will be out of state for our August 11 primary. I defied Trump’s endorsement of Lindell last week when I voted early.
Democrat Amy Klobuchar won’t need a MyPillow to pummel Lindell in November, but Lindell will complicate the challenge faced by likely or certain GOP candidates Michele Tafoya for Senate, Ron Schutz for Attorney General, Tad Jude for Secretary of State, and Scott Jensen for State Auditor. Lindell threatens to drag them all down.
Not to mention Lindell’s impact on legislative races. If Klobuchar takes office with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate for a Democrat trifecta, we will get punished good and hard. Trump himself will escape any consequences of his destructive endorsement.
JOHN adds: I know hundreds of Minnesota Republicans, and I don’t know anyone who will vote for Mike Lindell in the primary. So I am skeptical of these poll numbers. The problem, of course, is that there are two normal candidates in the race, Lisa Demuth and Kendall Qualls, and they split the normal vote. Qualls won the party’s endorsement at the state convention, in a close vote that was marred by technical errors. Demuth has raised by far the most money and seems to have the support of most party insiders. She is running an effective campaign, while Lindell, as far as I have seen, is not running any campaign at all.
If Lindell were to get the nomination, it would be one of the worst disasters in our state’s political history. He would lose to Amy Klobuchar something like 80%-20% or 85%-15%, and he would drag down the rest of the ticket. I don’t think I would vote for Lindell; he doesn’t have the capacity to serve as governor. It would be like voting for Joe Biden. So I would probably leave that line blank.
It all comes down to turnout, of course. Very few people vote in primaries, so strange things can happen. Trump voters tend to have a poor turnout record when he is not on the ballot, so we can hope that most of those who say they support Lindell won’t show up. Still, it reveals the sorry state of our party when an absurd figure like Lindell can command significant support.
