When Donald Trump gave his speech of defiance after pleading not guilty to 34 indictments on Tuesday, he was chiefly supported by his son Eric, daughter-in-law Lara, ally congressman Matt Gaetz, and Mike Lindell.
The latter name may be unfamiliar to most of us. His unofficial job title of pillow maker and conspiracy theorist makes him also stand out even in Trump’s unconventional political life. But there Lindell was, clapping from a row in front of a sea of supporters wearing MAGA (Make America Great Again) hats even as Trump’s wife Melania was not seen.
The Mar-a-Lago appearance shows the 61-year-old is now in Trump’s inner circle. It also suggests his moustachioed face could be featured in news reports for months to come.
So who is the mysterious Lindell?
Who is Mike Lindell?
Lindell is the founder of MyPillow, a bedding manufacturer which has proved a successful and growing business since its founding in 2009. He has become colloquially known in the US as the MyPillow Guy.
The businessman had a rocky start to his life. He had a gambling addiction in his teens, according to his own 2019 memoir, which spiralled into a drug problem in his 20s. His cocaine use led to him dropping out of high school as he also incurred gambling debts. He overcame his struggle in 2009, crediting prayer for his successful sobriety in a CNBC interview.
In 2004, his dream began to take shape when he invented what would become the MyPillow brand pillow, which is filled with interlocking foam. By 2017, the firm had 1,500 staff and to date has sold a reported 41 million pillows.
Lindell began to gain wider fame as a result of television spots, pillow fight promotions, and donations to conservative political causes. These gave him a profile to find platforms to voice his views. Such views became more frequent after he met Trump at a rally in 2016.
“When I met with Donald Trump, it felt like a divine appointment, and when I walked out of that office I decided I was going to go all in,” he told a Liberty University journal in 2019.
The staunch Republican began to use social media and television appearances to broadcast his political viewpoint. He weighed in heavily during the pandemic when his reputation as a conspiracy theorist began to grow. The New York Times reported he had peddled the unproven theory that toxic plant extract oleandrin was a cure for Covid-19.
Then, in 2020 Lindell paid up for campaigns to disprove that Trump had lost the US election to Joe Biden. He alleged anti-Trump protesters had carried out the January 6 raid on the Capitol to frame the former president’s supporters. He also alleged that voting machine makers Smartmatic and Dominion conspired with foreign powers to rig the poll. Both companies took legal action against him.
The twice-married man is an evangelical Christian and in 2020 said, according to Politico, he would appoint his son Darren as the chief executive of MyPillow to further his political aspirations.
How much is Mike Lindell, the MyPillow Guy, worth?
WealthyGorilla estimates Lindell has a $50 million (£46 million) fortune, as of April 2023, and that is the figure most frequently quoted online. Other estimates, however, value him to have a net worth as large as $300 million (£275 million).
