You may already have forgotten that MyPillow CEO and all-around weirdo Mike Lindell has mounted a vanity campaign for governor of Minnesota. He’s got little chance of making it through even the Republican primary, but nonetheless, some suckers out there have donated money to Lindell. However, out of the roughly $350,000 in contributions he’s netted so far, he has spent over $187,000 on buying his own book—and you betcha he is going to keep doing it. x x YouTube Video When NewsNation pressed Lindell on the book purchases, he claimed that he was handing out the books in lieu of campaign literature, like pamphlets.  “What you can do instead of paying money for flyers and stuff, we had to go around do debates for about a month and a half, these debates, and we gave out the books instead of giving them a little flyer about me,” he said. Also, he said he got the books at a “very good price.” This is an especially odd move given Lindell is not hawking a new book. Rather, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO” is Lindell’s self-published memoir from 2019. Back then, he printed 3 million copies at his own expense.  The thing is, conservatives regularly rely on bulk-buying schemes to juice their books’ sales numbers. Typically, that has involved external groups, like the Republican National Committee, snapping them up and then giving them away. That’s what you have to do when you can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas.  However, Lindell’s grift isn’t without precedent. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, shown in 2024. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas allegedly tried a similar trick back in 2020, spending over $153,000 to buy his book “One Vote Away” from third-party retailers. This illegal move triggered complaints from the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal organization. However, that alleged scheme was just a drop in a bucket for Cruz. Between 2015 and 2020, a political action committee affiliated with him raked in over $54 million, according to Open Secrets.  That stands in stark contrast with Lindell, who has spent over half of his meager total haul—a move that may be illegal but is also unsustainable. Lindell is not exactly raking in money, so he doesn’t have a lot of money to waste on propping up his book sales.  There’s also the problem of Lindell owing millions of dollars while claiming he is just too broke to pay up. He owes millions of dollars after losing a lawsuit and millions more to his attorneys, who tried to quit back in 2023 over his failure to pay them. (Note: Those are not the same lawyers of Lindells who were recently slapped with sanctions for filing a brief that included AI-hallucinated fake cases.) One should never feel sorry for Lindell, but it is notable that he remains one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest soldiers still promoting the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. However, Lindell, unlike countless others, has not been rewarded with a place in the administration. Sure, Trump shouted out Lindell at a conservative conference in 2025, but that’s about it. Imagine being too weird or too inept for this administration.  Nevertheless, potential Lindell donors, beware! You’re better off lighting that cash on fire. Read more