Wheels within wheels here. The quoted tweet is from a thread by what seems to be a disappointed true believer who was waiting for the "evidence" so he could analyze it. There never was such evidence; it was never going to be produced. There was never any there, there.The bait-and-switch is complete.
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 12, 2021
Mike Lindell, knowing the data he promised to reveal this week is bogus, is now dumping a bunch of new stuff he got from a "whistleblower" and claiming this is what actually shows proof of election fraud.
This is low-rent con artist behavior. https://t.co/l3PPaqRQYo
So dumping "new stuff" doesn't make Lindell's legitimacy any more or less than it was before: because the legitimacy of his "evidence" was always: zero. He's claiming there is some kind of national database which overarches all 50 states, or which somehow reflects the data of all 50 states, and this in some-other-how, affected the election tallies in all 50 states.
It's just a bunch of bullshit. It's not even a low-rent con. The con is on Lindell. He's the mark. He's the dupe of his own imaginary scheme. There was never anything here, and there was never going to be anything here. Being angry with, or disappointed in, or upset by, Lindell's complete failure to prove is allegations, is pretty much beside the point. All this man deserves is pity for being so gullible and stupid, and so public about it.
There was never a bait-and-switch. He never had anything to bait us with. If you still think there was something there, ever, the more fool you. You need to consider how close to Mike Lindell's state of mind you are; and worry about yourself, because you're in a bad way, too.
It's a stupid con artist not even trying. I wonder how else you make a fortune on selling pillows, a market that must have been saturated at the time he entered it, even pretentiously snob appealing pillows were much in production then.
ReplyDeleteThe "attack" on him reminds me of his predecessor, Morton Downey jr. being "attacked" by a neo-Nazi for PR. It wouldn't surprise me if it isn't his attempt to deflect from him having nuthin'. He is just a more successful though even more bizarre Balloon Boy fraudster.
Sadly, there is a segment of society that is deeply involved with Lindell and his crazy. With our recent move I joined two Facebook groups based on our new town. The first is mostly posts of notices of local meetings, requests for recommendations for plumbers, sightings of the local bear (I could join a group just dedicated to that) and so on. The second page I figured out is made up of many of the malcontents kicked out the first group for overly political and hostile posts, basically all right wing. Lindell gets regularly reposted, along with posts on the latest right wing outrage de jure. Only a few days ago I learned that while it only took 29 deaths from the swine flu vaccine to stop its distribution, 11,000 americans have died from the Coronavirus vaccine. There was even a chart, so it must be true! Newsmax and The Epoch Times are the only reliable news sources. I guess I will need to adjust my reading habits. The latest outrage of course is the school committee working to decide how to keep our kids safe and the extent of masks in school. The crazies want to sue them if they are required (god willing masks will be required).
ReplyDeleteAre these folks going to take over the government? No, I doubt they could even organize a pot-luck dinner where they all sit around and whine to each other. Even in New Hampshire, which is moving right while the rest of New England moves left, these fringe characters are a minority. That said, there is a lot of free floating anger out there that is getting supercharged by Facebook, YouTube and a bunch of other social media sites. The general level of hostility feels higher. Since the election I have had some genuinely scary experiences of aggressive driving where jacked up crew cab pickups and SUV's have taken wildly over aggressive offense at the mere existence of my tiny commuter car. In one case, where two lines of traffic merged to a single lane, a large SUV blew past the line of already merged cars by driving in the oncoming traffic lane, then sliced in front of car. He clipped my hard enough to bend the side mirror and crease my fender, and then rocketed off. Road rage shootings, the woman who drove her car through a vaccine site, out of hand protests at school board meetings, it's all anecdotal but it feels like we are above the normal background of American violence. There is a high level of fuck you out there.
There is, and the roots are deep and tangled. Some of it, the road rage especially, seems to stem from the long shutdown. I've had two people recently pass me on residential streets. Which makes no sense, as anywhere you go around here you run into traffic controls (stop signs, lights), or heavy traffic (also controlled by lights). So what's the point of being so stupid? But there you are.
DeleteAnd there are lots of cranks on Next Door, complaining about everything in Houston that is run by Democrats. Mostly old people (obviously) without kids in school railing against CRT and masks and the outrage du jour. Much of that is being stoked by the internet, where all social media seems to be just an engine for stoking anger.
We haven't had any school board violence, but even Beto O'Rourke is tweeting about school districts that haven't defied the governor and mandated masks, a true "let's you and him fight" provocation. Outrage is becoming the way to solve problems. Or so it seems. It also seems like the '60's and '70's all over again. Funny we remember the marches and the police violence of the '60's, but we forget the political violence (bombings especially) of the '70's, which became so frequent it was reduced to background noise. Now all we remember is Donna Summers and John Travolta.
So it goes. OTOH, all that "political agitation" didn't have that much effect, one way or the other.