Summer Kraken or Autumn Kraken?
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MyPillow Guy Punts Timeline for Trump Retaking Power as Conspiracy Theories Get Wackier
The prophecy failed in December, in January, and in March. Twice.
But now, claim conspiratorial fans of Donald Trump, the fabled month is finally upon us. In August, some of the most fringe voices in the ex-president’s sprawling universe of followers and adjacent conspiracists still seem to think Trump will be reinstated.
That is, if the conspiracy theory’s author doesn’t reschedule again.
When Trump lost re-election in November, he and some of his more stalwart supporters insisted he would soon be reinstalled for a second term, perhaps following a review of votes (which ultimately confirmed Joe Biden’s victory) or an Inauguration Day military intervention (never happened) or even one of multiple alternate inaugurations in March (also did not happen).
Undeterred, a faction of Trump fans predicted that he would reclaim his throne this month. The baseless theory has piqued Trump’s interest, helped inspire at least two Homeland Security warnings about a heightened risk of far-right violence, and now appears to be driving far-right QAnon voices to connect Trump’s return with the latest coronavirus surge.
As The Daily Beast previously reported, Trump fans can trace that latest prophecy not to any legal scholars, but to pillow salesman Mike Lindell. Lindell, the founder of MyPillow, predicted this spring that the 2020 election results would be nullified by, or sometime in, August. When Trump began telling confidantes that he expected to retake office this month, Lindell took credit for the theory, telling The Daily Beast, “If Trump is saying August, that is probably because he heard me say it.”
Reached for comment Monday, Lindell admitted that his August timeline—which he had already suggested was elastic—might now be further delayed.
"We’ll be bringing our findings to the Supreme Court in late August or early September, some time after the cyber-symposium ends, and it proves it was an attack by China,” Lindell told The Daily Beast of non-existent election fraud, and an upcoming event devoted to the same. “When I gave my prediction about August, and that was several months ago, that was an estimate at the time. But it took so long to get this symposium set up. However long it takes for the Supreme Court to take it up and decide on this, I can’t predict that. I’m not the Supreme Court.”
Lindell previously based his prediction on a timeline that involved bringing pro-Trump cases before the Supreme Court in July. Those high-stakes cases never materialized.
But a conspiratorial pro-Trump crowd—particularly fans of the QAnon community—are holding firm to the prediction or devising their own alternatives, offering new reasons to believe this is the month that may see Trump retake the presidency. (A Trump spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment for this story.)
In a recent appearance on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast, Lindell suggested that his latest symposium would be so convincing that Biden might step down voluntarily.
“Once we have the symposium, by the night of the 12th or the morning of the 13th, if everyone has seen it, including the administration that’s in there now that didn’t win, maybe Biden and Harris would say, ‘Hey, we’re here to protect the country’ and resign,” Lindell said. “I’m serious!”
