Mike Lindell: Trump’s Loyal Conspiracist

Mike Lindell is one of the most prominent financial and media backers of Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories, and was rewarded for his loyalty by receiving Trump’s endorsement in the 2026 Republican primary for Minnesota governor. In a display of the chaos that comes from associating with election deniers, Lindell has turned his conspiracism on his own party, refusing to concede after a distant second-place primary finish.

Worst moments:

• Published films full of proven falsehoods about election machine hacking, leading to massive fines and a ruling that he defamed a voting machine company.
• Helped bankroll a bus tour promoting conspiracy theories denying Biden’s win, and was seen outside the White House following January 6 holding documents referencing martial law and the Insurrection Act.
• Received Trump’s personal endorsement in the 2026 Republican primary for Minnesota governor, and has thus far refused to concede the election after finishing in a distant second.

History of election denial

Lindell was among the most prolific and financially committed promoters of 2020 election conspiracy theories. His signature claim was the machine-hacking narrative: that multiple foreign countries, led by China, hacked voting machines to switch votes from Trump to Biden. Lindell promoted this narrative through a series of self-funded films that repeated proven falsehoods about voting machines, foreign interference, and dead voters, and even went so far as to claim that “Satan” rigged the election. A disclaimer on one of Lindell’s films says it all: “The statements and claims expressed in this program [...] are not intended to be taken or interpreted by the viewer as established facts.”

Lindell put his money behind the effort to overturn the election, helping bankroll the “March for Trump” bus tour, a two-week pro-Trump caravan organized by the nonprofit Women for America First that challenged Biden's win, and speaking at five stops on the tour. Women for America First later helped organize the rally that preceded the Capitol riot, and while Lindell did not join the rioters who stormed the Capitol he attempted to deflect blame, suggesting that “antifa” members disguised as Trump supporters were to blame. In the days following the insurrection, Lindell was seen at the White House carrying a document referring to martial law, the Insurrection Act, and replacing the CIA director with a Trump loyalist. He told Reuters that the violence didn't change his stance, saying “I'm never letting the fraud go.”

Lindell’s refusal to retract his false statements has drawn defamation litigation that has defined his last five years. In September 2025, a federal judge ruled that Lindell had defamed Smartmatic with false statements that its machines helped rig the 2020 election. In the ruling granting partial summary judgment, the judge found “simply no evidence” that Smartmatic designed its machines to manipulate ballots, and that the only evidence showed the opposite. The 63-page order held the statements defamatory per se, concluding “no reasonable trier of fact” could find them true.

One of the most infamous moments of Lindell’s campaign was the August 2021 “cyber symposium” in Sioux Falls, where he promised to unveil data proving the voting machine hack. The alleged proof never materialized. Fact-checkers who examined the event found that Lindell’s team failed to sufficiently answer any of the nine questions identified by election integrity and cybersecurity experts as necessary to verify his claims. The Sioux Falls symposium is also where images wrongfully obtained by Tina Peters's security breach were displayed, eventually leading to her conviction on felony charges.

Influence in the current administration

Lindell has strong personal ties to the Trump administration. Lindell was an early supporter of Trump’s first campaign, and has maintained his personal relationship to Trump through to Trump’s second administration. Trump endorsed him for Minnesota governor in 2026, rewarding Lindell’s years of loyalty in promoting stolen-election claims. Trump has also kept him close socially, appearing alongside Lindell at a Bedminster gala in July 2026. Lindell lost the August 2026 Republican primary, finishing in a distant second place, and has repeated his sore-loser tactics by refusing to concede, telling reporters his team needed time to review and claiming without evidence they had seen anomalies.