Today’s daily White House briefing on the deadly coronavirus featured a harangue from the CEO of the MyPillow about the need for religion in the public schools and a plug by the president for his product.
Trump introduced My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell as ‘my friend,’ and asked him to speak at the podium set up in the White House Rose Garden today, in an event that centered on the push for hospital equipment.
‘Boy do you sell those pillows it’s unbelievable what you do,’ Trump said, putting in a plug for the product that is a fixture in TV advertisements, including on Fox News.
Lindell said he hopes to have his company producing up to 50,000 masks to assist medical professionals who need protective gear to combat the virus, and is among numerous CEOs Trump has thanked.
Then, Lindell took out a sheet of paper during the televised briefing and spoke on other topics.
‘God gave us grace on Nov 8, 2016 to change the course we were on,’ he said, referencing Trump’s election. ‘God had been taken out of our schools and lives. A nation had turned its back on God,’ he continued.
Then Lindell encouraged people in social isolation in their homes to use the time for religious practice.
‘And I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the Word. Read our bibles and spend time with our families. Our president gave us so much hope where just a few short months ago we had the best economy … it was amazing,’ he said.
The high-profile endorsement was one of many unusual features of the daily presidential briefing – which Trump has touted as a ratings winner.
MyPillow’s ads are ubiquitous on the most important television channel in the conservative movement, Fox News.
The 55-year-old admits he started abusing cocaine in the 1980s, but switched over to crack in the 1990s.
His drug use continued into his company’s earliest days in 2004.
Lindell was divorced for the first time by 2008, and was arrested in January of that year on suspicion of domestic assault.
The woman he was dating claimed he had punched and kicked her — even hitting her with “a four-foot wooden dowel,” according to documents.
Lindell denied the allegations, but an order of protection was still issued in the case.
He was arrested two months later for violating the order by allegedly taking the woman’s car.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to the order of protection violation.
Lindell was arrested again in September 2008 in Las Vegas on an outstanding warrant from passing bad checks in a casino eight years prior.
Later that year his drug dealers staged an intervention after he went 19 days without sleep.
More recently he he agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit over his MyPillow’s health claims.
Now he says he’s sober and turned to Jesus.
And Trump, who he believes was sent by God.
“As I stand before you today, I see the greatest president in history. Of course he is. He was chosen by God,” Lindell told the CPAC audience. “God answered our prayers, our millions of prayers, and gave us grace, and a miracle happened on Nov. 8, 2016. We were given a second chance and time granted to get our country back on track with our conservative values and getting people saved in Jesus’s name.”