The My Pillow Guy Has a Bridge to Sell You

About the time you think that Mike Lindell’s comments cannot be further removed from reality, you get his most recent screed. The latest is that Donald Trump will be “reinstated” as President by the fall (previously April, then August, but who’s keeping track). He says this will happen because of a 9-0 vote from the U.S. Supreme Court that will set aside the 2020 election.

It takes a delusional approach to the judicial system to come to this conclusion. There is simply no mechanism for the Supreme Court to even hear this case, much less to decide it 9-0. Zero. Zip. Nada. As a physician once told me: “there is no miracle without a mechanism.” And here, there is no mechanism to generate the miracle he promises.

So what we have here is simply a lie. One of the first things we are taught as a child is that sometimes we lie unintentionally. These lies, once discovered, are corrected, both a matter of personal integrity and to avoid harm to others. The principle is beautifully encapsulated in the tenth step of Alcoholics Anonymous. “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”

Whether due to ignorance or pathology, some people cannot admit to a lie. Instead, they double down or make even more egregious claims. When a personal who hawks pillows for a living does this, rational people will simply tune him out.

My main thrust here, though, is not to excoriate Lindell as much as he deserves it. Rather, it is to contrast his actions with that of lawyers who have a much higher duty of care to speak and act honestly. Many in our profession have a bad reputation, and deservedly so. We take an oath to act with utmost integrity and candor. When we violate that oath, in some cases by doubling down on lies, the public rightfully expects that lawyers should police ourselves and punish those who violate the public trust.

Legal sanctions that are being currently directed at lawyers like Rudy Guiliani, Sidney Powell and Lin Wood are not only legitimate but required in order to protect an unsuspecting and often gullible public. Most lawyers facing discipline will be contrite and apologetic. We have no use for the others.