Bulwark Takes - EXCLUSIVE: MyPillow Guy Won’t Stop Texting Me!

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Will Sommer and Sonny Bunch discuss the texts Mike Lindell has been sending Will from the courtroom amid his ongoing defamation trial. Also, the right-wing's struggle to re-brand the Trump assassination attempt during the election as “J13.” Read Will's False Flag, “Mike Lindell Is Texting Me From His Defamation Trial”

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We've got another great edition of False Flag discussing here with Will Summer. Thanks for sitting down with me for 10 or 15 minutes here to figure out what's going on in the world of the right-wing media ecosystem. Yeah, this one's hot off the presses, so I'm happy to be here. First off, big news in the world of pillows. Mike Lindell is being sued by a guy. Mike Lindell has accused of rigging the 2020 election. What is the deal here?

What is this dominion-esque lawsuit about, Will? Yeah, so this definitely falls into the genre of sort of like dominion, smartmatic voter fraud lawsuits about these conspiracy theories. In this case, this week, Mike Lindell, people know from the big mustache, the former crack addiction the pillows He is in on trial in Denver this week and next week For his allegations that a former Dominion employee this guy named Eric Kummer was involved in stealing the election and so now Eric Kummer is suing him and my pillow and kind of the the Mike Lindell

Constellation of companies for you know an unspecified amount, but it's a defamation trial. And I don't know, I think he's got indentured rights. I don't think Eric Coomer stole the election. So I think it's going to be a real circus. Now this isn't the most interesting part of the story. Of course, the most interesting part of the story is that Mike Lindell is texting you from the trial. Yes.

So this is sort of throughout this process. One wonders, is Mike Lindell taking this as seriously as he should? You know, we we've seen Fox News pay a mega settlement to Dominion. You know, we've seen all of these other companies kind of flop and say, oh, you know, we surrender. But in this case, Mike Lindell is insisting the election was stolen. He gave a press conference right before the trial started and said, basically, yeah, I think Satan is seizing the election was stolen. He gave a press conference right before the trial started and said basically, yeah, I think Satan is sealing the election.

When you say who's behind it all, Satan, there's one. You know, I figured whatever. I texted him and said, you know, Mike, I see Rolling Stone reported that you're going to be testifying yourself, which is obviously very unusual. You know, are you still planning on doing that? And he said, yeah, I'm in court right now. Still planning on it, you know? And he, he promises to give the in court right now, still planning on it, you know. And he promises to give the bullwork more updates as we go on. So we have a, you know, maybe a correspondent with a bit of a conflict of interest,

but we do have some coverage on the ground. We got a man inside. We've got a man inside. On the defense team. Um, I know I the story is fascinating to me because, you know, look, the the lawsuit that Fox News settled against Dominion for what was the figure I know I the story is fascinating to me because you know, look the the Lawsuit that Fox News settled against Dominion for what was the figure 780 something north of 700 million It's hard to sue a news outlet and win like that That's hard to do as as we know as you and I know as journalists

There are lots of safe harbors and protections for journalism. First Amendment is very robust There are lots of safe harbors and protections for journalism. First Amendment is very robust. To actually lose a lawsuit or to feel the need to settle for that amount of money suggests things have gone very badly for you, which is why it's kind of surprising that Lindell himself has not settled in some manner or another with these guys, right? I mean, this seems like a losing case for him. Yeah, I mean, I think this is a case where Mike Lindell is a true believer.

I mean, he really believes the election was stolen. And, you know, just to dive into this case in particular, I mean, nowadays, I feel like so many conspiracy theories because of, in part because of these lawsuits, so many of the conspiracy theories we get now are so vaporous. People just say, hmm, like this shadowy cabal, I'm not gonna name its members or

whatever. But in this case, the origins here are very specific. This guy named Joe Altman, who's like a right wing podcaster, he said shortly after the election, well, I was listening to an Antifa Antifa conference call. Okay, those were his words. And I infiltrated it. And they said this guy named Eric from Dominion said, we're going to steal the election. I did not put Eric Coomer on that call. Eric Coomer put himself on that call. But the attacks against me about a guy that was in Dominion, we said don't worry about it. We're going to fix it and did.

And the fact that it's fixed was and he happened to be the one holding... The same thing J6. They happened to be there protesting peacefully. They were asked peacefully, but no, no, no. They impeached president Trump. They impeached him and said he incited an insurrection that they planned in August of 2020. And then, so afterwards he deduces that this must be Eric

Coomer, who's a real dominion employee. Now does Joel and then have any proof this conference call ever happened? Does he have a recording, anything like that? Absolutely not. But nevertheless, Mike Lindell amplifies these claims and Eric Kummer really becomes this villainized character for the far right. And so that's what he's suing over. And so it's such a sort of a shaggy dog story,

such an obvious fake, it's sort of a hoax. And nevertheless, Mike Lindell now finds himself in court over it. And I think it's worth, I think it's worth emphasizing that this is like, it's not just Dominion suing Fox News because Dominion's business model was hurt because of the lies of Fox News. We're talking about a real guy who undoubtedly suffered harassment and that sort of thing because he was singled out by Mike Lindell and his band of lunatics.

Exactly, I mean, this is a sort of a thing we've seen over and over. I mean, if you take a look at Pizzagate or the case of Ray Epps, who was a January 6th, and people became convinced on the right that he was like a provocateur or an Eric Kummer's case, where people just sort of end up in these conspiracy theory tumblers and see their lives destroyed

Because there was like a stray video or a claim on a podcast that that then kind of blows up in this whole nightmare Situation it's wild anyway make sure to keep us updated on the case make sure to forward the text messages Along to the slack we make sure to forward the text messages along to the Slack. We would love to read what Mike Lindell. Well, you know what? One thing that came up at the voir dire, so the jury selection, they said, you know, do you own any my pillows and the my pillow? The Mike Lindell TV network, such as it is, has been very breathlessly covering this. And they said, you know, are it's understandable these jurors would own my pillows.

They're such fabulous products. You know, is it fair understandable. These jurors would own my pillows. They're such fabulous products. You know, is it fair to kick them off the jury because of that? So, you know, they're, they're always doing kind of the e-commerce sell as well. So maybe Mike, Mike Liddell can make back the judgment money here. Well, fingers crossed for Mike. I I'm really, really rooting for him in this one. No, I'm not the joke. That's a joke, everybody.

All right. Let's, let's shift gears to the back half of your newsletter in which we I'm really rooting for him in this one. No, I'm not. That's a joke. That's a joke, everybody. All right. Let's shift gears to the back half of your newsletter in which we learn that J6 has a partner. J6 is, of course, the events on January 6th when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and wanted to lynch Mike Pence in order to get the election overturned. But there is also a J-13. What is

J-13? Well, how have I not heard about J-13? Yeah, J-13 is definitely a funny one. I mean, so the riot, I think, has felt very frustrated that the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania did it. I mean, obviously got a lot of attention, but that there wasn't like a deep state plot or something that they could really latch on to. I mean, I remember like for a few months afterwards, they were saying, you know, oh, why hasn't this gotten more attention? We can't like mine enough grievance from this. And so lately I've noticed that the Trump allies have started saying J 13 sort of as though we all know this phrase as sort of their version of January 6th, and they'll reference the truth behind J-13. And in this case, they mean the Butler assassination attempt on July 13th.

And so a former Trump spokeswoman has been saying a lot, where did J-13 go? No one talks about J-13. The congressman from Louisiana, Clay Higgins, released sort of of a, my comments about the J-13 investigation. So they're really trying to make J-13 happen. J-13, and it is interesting because it is very specifically an attempt to tie it to a larger plot or make it feel like a bigger event than it was,

which is weird because it was a pretty big event. I don't think it's exaggerating too much to say that the event itself and the images that came out of the event were, if not decisive in the election, were hugely favorable for Donald Trump. The iconography of Donald Trump on that stage, holding his ear, etc. That was a big moment in the election. Yeah, it was huge and you're absolutely right. I mean this is sort of flared up again because Dan Bongino the former the FBI Deputy Director went on Fox News and he said

there wasn't a larger plot here it was just one guy. I'm not gonna tell people what they want to hear I'm gonna tell you the truth and whether whether you like it or not is up to you. If there was a big explosive there there, right, given my history as a Secret Service agent and my personal friendship as a director does with the president, give me one logical sensible reason we would not have. If you can think of one, there isn't. In some of these cases, the there you're looking for is not there. And I know people, I get it.

I understand. It's not there. If it was there, we would have told you. And this is infuriated Republicans because I think they really want to use this as an excuse to, you know, have these kind of what they saw as the January 60s, kind of like never ending investigations and dragging people in front of Congress for to be subpoenaed or what have you. But you're right. the January 60s, kind of like never ending investigations and dragging people in front of Congress for to be subpoenaed or what have you.

But you're right, I mean, it's not J-13 to use their code here, was not something that people really moved on from quickly. I mean, these are very iconic pictures. And yet, I mean, after Bongino's comments, I think that was seen as an attempt to sort of close the book on the assassination attempt and move on and say that, you know, there's no one else who's going to be implicated. And I think they find that very frustrating. It's interesting how Dan Bon Gino keeps kind of finding himself in the middle of these situations where he is getting yelled at by his former friends for like not finding the conspiracies that everybody thinks are supposed to be there.

finding the conspiracies that everybody thinks are supposed to be there. It is fascinating. I mean, this is something we've talked a lot about. I false flag, but there's this idea that Dan Bongino has sort of been appointed as like the cook liaison. Like maybe he like speaks their language or like he's coming from that world. And so he's kind of, I mean, constantly, like multiple times a week still posting, okay, I know you guys are mad about that interview I did, or you're mad that we haven't arrested these deep staters,

but you don't see what's going on. I mean, now he said, in the same Fox interview, people were mad because he said Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. Now he comes out and says, we're gonna be putting out a new video proving he killed himself. I know you're all mad, but now we're gonna put this out.

So it is very, it's just unusual, particularly the deputy FBI director is supposed to be the guy who's like making everything work. He's supposed to have the boring job of like the high profile cases while the FBI director himself is, you know, kind of the public face. But Bongino really has been, you know, he's been taking the heat. Yeah. Anyway, J-13. No, I, again, it's just, it's also just bad branding like J-13. It doesn't it doesn't really It doesn't roll off the tongue and I think they missed the branding opportunity if it ever existed You know in the aftermath of this Bungie no interview revolver news Which is the right-wing conspiracy theory blog very influential they came out and said, you know J-13 is at risk of disappearing and I mean mean, in this case, in the key word, J-13 specifically,

I think it really never existed to begin with. Yeah. All right. Well, you know, we I don't want to do them any favors, but we could brainstorm ideas here of, you know, what do we want? What should what should this be called? Trump Trump ear gate ear ear gate? I don't know what the like it's kind of become associated with Butler in a way. Like I think like the ear, the assassination attempt. I mean, these are already pretty evocative ways. Right.

The thing with January 6th was or 9-11, another one. I mean, these are kind of spread out. They're sort of like diffuse events where like a lot was going on. And so it's useful to have like one date to sum it up. But in this case, the assassination attempt happened in one place. I think, you know, that might work. Yeah, I guess assassination just has too many syllables. You know, J6, J6, J13 as three.

Assassination, you know, Trump assassin. That's just too many. That's too many words. It doesn't really roll off the tongue. Yeah, too many characters, I think. It takes up too much space. Too many sounds. All right. Well, thanks for, thanks for filling us all in on what's going on in the, uh,

the fever swamps. Absolutely.