Trump-Loving Pillow CEO Claims Ignorance of Nazi Symbolism in Price
‘WHO COMES UP WITH THIS STUFF?’
Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, says he was unaware of the neo-Nazi symbolism in selling his pillows for $14.88. The figure was a limited-time online deal on MyPillow’s “Classic Collection”—marked down from $49.98. Social media users, however, noted that the price parallels a popular pairing of white-supremacist numerical codes: According to the Anti-Defamation League, the 14 comes from the number of words in a common neo-Nazi slogan, while 88—as “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet—stands for “Heil Hitler.” On the conservative talk show FlashPoint, Lindell said he was unaware of the Nazi symbol and that the price was not a white-supremacist dog whistle. “I get a call from all the media around the country and the world, all the way to the Daily Mail, saying, what are you, a Nazi?” he said. “I’m going, ‘Who comes up with this stuff?’” He suggested the price mirrors a common discounting strategy used by Walmart when offering a sale.