by JR Nyquist, jrnyquist.blog, ©2021
(Aug. 19, 2021) — As one views modern man in his innumerable exhibitions of irresponsibility and defiance, one may discern, if he has the courage to see what he sees … a prodigious egotism.” — Richard M. Weaver
The West’s decline into “fragmentation,” said Weaver, owes much to an inner disintegration of soul, an egotism without any sense of proportion. Weaver then quoted Plato’s statement that, “the excessive love of self is in reality the source to each man of all offenses; for the lover is blinded about the beloved, so that he judges wrongly of the just, the good, and the honorable, and thinks that he ought to prefer his own interest to the truth.” With these words the ancient philosopher has given us an insight into the collapse of empires and the fall of mighty men; and also, an insight into the fall of a pillow salesman from Minnesota named Mike Lindell.
In the days following his Sioux City symposium extravaganza, Mike Lindell has turned into a raving madman, lashing out at anyone who disagrees with him. How do we explain Lindell’s self-destructive behavior? Has he shown such behavior in the past? As a gambling addict? As a crack cocaine addict? Has politics become yet another addiction for this addictive personality? What are we to do with Lindell as he careens dizzily into unreality? One thing is certain. We must not follow him there.
Many of us thought Lindell was well-intentioned; but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Many of us thought Lindell was honestly taken-in by the swindler, Dennis Montgomery; but then we are forced to admit the adage that “you cannot cheat an honest man.” Many of us thought Mike Lindell was a loyal patriot; but he and his side-kick Brannon Howse are slandering and maligning an ever-expanding circle of patriots, truthtellers and good-faith bearers of bad news.
When detective Mike Zullo and I attempted to warn Lindell that he was being swindled by Dennis Montgomery, Mr. Lindell called Mr. Zullo on the phone and chewed him out for two straight minutes – refusing to hear anything Mr. Zullo had to say. Being a former police detective, who had invested months of his own time, Mr. Zullo had much to tell Mr. Lindell. But Lindell would not listen, though he would have profited beyond measure by doing so.
Zullo and I worked to warn Mr. Lindell because we believed Lindell was a reasonable and honest man. To our regret, Mike Lindell could not recognize the truth if it crawled up his nose and ate out his brain. A real leader is one who can see the truth when others cannot. Lindell, however, has proved to the country that he is unable to tell truth from falsehood. We have also learned that questioning Lindell is Lèse-majesté. His money, indeed, has purchased a small army of “investigators” and “experts.” They earned their pay by failing to correct three crazy assertions: (1) that in August Lindell was going to win before the Supreme Court, nine to nothing; (2) that this would return Donald Trump to the White House; (3) that this was possible because Lindell had acquired and verified all the packet captures for the whole November 3rd election.
All three of Lindell’s assertions were absurd on their face for the following reasons: (1) The Supreme Court is in recess until 4 October 2021; (2) There is no precedent for overturning a presidential election once a new president has been sworn in; (3) It is impossible for a civilian to legally acquire all the packet captures from the November 3rd election.
Nearly everyone who attempted to warn Mike Lindell has been taken to task, either by Lindell or his yapping dog (Brannon Howse). Others, who dared report the truth about the cyber symposium, have been maligned and slandered. Just to name one: IT consultant Josh Merritt has been vindictively assailed by Lindell as a “traitor” to America.
On Tuesday I spoke with Tom Trento and John Guandolo. All three of us were publicly chastised by Brannon Howse during an ill-omened Friday the 13th radio broadcast. Incredibly, Howse berated us because we were allegedly wrong about the dangers of going ahead with last week’s symposium. Gaslighting his audience, Howse claimed that we had acted shamefully, that we were “useful idiots” on the right. In retrospect this was high praise coming from a “useless idiot” in the wrong. In order that he does not gaslight his audience (once again) by saying I have misquoted him, I have linked an audio recording of his Friday the 13th program in the notes below. Here is what Howse said about me:
Shame on Jeff Nyquist. We should have never given him a platform. It’s amazing the people we’ve given a platform to over the years that turned out to be not what we thought they were. But, you live and learn; and it’s hard to see through people; but, Jeff Nyquist, big disappointment. Quoting me in articles, lying. He wasn’t even quoting me correctly. And he was quoting private conversations. That’s a trashy journalist. That’s not even a journalist.
Read the rest here.