At CPAC 2024, MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell took a direct swipe at Lara Trump, although he refrained from mentioning her name explicitly, focusing on the topic of early voting. Donald Trump has endorsed Lara Trump’s candidacy for co-chair of the RNC, and she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) advocating for Republicans to embrace early voting for success in the 2024 elections.
In her CPAC speech, Lara Trump emphasized the need for Republicans to adapt to the evolving landscape of the election process, asserting that embracing early voting is essential for the party’s competitiveness. She stressed that waiting until Election Day is no longer viable and urged Republicans to bank as many votes as possible for Donald J. Trump through early voting.
Mike Lindell, who had previously made an unsuccessful bid for the RNC chair, responded directly to Lara Trump’s remarks during his CPAC appearance. Without explicitly mentioning her name, Lindell criticized those advocating for early voting, asserting that voting on the same day makes it harder for fraudulent activities.
During his speech, Lindell stated, “By the way, anybody that tells you to vote early is wrong! You vote the same day. I’m telling you, that gets harder for them to cheat.” The clear implication was that Lindell was directly addressing Lara Trump’s earlier endorsement of early voting as a strategy for Republicans.
In contrast to Lara Trump’s call to adapt and embrace early voting, Lindell pointed out the RNC’s resolution favoring paper ballots, hand counting, and same-day voting while explicitly rejecting early voting. He highlighted the importance of preventing cheating by advocating for in-person voting on Election Day.
The exchange at CPAC underscores the internal divisions within the Republican Party regarding election strategies. While Lara Trump pushes for embracing early voting to compete with Democrats, Mike Lindell and others within the party remain staunchly opposed, emphasizing the importance of same-day voting to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
MIKE LINDELL: The RNC. Yeah, they got a lot of problems. But one of the things that they did do — when I ran for RNC chair last year, what came out of that– This August, the RNC passed a resolution paper ballots, hand counting, same day voting, no early voting. And by the way, anybody that tells you to vote early is wrong. You vote same day. I’m telling you that gets harder for them to cheat.
LARA TRUMP: What happened in 2020 cannot and will not ever happen again. We must adapt. And we must fight fire, not with fire, but with dynamite. We must, and we will, build the strongest, most secure election operation that this party has ever seen. That’s how we have to do this, folks. But we got to adapt a little. As Republicans, I get it. We like to go vote on Election Day. It’s exciting to be a part of that day. It’s exciting to fill out the ballot for the future leader of our country. Heck, you even get a little sticker and then you can take a photo and post it on social media. I know it’s very fun. But the truth is, if we want to compete with the Democrats, we cannot wait until Election Day. If we want to compete and win, we must embrace early voting. The days of waiting until Election Day to vote are over. We have to encourage everyone who can legally vote to go do so as soon as they legally can. We need so many votes banked for Donald J. Trump that we’re not playing catch up on Election Day. You go vote and then you take your neighbor, your friend, your dentist. Heck, I don’t care someone you met on the street. As long as they’re voting the right way. Every single day up to and on November 5th, because this November, every single legal vote matters.
