During the Monday White House press conference centered on the COVID-19 pandemic, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell went off-script when he called upon Americans to read their Holy Bibles and find God during this unprecedented time of crisis.
Referring to the day Donald Trump won the presidency against Hillary Clinton, Lindell said, “God gave us grace on Nov. 8, 2016 to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools and lives, a nation had turned its back on God.”
After encouraging Americans to read their Bibles, Lindell then touted the low unemployment and healthy economy that President Trump enjoyed prior to the pandemic, promising that the country will roar back to life again when the crisis subsides.
“I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the word, read our Bibles, and spend time with our families,” he continued. “Our president gave us so much hope where, just a few short months ago, we had the best economy, the lowest unemployment, and wages going up. It was amazing. With our great president, vice president, and this administration, the other great people in this country, and praying daily, we will get through this and get back to a place that is stronger and safer than ever.”
As Lindell exited the Rose Garden stage, Trump said, “I did not know he was going to do that. He’s a friend of mine and I appreciate that.”
Lindell was invited to speak at the press conference to talk about the work his company has been doing to combat the crisis by shifting production to manufacture up to 50,000 N95 medical masks a day starting this Friday.
“Given our current business lines, we are experiencing the effects of this pandemic firsthand,” Lindell said earlier in the conference. “We’ve dedicated 75% of my manufacturing to produce cotton face masks.”
After saying that My Pillow's factories will be producing 50,000 N95 masks by Friday, Mike Lindell encourages us to read our bibles and spend time with our families.
"With this administration and all the great people in this country praying daily, we will get through this" pic.twitter.com/f1mdtqLYzE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 30, 2020
During Lindell’s speech, CNN cut away after the president introduced him. The network did not cut away, as some have alleged on Twitter, when he mentioned God.
CNN cuts away from the coronavirus task force press conference when My Pillow's Mike Lindell gets up to speak about how his company repurposed its factories to produce N95 masks pic.twitter.com/atpVElzfYH
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 30, 2020
On social media, reactions to Lindell’s comments ranged from enthusiastic to vitriolic, with some people calling it a plug for his company without recognizing the fact that his company will be producing much-needed masks.
“Once the Trump-aligned My Pillow guy came on to give a free infomercial from the Rose Garden, CNN cuts away– good on them for not giving oxygen to this partisan corporate bulls**t,” tweeted Bryan Tyler Cohen of Occupy Democrats.
“My Pillow is now making highly absorbent pillows so you can cry yourself to sleep after watching this press conference,” tweeted the official “Full Frontal” Twitter account.
“Trump just had the My Pillow guy speak. The My Pillow Guy. These aren’t press conferences to calm the American people. They’re infomercials for Trump and his friends,” tweeted NBC late-night writer Nick JackPappas.
Janice Dean of Fox News called out the hypocrisy by noting that they would be cheering Martha Stewart had she appeared alongside President Barack Obama during such a crisis.
“If it was Martha Stewart coming out into the rose garden to help President Obama you guys would be applauding! I’m critical of a lot of stuff that’s happening right now. This is not one of them. Go My Pillow Guy!” she tweeted.