Long-time Atlanta lawyer, leading conspiracy theorist, and prominent ‘Trump won’ election-denier, Lin Wood, ran for the Chair of the South Carolina Republican Party. In a four-way race, he was drubbed by the incumbent, Drew McKissick. It wasn’t close. Drew won with 67% of the vote, while ‘Lin for the Win’ lost with 28%.
However, while Drew’s victory was convincing, Lin did win more than one in four votes — despite being a Georgia boy — and running against the man who steered the SC GOP to a successful 2020 campaign. (Trump won the state. Lindsey Graham easily retained his Senate seat. And the GOP picked off a Democratic House incumbent.)
Further hindering Wood was Trump’s three-time endorsement of McKissick — although Wood claimed that he was really Trump’s candidate. Which is not unexpected. As QAnon-addled Wood has a bizarre history of claiming things for which there is no evidence.
And this disregard for the facts, truth, and common sense apparently appeals to the 28% who are committed to voting for the man most likely to be committed. And on that score, Wood is by far the leading candidate.
Because McKissick is not absolutist in his belief that Trump won the election — he accepts Biden won, but has questions about the process — Wood has him pegged as a RINO. And accused him of being glad that Joey ‘Bribes’ Biden occupies the White House.
That Trump is still President is the touchstone of Wood’s philosophy. So much so that, on April 28th 2021, he published on ‘Telegram’ a picture of him ‘discovering’ Trump still at work in the Oval Office. (The picture was, of course, an old one.)
On January 25th 2021, Wood told the ‘Politically Correct Radio Show’ that:
"I believe, without having definitive proof, that the military is in charge of our country, and I believe they are in charge of our country because Joe Biden is an illegal president. And I believe the military has evidence that establishes that fact."
He was still massaging his Trump/military fantasy as recently as two days ago. On the campaign trail he told a devoted audience
"He won the election. Donald J. Trump is still the guy the military will call for the code if they need a first strike. Joe Biden is not the president of the United States.”
He saw a divine purpose to Trump’s apparent defeat. Saying it was the only way God could expose the problems in the election system which "would have never been fixed."
"This is about God. God is getting ready to clean up this world and he's got a lot of cleaning up to do in America. So we all want Trump to come back, yes, because some things are going to have to happen."
"My own personal belief is he signed the insurrection act. Nobody knows. He's not going to tell anybody. I think the military is prepared to act if we have a foreign threat or an internal threat that can't be handled by the police or National Guard. And we're going to allow what appears to be continuity of government… because he's cleaning things up."
Wood picks from a large menu when it comes to conspiracy theories. We are all familiar with his election rants and meritless law suits. But there’s more. Well-known as an absolute advocate of QAnon’s main thrust — that a cabal of Democratic/Hollywood pedophiles is sex-traficking kids and harvesting their glandular secretions — Wood has pointed at Chief Justice John Roberts as part of the plot. And then iced the cake by accusing him of foreknowledge of Justice Antonin Scalia’s demise.
As he tweeted at Roberts, when he still had Twitter privileges:
“You are recorded discussing Justice Scalia’s successor before date of his sudden death. How did you know Scalia was going to die?
Are you a member of any club or cabal requiring minor children as initiation fee?”
There’s more:
“My information from reliable source is that Roberts arranged an illegal adoption of two young children from Wales through Jeffrey Epstein. I think we can all agree that Epstein knows pedophilia.”
Adding,
“If only Jeffrey Epstein was still alive . . . Wouldn’t that be something?”
Not done, he finished by arguing that the lack of a defamation suit from Roberts meant his unfounded accusations were on the mark.
Later, after he engendered ridicule, he returned to Twitter to double down.
"I am fully aware of the onslaught of attacks being made against me based on my revelations about Chief Justice John Roberts. Before attacking me, maybe fair-minded people would first ask Roberts to tell the truth."
"Or ask Jeffrey Epstein. He is alive."
Epstein alive?
But let’s get back to South Carolina. Wood, like his idol, is sure he won. Although, unlike the last guy, he also congratulates the nominal winner. On Telegram, he offered:
“Congratulations to Drew “Biden Won” McKissick. Drew won the delegates in an establishment created election.
I won We The People. Drew will learn in time that ALL power belongs to We The People.
One door closes. Another door opens.
The door that should open for Wood is the entrance to a psychiatric ward. The
only question is whether he is in denial — in his heart, he knows he’s a loon and can’t face the truth. Or if he suffers ‘a
nosognosia’. A condition arising from organic brain damage — a stroke, Impairment of executive functions due to damage to the parietal lobe,
Alzheimer’s, or some other dementia — that blinds the sufferer to their own disease.
A casual survey of contemporary American politics makes you wonder of whom else we should ask the question.