I have listened to innumerable speeches from Donald Trump, read every tweet that the man has issued, consumed years’ worth of right-wing conspiracies online and in person, and I can say this with absolute certainty: MyPillow C.E.O. Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium, held last week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was the most illogical, confusing, mind-melting event that I have ever been to in my life, even by the high standards set by our former president.

The pro-Trump, ex-crack-addict-turned-entrepreneur had become the epicenter of the claims that the 2020 presidential election was illegitimate, allegely stolen by nefarious forces hacking election machines, gathering millions of believers in the process. A multi billion-dollar lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems against Lindell, his allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and any media network that had aired his claims, only emboldened him further, to the point of hosting a massive event and inviting as many lawmakers and media members as he could.

His purpose, despite the massive pending litigation, was to convince his hardcore believers that the presidential election was, as he put it to me, “a hack of historical proportions.” He told me his goal was to eventually build a Supreme Court case. “And then they’re going to vote nine-zero.”