Children fear the dark as it is scary. They believe it’s filled with monsters and bogeymen.

As a child, I always wanted my bedroom door kept open with a light on in the hall. That way I felt safe, at least from the wild rides of my imagination.

Such irrational fears disappear when we leave early childhood, yet for some, these fantasies persist into adulthood. For adults, is this a mental illness or just a personality quirk of paranoia and irrational fear?

I speak of the political left, including the media, who as seemingly rational and functional adults, still believe a bogeyman is hiding under their beds. And that bogeyman is the Nazi, despite few of today’s scaredy-cats being alive when Nazis were a thing.

The latest example is bogeyman Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, Trump supporter, and election integrity advocate. While many became annoyed with his incessant MyPillow commercials, he crossed the line in progressive society by questioning the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.

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For his efforts, he was rewarded with social media bans and FBI raids. Yet election integrity is not a fringe issue. Rasmussen Reports found that 62% of U.S. likely voters, “think this year’s election could be impacted by cheating.”

No stranger to controversy, Lindell has reached a new pinnacle now as a supposed Nazi dog whistler.

From the Huffington Post, busy finding a bogeyman under their bed, “Mike Lindell’s latest pillow price is being interpreted as a Nazi dog whistle.”

Huh? A pillow price is somehow a shout-out to Adolf Hitler?

MyPillow discounted some of its pillows to $14.88, and the left sees that random price ending in -88, as a Nazi bogeyman.

Here’s their reasoning.

The number “1488” is a common symbol used among hate groups. The “14” is shorthand for the “14 Words,” a stand-in for a white supremacist slogan, while “88” refers to an abbreviation of “Heil Hitler,” since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Who decides this stuff? The Southern Poverty Law Center of course.

They seem unaware of the basic retail convention that a price tag end in .88 is a very common retail inventory identifier for closeout and limited stock items, and is frequently seen at Costco, WalMart, and many others).

But now with Lindell using it, it's a Nazi dog whistle.

What else, numbers or words, are Nazi dog whistles?

According to the SPLC website, 28 and 38 are also “common terms” for the “racist skinhead” movement.

Sandra Bullock, star in the movie “28 Days” should weigh in. So should the 1970s rock band “38 Special.”

“Crew” is also a Nazi slogan according to the SPLC.

I rowed for four years in college, never knowing I was a neo-Nazi. How can I apologize?

The popular film and book, “The Boys in the Boat” featured the University of Washington “crew” which beat Hitler’s prize “crew” in the 1938 Olympic games. Why didn’t the American “crew” throw the race to the Nazis?

Dr. Martens boots are also a Nazi phrase according to SPLC. Yet über-woke Amazon sells them but for far more than Mike Lindell’s $14.88.

“Fresh cut” also triggers the SPLC. Remember that after bragging about your fresh-cut lawn or recent haircut.

Huffington Post is not the only media outlet seeing Nazi bogeymen under the bed.

Newsweek too.

Mike Lindell, the founder and CEO of MyPillow, has been accused of marking some products down to a price that mirrors a neo-Nazi slogan.

MyPillow posted an advertisement on X, formerly Twitter, on September 20 that their "Standard Classic MyPillow" which usually sells for between $29.99 and $49.98, was being marked down to $14.88.

This specific price of $14.88 raised eyebrows as, to keen observers, it is affiliated with white supremacists and online neo-Nazi groups.

I found a nifty wallet on Amazon for the magical price of $14.88. No Nazi logo on the wallet and the media doesn’t seem to be concerned.

Amazon also sells a toy key chain and Barbie doll for that Hitlerian price of $14.88. How dare they!

Not just Amazon, but Walmart, too, selling black earbuds at the skinhead special price of $14.88.

What does Mike Lindell say about sending dog whistles to the Nazis and white supremacists out there (apparently so plentiful that I have yet to meet one)?

Lindell, when contacted by the New York Post, denied the allegations, saying: "I have no idea what this is all about."

Maybe a price is just a price, like in Bogey’s Casablanca where a kiss was just a kiss, not a secret Nazi signal.

The “88” reference is also on the FBI radar. (Boy do they have a lot of work to do at Costco.)

Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi made the case to MSNBC that President Donald Trump’s decision to re-raise flags on August 8, after they had been flying at half-mast since the El Paso and Dayton shootings in 2019 was a Nazi shout-out.

He explained:

The president said that we will fly our flags at half-mast on 8 August. That’s 8/8.

Now, I’m not going to imply that he did this deliberately but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that’s being demonstrated by the White House.

The numbers 8/8 are very significant in neo-Nazi and white supremacy movements.

Why? Because the letter H is the eighth letter of the alphabet and to [neo-Nazis] the numbers 8/8 together stand for Heil Hitler.

Mr Trump issued a directive on 4 August, ordering the US flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House and public and military buildings.

So there.

Good thing Trump didn’t fly the flags at half-mast for 14 days, taking them down on August 8, or else the FBI would have raided Trump at the White House in Mar-a-Lago fashion.

Why can’t the left live and let live? Why are they, in Sherlock Holmes fashion, peering at the world through a magnifying glass, looking for Nazis around every corner.

Just think, if while wearing “Dr. Martens” boots, I tip my lawn “crew” a generous “$14.88” as a thanks for my “fresh cut” lawn, I will be a full-blown Nazi!

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.

Image: Twitter screen shot