Lindell is a kook.
But he's a kook who is fully allowed to be a kook. Being a kook needs to be protected, because if you are punished for being a kook, then that's where the line is, and suddenly something that isn't being a kook is on the borderline, and then we decide that isn't acceptable either, and soon you're well outside the realm of being a kook, vanilla attitudes are not acceptable because we allowed that kook to get punished for holding unacceptable opinions.