Former president Donald Trump has traveled the country this week accompanied by far-right activist Laura Loomer, unnerving some GOP allies with his increasing embrace of a provocateur with a history of espousing conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe history of statements by Ms. Loomer are beyond disturbing,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in an interview Thursday. \u201cI hope this problem gets resolved. I think we should be talking about things that people are concerned about, and this issue, I think, doesn\u2019t help the cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loomer most notably joined Trump as he made multiple stops Wednesday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, standing nearby as Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), met with firefighters in New York City. Just last year, Loomer posted a video on X that called the 9\/11 assault on the United States an \u201cinside job.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few days earlier, Loomer launched a racist attack against Trump\u2019s Democratic opponent in the November election, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Indian American. If Harris wins, Loomer wrote, the White House \u201cwill smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.\u201d In July, Loomer baselessly called Harris a \u201cdrug using prostitute.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to joining Trump in New York, Loomer was seen getting off his plane the day before in Philadelphia prior to his debate with Harris there. And after she visited New York with Trump, Loomer headed with him to Shanksville, Pa., for ceremonies commemorating 9\/11.<\/p>\n
Loomer emphasized this week that she does \u201cnot work\u201d for Trump, but the campaign has declined to say why she has been traveling with him amid increasing harsh scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans.<\/p>\n
Trump repeatedly has pushed debunked claims and conspiracy theories, including peddling the lie that former president Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and amplified falsehoods from the deep recesses of the internet. Loomer regularly espouses conspiracy theories \u2014 including claims that both the 2018 school massacres in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe, Tex., were staged. Loomer, 31, has provided plenty of fodder for the Republican presidential nominee.<\/p>\n
Loomer said Thursday afternoon she stands by \u201ceverything I have said.\u201d A former two-time congressional candidate, Loomer previously gained notoriety for her strident anti-Muslim rhetoric, once labeling herself a \u201cproud Islamophobe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a Trump loyalist who has long feuded with Loomer, told reporters Thursday that Loomer\u2019s \u201crhetoric and hateful tone\u201d are a \u201chuge problem\u201d for Republicans. The congresswoman previously spoke out against Loomer last year when reports surfaced that Trump wanted to hire her for his campaign; he ultimately decided against it.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Loomer\u2019s rhetoric] doesn\u2019t represent MAGA as a whole. It doesn\u2019t represent who we are as Republicans,\u201d Greene said Thursday, adding that she does not think Loomer \u201chas the experience or the right mentality to advise a very important presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loomer, on social media, quickly lashed out at Graham and Greene after their comments criticizing her presence in Trump\u2019s entourage.<\/p>\n
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Loomer\u2019s association with Trump, but at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, \u201cNo leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison.\u201d<\/p>\n
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference that Loomer\u2019s attendance at Trump\u2019s 9\/11 stops should \u201cshock the conscience of all decent Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was shocking and irresponsible and offensive to the thousands of people who lost their lives on Sept. 11, including hundreds of brave first responders, members of the NYPD, FDNY and others, who raced toward the danger in order to help people escape the danger \u2014 and lost their lives as a result of it,\u201d Jeffries said, adding that Trump \u201cis a conspiracy theory-peddling racial arsonist and pathological liar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s campaign did not directly respond to questions about Loomer\u2019s latest involvement in the campaign, instead seeking to emphasize the 9\/11 anniversary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day wasn\u2019t about anyone other than the souls who are no longer with us, their families, and the heroes who courageously stepped up to save their fellow Americans on that fateful day,\u201d said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement.<\/p>\n
Graham said he has not gotten clarity on what role Loomer is playing in the campaign. He added that he was not previously aware of all her statements and that \u201csome of the stuff is just cruel,\u201d citing Loomer\u2019s personal attacks on Claudia Conway, the daughter of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.<\/p>\n
Loomer first gained national notoriety as an undercover agent for Project Veritas, focusing her efforts in infiltrating Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign. She left the group in 2017 to do stunts under her own name, such as chaining herself to Twitter\u2019s New York headquarters and leading a group of undocumented immigrants to hop the fence at a Napa, Calif., home owned by former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).<\/p>\n
Loomer ran for Congress in Florida twice, in 2020 and 2022, and lost both times. Her anti-Muslim rhetoric, among other alleged terms-of-use violations, have led Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, Uber, Venmo, PayPal, GoFundMe and Cash App to all ban her, Loomer claims.<\/p>\n
Loomer fashioned herself as social media warrior for Trump during the 2024 Republican presidential primary, crusading against one of his rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. She repeatedly accused DeSantis and his wife, Casey DeSantis, of using her breast cancer diagnosis to generate sympathy from voters.<\/p>\n
These days, Loomer identifies as an investigative journalist in service of Trump\u2019s reelection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to dedicate all my time to helping Trump, because if Trump doesn\u2019t get back in, I don\u2019t have anything,\u201d she told The Washington Post last March. She says she\u2019d been in talks to work for Trump\u2019s reelection campaign in the spring of 2023.<\/p>\n
The New York Times reported that Trump wanted to hire her; a backlash from Trump loyalists ensued, including a fierce rebuke from Greene. No job ultimately materialized \u2014 an outcome for which Loomer holds Greene responsible.<\/p>\n
The lack of formal campaign employment, however, put little distance between Loomer and the former president. Trump invited Loomer to his private balcony at his Bedminster golf course last summer, and she has made several trips on Trump Force One with the former president, joining him and his campaign team on flights to rallies throughout the Republican primary. At a rally in Iowa last January, Trump told the gathered crowd that Loomer was a \u201cvery important person, politically.\u201d In March, he called her out as a \u201cwoman with courage\u201d at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great Laura Loomer \u2014 some of you know Laura \u2014 she\u2019s fantastic person, great woman,\u201d Trump said during a July speech in Nashville.<\/p>\n
Trump routinely reposts Loomer\u2019s content to his Truth Social account. She supplied the first post the former president ever made questioning Harris\u2019s racial identity: a graphic that compared a headline from Harris\u2019s historic U.S. Senate win in 2016, which noted her as the \u201cfirst Indian-American U.S. Senator,\u201d and one from 2020, which noted she was the \u201cfirst Black woman\u201d to be selected as a presidential running mate. A friend had made the graphic for her; Loomer thinks she was \u201cprobably\u201d the first person to bring Harris\u2019s racial identity to Trump\u2019s attention. Later that week, he raised the issue at the National Association of Black Journalists\u2019 conference in Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,\u201d Trump said in July. \u201cI did not know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loomer has also amplified the baseless conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town are abducting and eating pets, a claim that Trump echoed in his Tuesday debate against Harris.<\/p>\n
Loomer\u2019s recent attack on Harris over her Indian heritage comes at a time when Harris is not the only Indian American playing a prominent role in the presidential race. Vance\u2019s wife, lawyer Usha Vance, is the daughter of Indian immigrants.<\/p>\n
A Vance spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Loomer post saying the White House would smell like curry if Harris wins.<\/p>\n
Greene responded Wednesday on X, calling Loomer\u2019s post \u201cappalling and extremely racist.\u201d The congresswoman told reporters Thursday that she usually tries to ignore Loomer\u2019s posts, but the attack on Harris as an Indian American \u201cbothered me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham called the attack \u201cabhorrent.\u201d He said he spoke Thursday morning with Greene about the matter and that she is \u201cvery concerned about the political impact this will have in Georgia,\u201d a battleground state that is home to one of the largest Indian American populations in the country.<\/p>\n
Kara Voght and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Former president Donald Trump has traveled the country this week accompanied by far-right activist Laura Loomer, unnerving some GOP allies with his increasing embrace of a provocateur with a history of espousing conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric. \u201cThe history of statements by Ms. Loomer are beyond disturbing,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in an interview […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}