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She was on the plane with him the day of the debate and on the ground with him the morning after. Some Republicans are worried she had something to do with what happened in between.
Laura Loomer, the right-wing agitator known for egging on Donald Trump’s most inflammatory instincts, has been regularly popping up around the former president. After a debate in which Trump shouted about false viral rumors of pet-eating Haitians in an Ohio town, her potential influence is drawing more scrutiny from both parties.
One person close to the Trump campaign said they were “100%” concerned about her exacerbating Trump’s weaknesses.
“Regardless of any guardrails the Trump campaign has put on her, I don’t think it’s working,” the person said.
Loomer has long been a presence in Trump’s orbit, much to the chagrin of some of his allies inside and outside the campaign. Last year, the New York Times reported Trump ordered his staff to give her a formal campaign role — only to drop the idea after fierce pushback from Republicans.
Her recurring appearances with Trump around the debate has reopened some of those old wounds. If a common complaint after Trump’s performance from Republicans was that he was “too online,” then the appearance of Loomer — who once protested being banned from Twitter by handcuffing herself to its New York office building while wearing a yellow Jewish star to liken her treatment to the Holocaust — put it under bright lights.
“Trump lost the debate because of his performance or lack thereof,” Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant, said. “That’s what happens when you wing it, live in the Fox News—X bubble, and rely upon Matt Gaetz, let alone Laura Loomer.”
Loomer didn’t respond to a text message about her trip with Trump. On Wednesday afternoon, after the Harris campaign shared a critical CNN segment about her that referenced recent posts denigrating the nominee’s Indian heritage, Loomer wrote that the vice president was “furious” about her investigative reporting.
“I don’t care if the media finds my factual posts offensive,” Loomer wrote. “I find their weaponization of government and their policies which have destroyed our country to be OFFENSIVE!”
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Even by the standards of the extended MAGA universe in 2024, Loomer has stood out as an extreme figure. She has called herself “pro-white nationalism” and described America as a “white Judeo-Christian ethnostate” destroyed by diversity. After Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died of cancer in July, Loomer posted online that she was a “ghetto bitch” and suggested she was “going to hell.”
Loomer earned her prominence in the MAGA movement by confronting Democrats on camera with aggressive questions that they usually refused to answer — she called it being “Loomered.” After ambushing several Muslim candidates in Michigan and Minnesota, including longtime target llhan Omar, Democrats began recognizing her and keeping her out of events.
But she’s also proved an extremely polarizing figure among Republicans by using the same tactics against them if she thinks they’re crossing Trump. Loomer traveled to Iowa before this year’s caucuses, confronting Ron DeSantis at the hotel where his campaign team was staying, calling him an “absentee governor” who’d “betrayed President Trump” by running against him. “DeSanctimonious’s soul literally left his cowardly body when he saw me,” she posted on X.
She also has feuded with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who she’s called a “traitor.” On Wednesday, Greene called Loomer’s comments mocking Harris’ Indian heritage “appalling and extremely racist,” adding that it “does not represent President Trump” and that “this type of behavior should not be tolerated ever.”
The View From Democrats
The Harris campaign declined to comment on Loomer’s tag-along with Trump, but staff have kept an eye on her appearances on the trail, and have drawn attention to them on X. Democrats are convinced that the GOP nominee is making unforced errors, by listening to divisive figures from the online right and trading some potentially effective lines of attack for more obscure ones that make some Republicans uncomfortable.
Shelby’s view
There’s no doubt Loomer’s a divisive figure within Trump’s inner circle, but it’s also not clear how much has changed lately in terms of her access. She’s traveled and spent time with the former president at points throughout his presidential campaign.
One Trumpworld source downplayed her role on the campaign, telling Semafor she was not involved in debate preparations. “She doesn’t interfere, or whatever other people call it,” the person said. “She’s actually very encouraging and a positive person to be around.”
Trump keeping controversial figures close to him — even when they agitate others in his camp — is also nothing new. One former Trump administration official noted that Trump enjoys the “Game of Thrones” grappling for power among those close to him, and that these types of people are ones his team has been dealing with for years.
“I think it’s dangerous. I think it shows poor judgment, but I don’t think it’s a turning point, because I think that he’s practiced in that before,” this person argued.
It’s also hard to single her out given that Trump has so many entry points into her particular corner of online combat — Vance, for example, prominently encouraged the “cat memes” about the Ohio pet rumor before the debate and defended bringing it up afterwards.
Ultimately, for those who believe Trump underperformed on Tuesday night and went off script, the blame doesn’t clearly lie with Loomer or any outside conservative faction: It lies with the candidate himself.
Notable
- The Associated Press noted that Loomer accompanied Trump to memorials for 9/11 in Pennsylvania and New York. She shared a video claiming the attacks were an “inside job” last year.
- The Washington Post profiled Loomer in May, contrasting Trump’s public affection for her with the reluctance of his aides to discuss her influence on the record.