Trump chose one of the most divisive individuals on the internet to join him on his journey to Philadelphia for this week’s debate.
As Donald Trump faced battle against Vice President Kamala Harris, Laura Loomer was seen backstage with the Trump crew. Shortly thereafter, she joined the former president in the spin room. She accompanied him on his flight to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and New York City the following day to mark the eleventh anniversary of September 11.
In the past ten years, Ms. Loomer has gained notoriety as a far-right activist for her incessant flow of racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-Muslim, and occasionally antisemitic social media posts and public stunts. She has boldly claimed that 9/11 was “an inside job,” referred to Islam as “a cancer,” accused Ron DeSantis’s wife of inflating her breast cancer diagnosis, and implicated President Biden in the July assassination attempt on Mr. Trump.
The vice president’s mother was Indian American, and Ms. Loomer, who is 31 years old, posted a racist joke about him just two days before the debate. The White House would “smell like curry” if Ms. Harris were elected, according to Ms. Loomer’s X post.
Several observers, including key supporters of Mr. Trump, found it astonishing that the Republican presidential candidate, at a pivotal point in the campaign, chose to endorse a social media provocateur, even though he had roughly 1.3 million followers on X.
On Thursday, Trump friend Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told a reporter for HuffPost, “The history of this person is just really toxic.” Her comments came as no surprise. “In my opinion, it serves no useful purpose.”
Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an enthusiastic admirer of Mr. Trump, agreed with him. On Thursday morning, Ms. Greene told reporters that she does not believe that the candidate possesses the necessary experience or the correct mindset to provide advice on a crucial presidential election.
In a text message, Ms. Loomer stated that she was “not interested in speaking to the media so they can further their conspiracies about me,” making it clear that she did not want to comment. However, she levied a barrage of charges against Ms. Greene and Mr. Graham’s personal lives and accused them of being disloyal to Mr. Trump on X, her preferred channel.
The candidate’s admiration for her remains unabated despite the criticisms. In an effort to disprove an Axios piece that claimed Ms. Harris was outperforming Mr. Trump on social media, Mr. Trump liked a post by her on Truth Social on Thursday afternoon.
The Trump campaign did not answer the questions regarding her ties to Mr. Trump in a statement it issued on Wednesday regarding the September 11 terror atrocities, which was asked to respond regarding her association with the former president. Reading from the campaign statement, “The day wasn’t 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” were the only mentioned individuals.
This was not Mr. Trump’s initial encounter with her.
Many of Ms. Loomer’s social media posts have been boosted by the former president, who lives in Florida and often attends events at Mar-a-Lago. As the Iowa caucuses approached in January, she accompanied him on a plane to the Hawkeye State. After receiving pushback from some of his followers, Mr. Trump ultimately decided against employing her for his campaign, as reported by AWN in April.
Unfortunately, Mr. Trump’s support for Ms. Loomer shows that he is still committed to defending extreme right-wing ideologies, even though there are seven weeks left in the presidential race. During this time, it is commonly believed that candidates should try to reach out to moderate undecided voters by expanding their message.
Tuesday also brought another sign: a “social media war room” had been set up in Philadelphia by the Trump team to answer questions as they came in during the debate. Around eighteen conservative opinion leaders huddled in a conference room at the Warwick Rittenhouse Square, the identical hotel where Senator Harris was staying, to vehemently defend Donald Trump and blast into Senator Harris’s every word during the debate.
Among them was Chaya Raichik, the notorious transphobe and creator of vicious smear campaigns targeting libraries, schools, and hospitals through her conservative social media account Libs of TikTok. Another member of the right-wing podcasting crew, Jack Posobiec, was involved in spreading the Pizzagate hoax, which claimed that Democratic lawmakers in Washington, DC, secretly oversaw a pizzeria-based child sex trafficking operation. Additionally, there was Rogan O’Handley, better known by his stage name DC Draino, a vaccine skeptic and election denier.
Sending a handwritten note to each attendee ahead of the event, Mr. Trump thanked them “for being a social media warrior in the fight to save our country” and expressed his anticipation of “making viral content with you at the White House in just a few short months.”
A political consultant named Alex Bruesewitz was retained by the campaign last month, and he claims that the group has a combined following of approximately 50 million on social media. Mr. Posobiec and Mr. O’Handley are among those who have been sent by the Republican National Committee to assist with webinars on election integrity that have taken place in the past few weeks.
Mr. Bruesewitz received a video call from Mr. Trump, who gave a motivational speech, just before the debate started.
A tape of the call was eventually shared online, and it showed Mr. Trump saying, “You guys are more important than I am, actually, because you’ll get the word out, the way you want it to get out.”
It’s difficult to say how much of an effect these people may have on Mr. Trump, and very little is known regarding the nature of his campaign discussions with Ms. Loomer and other influential people. However, very few candidates have established a stronger bond with their internet supporters, who may not always share the general public’s views on all matters.
Accusations that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio had been killing and devouring pets were posted by Ms. Loomer and the majority of Mr. Trump’s social media war room in the days preceding up to the debate.
The majority of the posts included AI-generated photos of Mr. Trump shielding animals from harm, including ducks, cats, and dogs. Other posts highlighted the baseless accusation that the animals were being devoured. For instance, on Monday, Mr. O’Handley posted a photo portraying President Trump riding a gigantic cat while brandishing an AR-15-style rifle.
On the other hand, Ms. Loomer advertised dog collars that read “not your lunch #MAGA” and cost $23.28 (plus shipping). The Haitian Creole phrase “don’t eat me” was on another rendition.
Before the debate, Mr. Trump posted two AI-generated images of ducks and cats to Truth Social. One picture featured the candidate seated on an airplane with a flock of ducks and cats, while the other showed cats wearing MAGA hats and wearing military fatigues.
Mr. Trump then made the outrageous assertion that immigrants in Springfield were “eating the pets of the people that live” in response to an immigration question around 26 minutes into the debate.
Many of the 67 million viewers of the debate, who aren’t as addicted to social media as the ex-president and his followers, would have found the remark perplexing. However, the whole thing caused a certain amount of joy for those who are hoping to see him defeated in November at the ballot box.
Former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill posted a satirical message on Thursday, urging Mr. Trump to spend more time with Ms. Loomer and referring to her as a “perfect adviser.”
In her letter, she expressed her wish that he would hold her near to him until the election. “They should be inseparable.”