No one can keep former President Donald Trump away from Laura Loomer.
Throughout his third presidential campaign, his aides and advisers did their best to protect him from Loomer. a far-right social media influencerand similar figures who stroke his ego and stir his basest political instincts.
They lost that battle this week as Loomer boarded Trump’s plane for a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday. September 11 commemorations Wednesday. His presence in the latter has angered some Democrats and Republicans, as one of the many conspiracy theories he promotes is the false idea that terrorist attacks on the United States were an “inside job.” It wasn’t.
Loomer’s return to Trump’s side pits key figures in his coalition against each other and tests the strength of a campaign that has already retreated from him. low contention performance Tuesday and a resurgence after Democrats switched candidates in July. Trump’s key allies in Congress, who represent opposite ends of the Republican ideological spectrum, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Ga., are publicly pressing him to leave. Loomer responded Thursday with a series of insults about Graham.
What’s more, people familiar with the situation said, his presence reflects a loss of trust in Trump’s campaign aides and a fear of upsetting him during a crisis. Last month, he reached out to 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to be an advisor to his senior advisors — a move widely seen as a rebuke to the current leadership team.
That helps explain why Loomer is no longer kept at arm’s length, said a senior official on Trump’s 2020 campaign team.
“The people who have the power to stop this are hanging on to their jobs,” the former official said. “So you’re going to pick a fight with him?”
Loomer did not return a request for comment Thursday, but the fight is a big part of his appeal for Trump. He defends the theories of the political fringe as fiercely as he does for him baseless claim In Springfield, Ohio, Haitian immigrants eat dogs and cats. Trump promoted it during Tuesday’s debate, an unpleasant distraction from his substantive differences with Harris, many Republicans said. Graham and Greene portray Harris as the opposite of Trump as they enter a tight battle for the presidency.
Graham said Thursday that Loomer is “really toxic” and should not be in Trump’s circle. Loomer sarcastically responded to X in the schoolyard.
Taylor Reidy, Graham’s communications director, responded in a statement to NBC News: “Senator Graham is working tirelessly around the clock to help get President Trump re-elected.” “This race is a lot for us to lose. Ms. Loomer is a stain on society. “His vile, vile, destructive, racist rhetoric and views should have no place in this country.”
The Republican senator, who is a Trump ally, said that Trump “often gravitates to people who like him and promote him.”
“It’s really stupid,” said the senator.
Loomer’s willingness to strike below the belt and his influence within the most aggressive elements of the Make America Great Again movement are reason enough to keep most of his critics speechless. A few elected Republicans want to stick their necks out. But many lawmakers and donors support Greene’s stance against Loomer, according to a source familiar with the situation, and some of them are reminding people in Trump’s orbit that Loomer lost two campaigns for Congress.
Greene’s longstanding beef with Loomer reignited this week when Loomer wrote on X that a win by Harris, who is Indian-American and black, would mean “the White House will smell like curry and the White House speeches will stink.” It is facilitated through the call center.
The remark drew a rare agreement from Greene and President Joe Biden’s White House on what constitutes racism: Loomer’s words.
Trump’s advisers are trying to distance themselves from him without incurring his wrath, making it clear that he is not speaking for his operation. “He’s not a member of our staff,” said Loomer, a Trump campaign aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
When NBC News asked for comment this week, Loomer similarly texted: “Why do you want to talk to me? I don’t work for President Trump.”
Last year he said, “with pleasure“Work as a press secretary in the Trump White House.
Democrats blasted Trump on Thursday for inviting Loomer to join him At the 9/11 memorial service.
“To the thousands of people who lost their lives on 9/11, including the hundreds of brave first responders, NYPD, FDNY and others who raced into danger to help save people, it was shocking, irresponsible and insulting. and lost his life as a result,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters.
“Donald Trump is a conspiracy theory-mongering racist and pathological liar,” he said. “And to bring a 9/11 conspiracy theorist to participate in events on 9/11, on this holy day, on this solemn commemoration, should shock the conscience of all decent Americans, and I believe it does just that.”
A Trump campaign official said Wednesday that the memorial service was not about politics.
“President Trump put politics aside and stood next to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and paid tribute to those who lost their lives during the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history,” he said in an official statement. “The day was about none other than the souls who are no longer with us, their families, and the heroes who bravely stepped forward to save their fellow Americans on that fateful day.”
The Republican senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to anger his party’s nominee, said Trump was jeopardizing his chances of winning — as well as staff members who weren’t playing gatekeepers.
“Everyone was amazed that he would take her on his plane to debate, but even more amazed that he would be with her on the anniversary of 9/11. These kinds of things will create a distraction that you cannot deal with,” the senator said.
Asked if Trump aides were giving Loomer a chance out of fear of losing their jobs, the senator said, “Almost every campaign has a lot, but definitely this campaign.”