Trump defends association with notorious conspiracy theorist after storm of criticism from his own side
Donald Trump has been forced to defend his close association with a notorious conspiracy theorist and self-described white nationalist.
Donald Trump has defended his close association with Laura Loomer, a notorious conspiracy theorist and self-described white nationalist, during a confrontational press conference.
Ms Loomer’s presence in Mr Trump’s entourage this week caused no small amount of consternation among his supporters, as they cast around for someone to blame after his less-than-ideal debate performance against Kamala Harris.
She accompanied the former president to that debate and, the next day, events commemorating the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which she has previously claimed were an “inside job” perpetrated by the US government.
Mr Trump’s warm relationship with Ms Loomer is not exactly new. In the past he has described her as “very special”, “really talented”, a “strong, courageous person”, a “true patriot”, and a “fantastic woman” who is “going places”, among other compliments.
But his rhetoric in the debate, which included the bizarre, unsubstantiated claim that Haitian immigrants in a small American city had been killing and eating people’s pets, fomented fears among Republicans that Ms Loomer, or perhaps other conspiracy-curious associates, were exerting too much influence over him.
We should note that the pet-eating claim did not originate with Ms Loomer. She has merely amplified it (and added a little provocative flourish of her own by suggesting Haitian migrants might also be “cannibals”).
Still, senior Republicans are not comfortable with her trailing Mr Trump around the country.
“Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis said.
“A Democratic plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough.”
During a press conference at his golf course in Rancho Palace Verdes, California on Saturday, Mr Trump was asked what he felt “Laura Loomer brings” to his campaign. The former president claimed to be ignorant of her long history of spreading outlandish conspiracy theories.
“Has nobody told you about the conspiracy theories that she has promoted?” a reporter asked.
“No, I don’t know that much about it. No I don’t,” Mr Trump replied.
“I know she’s a big fan of the campaign. But I really don’t know. I would say that, well, she brings a spirit to us that a lot of people have. We have very spirited people.
“And in all fairness to her, she hates seeing what’s happened to the country, I guess. She hates seeing what’s happened to the country. So do I. It’s very sad.”
At another point, Mr Trump stressed that he doesn’t “control” Ms Loomer.
“Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit,” he said.
“I can’t tell Laura what to do. Laura’s a supporter. I have a lot of supporters.”
Perhaps recognising a potential political problem, Mr Trump later wrote a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, seeking to distance himself from Ms Loomer.
“Laura Loomer doesn’t work for the campaign. She’s a private citizen and longtime supporter,” Mr Trump said.
“I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me, even to the point of doing anything to stop their Political Opponent, ME!”
A history of extremism
What of those “statements she made”, as Mr Trump put it? Well, Ms Loomer has a lengthy record of saying things that could be characterised, charitably, as extreme, and has also been accused of racism more than once, including by those on her own side of politics.
Here is an uncomprehensive list, starting with a few attacks she has launched against Mr Trump’s opponent.
Ms Loomer has previously described Ms Harris, for example, as a “drug-using prostitute”. And while speculating about her lack of biological children (Ms Harris is a stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s two adult kids), Ms Loomer said: “I’m willing to bet she’s had so many abortions that she damaged her uterus.”
Shortly before the debate, Ms Loomer posted an attempt at humour regarding Ms Harris’s heritage. The Vice President’s father was Jamaican and her mother was Indian.
“If Kamala Harris wins, the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call centre,” Ms Loomer wrote on social media.
“And the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand.”
That comment earned Ms Loomer a rebuke from, of all people, the Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, herself a serial conspiracy theorist.
(You may recall that Ms Greene once shared the anti-Semitic theory that wildfires in California had been caused by Jewish space lasers. She was also a believer in QAnon before she entered Congress.)
“This is appalling and extremely racist. It does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA,” Ms Greene said in response to Ms Loomer’s post.
“This type of behaviour should not be tolerated ever. Laura Loomer should take this down.”
So began a rather long and bitter spat between Ms Loomer and Ms Greene on social media, which we shan’t rehash in full here.
If we go a little further back in time, to 2017, Ms Loomer got herself in trouble by stating she was in favour of “white nationalism”.
“There’s a difference between white nationalism and white supremacy. Right? A lot of liberals and left-wing globalist Marxist Jews don’t understand that,” she told a podcast.
“This country really was built as the white Judeo-Christian ethnostate, essentially. Over time, immigration and all these calls for diversity, it’s starting to destroy this country.”
That same year, she reacted to the news that more than 2000 migrants had died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea by saying: “Good. Here’s to 2000 more.”
Ms Loomer has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe”.
In July of this year, when Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee died, Ms Loomer reacted by posting a tirade calling her “one of the most low IQ members of Congress in the history of our nation”.
“Even on her deathbed, this ghetto b**** couldn’t keep President Trump’s name out of her disgusting mouth. I’d say rest in peace, but we all know lying Democrats who have destroyed our country are going to hell,” she said of the deceased congresswoman.
On another occasion, Ms Loomer called the left-wing Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar a “black dog” and a “jihadist infiltrator” whose constituents, in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district, were “modern day jihadi welfare queens”.
Ms Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and has lived in the United States since 1995, when her family arrived as asylum seekers.
We could go on, but that gives you a decent sample of Ms Loomer’s opinions. To quote Mr Trump again: a strong, courageous, special, talented, fantastic, patriotic woman.
Trump’s migrant claim provokes ‘threats’
Meanwhile in Springfield, the city of 58,000 people singled out by Mr Trump during the debate as the victim of ravenous migrants with a hankering for dogs and cats, multiple public schools and other buildings have been evacuated over the past 48 hours, having been subjected to bomb threats.
Springfield’s Mayor Rob Rue, a Republican, told a local news station the threats that prompted these evacuations contained “negative language towards immigrants”, including “Haitian folks”.
Mr Rue linked the sudden uptick in threats of violence to the rhetoric about Springfield coming from Mr Trump and his nominee for the vice presidency, Senator J.D. Vance. He said his community had “been punched” and “it was their words that did it”.
“When a federal politician has the stage and they don’t take the opportunity to build up the community, instead of inadvertently not understanding what their words are going to do, it can really hurt the community,” he said.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who is also a Republican, has also rebuked Mr Trump for spreading the claims about Haitian migrants, pointing out that police say they’ve received no credible evidence or complaint about pets being stolen or eaten.
Nevertheless, Mr Trump refused to soften his words during his most recent press conference.
“The mayor, the police chief, the governor, have all debunked this story about pets. And now there are bomb threats at schools and kids are being evacuated. Why do you still spread-” a reporter started to ask.
“No, no. No,” Mr Trump interjected.
“The real threat is what’s happening at our border. Because you have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in.
“You have women dying as they come up. They’re coming up in large groups. We call it a caravan. I think I came up with that name.”
Mr Trump incorrectly referred to the Haitians in Springfield as “illegal” immigrants. They are, in fact, living in the city legally. Many are part of government job programs.
“We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. Large deportations. We’re going to get these people out,” Mr Trump said.
“We’re bringing them back to Venezuela.
“They emptied their jails in Venezuela, emptied their criminals, emptied the nests. They call them nests. Of bad people. They’re all now in the United States, and they’re now taking over cities. It’s like an invasion from within.
“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country.”
It’s not entirely clear why Mr Trump would try to deport legal Haitian migrants, whose native language is French, to Venezuela, where Spanish is the official language.
Regardless, that appears to be his policy.
