“They eat the dogs, the people who arrived, they eat the cats. (…) This is what is happening in our country, and it is a shame.” When Donald Trump said this sentence in the debate in front of the astonished gaze of Kamala HarrisMany Republican Party advisers put their hands on his head because they knew exactly where he was coming from: the influencer extremist Laura Loomerincreasingly close to the former president, had been promoting this false information about the arrival of immigrants in the United States on his social networks for days.
Loomer, a social agitator who is hugely popular within the American far-right media bubble, has for years won followers through provocation and embrace of countless conspiracy theories. He has argued that 9/11 was a false flag attack, he has suggested that Biden was behind the attempted assassination of Trump and describes herself as a “proud Islamophobe.”
Her history of extremist comments and attacks has led to her being banned from major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In fact, the latter, now called Elon Muskalso a Trump admirer, will buy the platform.
In recent weeks, he has traveled several times on the former president’s plane, including to Philadelphia to attend the presidential debate, and his influence on the tycoon has become increasingly visible. angers his campaign advisers and other members of the Republican Party.
“Laura is a supporter of mine, as are a lot of people. She speaks very positively about the campaign. I don’t control Laura. Laura can say what she wants. She’s a free spirit,” Trump himself told CNN on Friday when asked about his relationship with the influencer.
Two days earlier, on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, television cameras recorded Loomer as another member of the team who accompanied Trump to commemorative events in New York. As the mogul was photographed at a fire station, the activist waited outside with her campaign managers, Chris La Civita And Susie Wileswhose dismissal has been speculated about in the press for weeks.
Loomer’s presence at the events of 9/11 drew particular attention because she posted a video last year claiming that it was a false flag attack, a conspiracy theory that has been widely propagated in some corners of the internet.
“I don’t understand what the problem is if I go to a 9/11 memorial. In fact, the people who greeted President Trump at the memorial were very happy to see me,” Loomer herself defended herself to the American press.
After the publication of several photographs of the activist getting off the plane in which Trump is traveling with his team of advisers and bodyguards, the campaign avoided giving explanations and hid behind the fact that attention should focus on “the souls who are no longer here and the heroes who saved the lives of other Americans.”
However, on that day, the growing bond between Trump and Loomer became evident: forged over the years by a mutual admiration that generates tensions within the party.
“He likes him. You have to remember that last year there was a debate about hiring him,” a member of Trump’s team, who asked not to be identified, admitted in statements to CNN.
According to the influential Washington newspaper Axios, Loomer was even interviewed last year to join the campaign’s management team, but Wiles (co-manager) did everything he could to prevent her from being hired.
“It’s toxic”
Loomer’s increasingly powerful presence in Trump’s postulates and speeches also once again fractures the Republican Party, which had managed to unite to face the presidential elections after spending the last three years deeply divided around the figure of the former president.
“I don’t usually say this often, but this person’s story is really toxic. I don’t think it’s helpful at all,” he told The Associated Press this week. Huffington Post Lindsey Grahamone of Trump’s closest senators.
But the most surprising disapproval came from the MP Marjorie Taylor Greenewho until now had always remained one of the loudest and most fanatical voices within the sphere of Trump loyalists.
This week, Greene called a tweet from Looner “appalling and extremely racist.” In the reported message, the activist said that if Harris were elected president, the White House “It will smell of curry and the speeches will be facilitated via a call center (call center)”a clear reference to the origin of Kama Harris, whose mother was born in India.
“This does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA (Making America Great Again(Trump’s slogan). This does not represent President Trump. “This type of behavior should never be tolerated,” Greene added in her criticism.
A quick look at Laura Loomer’s profile on , one tweet said. “With Kamala, the illegals will murder you,” another chimed in.
Cats and dogs
On his secondary account, where he promotes his own podcast, one of the last posts shared refers to the hoax Trump himself spread during Tuesday’s election debate, in front of more than 60 million viewers, about immigrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, “eating the pets” of residents.
David MuirThe moderator immediately addressed Trump’s claims and recalled that Springfield city officials had previously said there were no credible reports of pets “being mistreated, harmed or abused by members of the city’s immigrant community.”
“The people on television said it,” Trump retorted.
“There is no evidence of this,” the presenter insisted.
The hoax, which had spread a few days earlier, built —as per usual— an error with data taken out of context, such as an old video of the arrest of a distraught woman in another city, Canton, in which police were questioning her about a cat.
That same Tuesday, a few hours before the debate, Trump’s running mate, the vice-presidential candidate JD Vanceadmitted that this information could be false, but Trump did not listen to this correction and carried the hoax to one of the most decisive moments of the presidential race, thus managing to create one of the videos that did the most damage to his campaign.
When Trump landed in Philadelphia hours before the face-off, Loomer was among the few allies to disembark on his private plane.
Trump’s New Circle
Since then, more details have emerged about the activist’s relationship with the former president: Loomer also lives in Florida, in fact she has tried to be a member of Congress from that state in several elections, and visits Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence often.
Sources close to the party point out that after the assassination attempt on him in Pennsylvania last July, Trump – who is very prone to surrounding himself with people who idolize him and pay attention to conspiracy theories – has left aside its more “formal” team to focus on Internet personalities and similar activists.
According to the New York TimesDuring the debate, about 20 conservative activists gathered at a Philadelphia hotel convened by the Trump campaign. Among them, Chaya Raichikflagged for transphobic content and smear campaigns against schools, hospitals and libraries; Jack Posobieca podcast creator who spreads theories like “pizzagate”; and Rogan O’Handleywho denies the result of the 2020 elections.
