Donald Trump’s increasingly close association with Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and social media personality, has raised concerns among Republicans that his White House bid has taken a self-defeating turn towards the political fringes.
The former president has emerged bruised this week from his debate against Kamala Harris on Tuesday, when in response to jabs from the vice-president about his fitness for office he veered off course to air conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and immigrants eating pets.
The worries among Republicans about Trump’s performance have since been compounded by concerns that Loomer is influencing his thinking at a crucial stage in the campaign.
The 31-year-old activist, who has propagated 9/11 conspiracy theories, was seen exiting Trump’s plane in Pennsylvania before the debate and was with him at remembrance ceremonies for the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
“[Trump] increasingly just surrounds himself with the most sycophantic people who will tell him anything that he wants to hear, and he’s getting to be further detached from reality,” said Brendan Buck, a Republican strategist and former congressional aide.
Earlier this week Loomer launched an attack on Harris’s Indian heritage, saying “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call centre” if the vice-president won the election.
She also doubled down on the baseless claims that Haitian immigrants were abducting cats and dogs in Ohio for food — an internet conspiracy theory also aired by Trump during the debate.
One top Republican strategist close to the campaign said the former president’s fixation on social media memes and allegiance to people such as Loomer meant he was failing to capitalise on his “substantial lead” over Harris on issues ranging from inflation to immigration and national security.
“You’d want to surround yourself with people who are reinforcing that message, right?” the strategist said. “Not somebody who’s going to talk about the latest meme that’s out on Reels, or TikTok.”
Loomer’s proximity to Trump has drawn rebukes from some of his closest allies on Capitol Hill, including Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina, who called her “toxic”, and even Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman and hardline Maga movement conservative.
“I don’t think she has the experience or the right mentality to advise on a very important election,” Greene told reporters on Thursday outside the US Capitol. “Her rhetoric and her tone does not match the base, it does not match Maga, it does not match most Republicans I know, and I’m completely denouncing it.”
Other Republican politicians have warned Trump that his turn to the fringes could jeopardise his hope of winning over moderate and centrist voters who could swing the election in the battleground states.
“Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A [Democratic party] plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough,” Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina, wrote on X on Friday.
At a press conference on Friday at his golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes in southern California, Trump refused to distance himself from Loomer, saying “I don’t control Laura. She’s a free spirit.”
“She’s a supporter. She’s a person with strong opinions”, he said. “Lots of people ride on my plane. It’s a big plane,” Trump added.
The unease about Loomer’s closeness with Trump comes amid complaints from Republican operatives that the former president was prepared for this week’s debate against Harris by controversial acolytes, including Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman, and Tulsi Gabbard, an ex-Democrat, instead of relying on more traditional conservatives.
“If you are going to do the debate, you want to focus on people who could help you on a debate. I’m not quite sure that cats and dogs thing helped in the debate whatsoever,” the Republican strategist said.
Loomer’s emergence in Trump’s entourage also raises questions about his campaign operation, led by Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, which appeared to be so functional during the Republican primary race but appears to be struggling following Harris’s replacement of President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.
Over the summer, Trump brought Corey Lewandowski, a veteran of his successful 2016 campaign, back into the fold, but it does not seem to have helped.
“I think we can forget any notion that this is a more disciplined campaign than in the past,” Buck said.
Loomer, who last year shared a video calling the 9/11 terrorist attack an “inside job” and has a history of Islamophobic and homophobic posts, describes herself as an “investigative journalist” and has 1.2mn followers on X.
In response to the backlash against her, Loomer accused Greene of being “jealous” of her access to Trump, and Graham of being a closeted gay man. She also said Haitian immigrants were not only eating pets, but “they eat humans” as well.
Her large following on X has made her a powerful voice on the far right of American politics, along with other conservative influencers such as Charlie Kirk, a 30-year old radio talk show host whose organisation is helping drive young conservative voters to the polls.
“You have online voices that can sway voters and constituents nearly on the scale of what can happen in primetime cable and often in a way that is much less tethered to reality or principles or anything, and the Trump campaign is very aware of those audiences and minds them and appeals to them quite a bit,” said Buck.
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