Trump allies want him to ditch 'toxic' Laura Loomer — but he won’t listen
When former President Donald Trump flew to Philadelphia to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, September 10, one of the people on the plane with him was Florida-based MAGA activist Laura Loomer — a far-right 9/11 truther and self-described "proud Islamaphobe."
Loomer is so extreme that some of his allies are urging Trump to distance himself from her. But according reporting in Axios and NBC News, Trump is showing no signs of heeding that advice.
A September 8 tweet by Loomer was so racist that even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) — herself a far-right MAGA conspiracy theorist — has been calling her out.
READ MORE: 'Appalling': This Laura Loomer tweet is so 'racist' that even Marjorie Taylor Greene's horrified
In the tweet, Loomer mocked Harris' Indian heritage, posting, "If @KamalaHarris wins, the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center 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."
Greene, in response, slammed Loomer's tweet as "appalling and extremely racist," claiming that it "does not represent President Trump" and the MAGA movement.
But Greene isn't the only one warning that Trump's association with Loomer is bad for the Republican Party and his presidential campaign.
In an article published by Axios on September 13, journalists Sophia Cai and Alex Thompson report, "Some Republicans are sounding alarms over far-right activist Laura Loomer's increasing presence in former President Trump's inner circle, concerned it's a sign he's moving deeper into a world of conspiracies and racism. Why it matters: Trump's top advisers usually have been able to fend off or limit fringe characters' access to him during much of this campaign, but now, it appears that he's insistent on letting in more of them in."
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is another Republican who wishes that Trump would stay away from Loomer.
Graham told HuffPost, "Marjorie Taylor Greene is right. I don't say that a lot.... but the history of this person is just really toxic...I don't think it's helpful at all."
According to Cai and Thompson, Trump wanted to hire Loomer for his 2024 campaign, but Susie Wiles — one of his campaign managers — "made sure Loomer wasn't hired."
In a September 13 report for NBC News, journalists Jonathan Allen, Julie Tsirkin and Vaughn Hillyard stress that Trump is ignoring the advice of advisers who want him to distance himself from Loomer.
"No one can keep former President Donald Trump away from Laura Loomer," they explain. "Throughout his third presidential campaign, aides and advisers have done their best to shield him from Loomer, a far-right social media influencer, and similar figures who stroke his ego and stoke his basest political instincts. They lost that battle this week, as Loomer traveled on Trump's jet to his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday and to September 11 memorial services Wednesday."
Trump's alliance with Loomer, the reporters note, is "pitting key figures in his coalition against one another."
"Moreover, her presence reflects Trump's loss of faith in his campaign aides and their concomitant fear of upsetting him in a time of crisis, according to people familiar with the situation," Allen, Tsirkin and Hillyard add.
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Read Axios' full report at this link and NBC News' article here.
