How Trump's infatuation with a racist conspiracy theorist is impacting the campaign

Laura Loomer is a far-right internet personality and former Republican congressional candidate. She has said the United States should be a "white Judeo-Christian ethnostate," called for the creation of a ride-sharing app like Uber that bans "Islamic immigrant driver[s]," collaborated with Alex Jones to suggest mass shootings were staged by the government, celebrated the deaths of 2,000 refugees in the Mediterranean, and claimed January 6 should be a national holiday to "celebrate the bravery of American patriots who protested a stolen election."

Loomer also has a very prominent admirer: former President Donald Trump.

Trump palled around with Loomer at his New Jersey golf course last year. In a video Loomer posted on X, Trump lavished Loomer with praise. "It's great to have you, and you've been really very special," Trump said. "You work hard, and you are a very opinionated lady. I have to tell you that, and in my opinion, I like that. And I appreciate all of your support, and everybody appreciates your support."

The admiration is mutual. Loomer shared a video on Truth Social describing how she broke up with a man after he told her she was too focused on Trump. She told him that Trump was more important to her.  “I have to say that was the end of that relationship," Loomer said. "President Trump’s my number-one priority right now." Trump promoted the video, commenting, "Thank you, Laura!" 

This year, Loomer rode on Trump's plane to the Iowa Republican caucus. At a pre-caucus event, Trump gave Loomer an extended shoutout:

Also, a woman who's really talented, and she's been amazing. She just loves the campaign and loves the country… She's a very important person, politically, but she's actually free press in the true sense. She's free press. And she's really become a friend of a lot of great patriots in this country, Laura Loomer. Stand up, please, Laura. Great job. You do great job. You want to try and have her on your side, right? Much better. No. She's fantastic. Thank you, Laura. 

In March 2024, Loomer visited with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort. According to reports, Trump wrapped his arm around her waist and said that Loomer is "softer than she looks." Loomer told the Washington Post that she doesn't "really have much of a life" and if Trump doesn't win another term in the White House, "I don’t have anything."

In April 2023, the New York Times, citing four sources, reported that Trump told aides to hire Loomer for a role on his campaign. The report sparked a backlash among other Trump supporters who view Loomer as a liability and she was not ultimately hired. 

While some Trump advisers objected to Loomer working on the campaign, others close to him have embraced her. In 2024, at least ten people in Trump’s orbit — including former administration members, current advisers, congressional loyalists, and JD Vance — have appeared on Loomer’s podcast. Often, they sign off from the show with words of praise for Loomer. Lynne Patton, a senior advisor in the Department of Housing and Urban Development during Trump’s presidency and a current senior campaign advisor, told Loomer, “You’re the best, Laura. Keep fighting the good fight and keep Loomering everybody.” Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager in 2016 who was is currently a consultant for RNC, told Loomer that the information she publishes is "unassailable" and has "never been called into question." 

Even outside the formal campaign apparatus, Loomer has played a key role in the 2024 election. Loomer frequently promotes bigoted and outrageous conspiracy theories. Often, these spurious claims are quickly adopted by Trump. 

Trump adopts Loomer's racist attack on Harris

A self-proclaimed “investigative journalist,” Loomer issues frequent “reports” in support of Trump. One of Loomer’s recent “investigations” was a racist attack on Kamala Harris, reminiscent of Trump's attacks on Barack Obama.

Since at least December 2022, Loomer has repeatedly claimed that Harris is not Black. Harris is multiracial, born to a Black father from Jamaica and an Indian mother.

Loomer repeated the claim again on her podcast in March 2024 during an interview with Peter Brimelow, an anti-immigrant white supremacist with ties to close Trump associates and Rupert Murdoch. She said, “Well there’s a commonality between Letitia James, Kamala Harris, and Fani Willis. They’re all ghetto black women, I guess with the exception of Harris who is more Indian than Black.”

Loomer’s baseless claims about Harris intensified when Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

On July 21, the same day Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race, Loomer posted a “reminder” that Harris only "pretends to be black."

Three days later, Trump posted Loomer’s graphic to his Truth Social account. (Loomer told the Washington Post that a friend made the graphic for her). Then on July 31, Trump reiterated the false claims about Harris’s race during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference:

She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she turned Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?

The same day, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump displayed a similar headline to the one in Loomer’s graphic, describing Harris as the first Indian-American senator (which is accurate, but does not mean she is not also Black). 

When Trump’s comments about Harris’s race on July 31 came under fire, Loomer quickly became his most vocal defender.

Shortly after the NABJ interview, Loomer tweeted that she had a copy of Harris’s birth certificate, alleging that the document proved that Harris is not Black because the race of her father was listed as “Jamaican” and not “Black” or “African.”

Despite their inaccuracy, Loomer’s claims were seen by millions of people across different social media platforms. One of her posts featuring Harris’s birth certificate was reposted on Truth Social by Donald Trump.

In addition to reposting Loomer’s claims, Trump also made his own posts claiming that Harris was a "stone cold phony" because she was lying about her "racial identity."

Trump repeats Loomer's false claim that Harris used AI to inflate crowd size

After a Harris rally in Detroit on August 7, talk began to circulate in right-wing media circles that photos of the crowd had been enhanced using AI to make an actually empty rally look fuller. This is false, as several videos and live newscasts show a large crowd.

Loomer was not the only one promoting false claims about the Harris campaign using AI to make its crowds seem larger. But she was one of the earliest and most strident, making her first post on X about the Detroit rally on August 9.

Over the next day, Loomer posted about the rally four more times on X. Her posts spread widely and were viewed over 6 million views. On August 11, after Loomer's posts went viral, Trump repeated her false claims on Truth Social.

Trump posts fake images, originally circulated by Loomer, attacking family members of judges presiding over his trials

In April 2024, the existing gag order placed on Trump during his trial over hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels was broadened after Trump began a social media attack on Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, Loren.

Loomer began promoting a rumor that Loren Merchan had used an image of Trump behind bars as her X avatar. Merchan's daughter was the president of Authentic Campaigns, a firm that works with Democratic candidates. But the account that used the image cited by Loomer did not actually belong to Loren Merchan. Nevertheless, Trump seized on Loomer’s false claim as part of an extended attack on Merchan and his daughter.

A similar incident played out in another trial. During his 2023 fraud trial in New York, Trump posted images to Truth Social showing social media posts allegedly made by the wife of the judge overseeing the case that were disparaging to Trump and featured AI-generated images of him in prison. These images, which were not authentic, were originally circulated by Loomer.