"Appalling and extremely racist": Trump's embrace of Laura Loomer is blowing up in his face

How racist is Laura Loomer, the far-right extremist, 9/11 conspiracy theorist and trusted ally of Donald Trump? Enough to make Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., call her out as "racist."

In a post shared on Sept. 11, Loomer — who last year said the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were an “inside job” — declared that the White House would “smell like curry” if Vice President Kamala Harris were to win in November, HuffPost reported. The post, a bigoted knock at the Democratic nominee’s Indian heritage, came after Loomer accompanied Trump on his private plane to 9/11 memorials in New York and Pennsylvania, and following a disastrous debate performance in Philadelphia for which she reportedly helped him prepare.

Greene, no stranger to “racially charged” language herself, did not approve of Loomer’s provocation.

“This is appalling and extremely racist,” the Georgia Republican turned social justice warrior posted on X. “This does not represent President Trump. This type of behavior should not be tolerated ever.”

But Loomer does represent Trump. Obviously so: it is she that the Republican candidate has chosen to fly around the country with, a fact that is perhaps the root of Greene’s hostility (she called Loomer “mentally unstable” after reports emerged of her moving up to Trump’s inner circle). It is true that launching racist attacks on the Democratic candidate should not be tolerated, ever, but then the Republican candidate has dabbled in such attacks himself; that the fruits of MAGA are rotten to the core should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with that which produced them.

This is not a new low for Loomer, either; she’s gone far lower before and it’s arguably how — through bigotry crafted to go viral — she got to where she is today. Before the self-described “pro-white nationalist” rose to the status of Trump adviser (albeit one who insists she’s unpaid), she enjoyed a long and well-known record of saying horrific things. In 2017, she celebrated the drowning deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean, responding to a news story about thousands of men, women and children dying at sea with, “Good,” a handclap emoji and a toast: “Here’s to 2,000 more.”

After establishing herself as pro-migrant death, Loomer won Trump’s heart. “You are a very opinionated lady, I have to tell you. And in my opinion, I like that,” the Republican candidate said last year after instructing his campaign to hire her.

We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism

Trump’s embrace of very fine people like Loomer is not something he can now distance himself from; this is not a dinner with two Holocaust deniers, Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, that his campaign can dismiss as the product of inadequate vetting. Trump knows who Loomer is and what she is about and that has resulted in her being elevated above others like Greene — almost restrained, by contrast — in the seedy world of MAGA provocateurs.

What the embrace of Loomer suggests, however, is that Trump is intent on running a campaign by and for the true believers. There will be no pivot to the center, however unbelievable, when one’s top adviser is an extremist who posts racist bile while attending a memorial for victims of a terrorist attack.

If the 31-year-old social media troll was indeed one of the people prepping Trump for the debate in Philadelphia, it could well be why the Republican nominee thought it wise to spend his time on stage, before 67 million people, promoting a racist conspiracy theory about immigrants eating cats and dogs. In other words: Trump allies like Greene could be upset at Loomer not because she’s racist but because her particular brand of racist advice will hurt MAGA at the ballot box.

As one source close to the former president told the publication NOTUS, reacting to Trump’s flop on the debate stage: "This is what he gets for taking counsel from Laura Loomer.”