In an online video, Donald Trump praised the white nationalist conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer as “terrific” and “very special” and said: “You are a very opinionated lady, I have to tell you. And in my opinion, I like that.”
Loomer, 30, is a Florida activist and failed political candidate who once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe”, earning bans from major social media platforms.
Among proliferating controversies, Loomer has called Muslims “savages” and Islam a “cancer”. She has spread conspiracy theories about mass shootings, including the Parkland school shooting in Florida.
Trump endorsed Loomer in 2020, when she won a Republican US House primary in Florida. Heavily beaten in the general election, she switched districts in 2022, narrowly losing another primary.
Loomer has been closely linked to Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who, with the rapper Ye, controversially dined with Trump last year.
In April, the New York Times reported that the former president wanted to give Loomer a campaign role. It did not come to pass but she remains a vocal supporter. In the video posted online on Sunday, she said she was making her first visit to Bedminster, Trump’s golf club in New Jersey.
Sitting with the man she called “the greatest president ever”, she said Trump was “killing it right now” in the Republican presidential primary, adding: “You’re crushing it. You’re up over 50 points.”
Trump, 77, said: “It’s great to have you and you are very special and you work hard … I appreciate your support and everybody appreciates your support.”
Loomer said: “Thank you so much for inviting me to sit with you today. It’s a pleasure. You’re the best. I love you.”
The ex-president is indeed dominating the Republican primary, despite facing 78 criminal charges contained in three separate indictments – for hush-money payments, retention of classified information and election subversion – and the prospect of more, over election subversion, in Georgia this week.
On Monday, the fivethirtyeight.com polling average put Trump at 53.7% and his nearest challenger, Ron DeSantis, at 14.3% – a lead of 39.4 points.
Aides to the Florida governor are reportedly bullish about his chances in Iowa, the first state to vote next year. But Trump leads there by robust margins too.
Despite Trump’s unprecedented legal jeopardy, some party insiders fear that if he is not picked to face the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden, Republican turnout will drop.
“There’s concern that if Trump’s not the nominee, his coalition will take their ball and go home,” Matt Dole, an Ohio strategist, told the Hill.
Another strategist, Brian Darling, said: “If somehow he’s not the nominee, it will hurt turnout. He’s got a unique coalition. He brings a lot of non-traditional voters to the Republican party.”
Trump’s “non-traditional voters” include those on the extreme right. But in April, when Trump reportedly sought to give Loomer a campaign role, another ardent supporter, the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, was angry.
“Laura Loomer is mentally unstable and a documented liar,” wrote Greene, who has also spread conspiracy theories, including claiming the Parkland shooting was a “false flag” operation.
“Never hire or do business with a liar. Liars are toxic and poisonous to everything they touch.”
According to the Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims in his four years in office.
