The Seriously Shady Side Of Laura Loomer

A lot of names are thrown around during a presidential election, and one that's risen to the top in the 2024 race is Laura Loomer. The right-wing activist isn't new to controversy, but presidential politics are a new area for Loomer, and plenty of people on both sides of the aisle are concerned. She isn't a minor player in far-right conspiracies and issues — she's at the forefront.

Loomer has said and done things that aren't exactly palatable to the wider electorate. As a result, Loomer's close proximity to former President Donald Trump has many raising their eyebrows. Not only has she expressed views that are offensive to many, her beliefs can be considerably dangerous for immigrants, non-white people, and the like.

To put it plainly, Loomer is a controversial figure who many in and out of politics cannot stand for. She's got a seriously shady side, but not everyone is as familiar with Loomer as others. We're digging into the shady side of Laura Loomer, and you won't believe some of the things she's gotten herself involved in over the years.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists flew planes into the Pentagon, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and crashed another in a field in Pennsylvania. 9/11 is one of the darkest days in recent U.S. history, and the impacts are still reverberating through American society. While the facts are clear as to who was involved and how the attacks were carried out, Laura Loomer isn't convinced.

Loomer has insisted that 9/11 was an inside job, putting the blame on people inside the U.S. government rather than terrorists from Al-Qaeda. She's posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the attack, including one tweet (via AP) where she clearly stated, "9/11 was an Inside Job!" Loomer's conspiracy theory is based on a misrepresentation of the then-Secretary of Defense saying trillions in government funds were "lost" the day before the attacks, which has been proven to be in reference to the government's aged technology and was unrelated to the events of the following day.

Regardless of why Loomer believes the 9/11 attacks weren't brought by foreign terrorists, she continues to be controversial surrounding that hallowed day. Loomer joined Donald Trump at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on the attack's anniversary in 2024. Doing so sparked widespread criticism, decrying Trump's decision given Loomer's prior statements. Unsurprisingly, Trump claimed he wasn't aware of his guest's views.

Laura Loomer's beliefs range from conspiratorial to prejudiced. She declared herself a "#ProudIslamophobe" on X (via RightWingWatch) in 2017, calling Islam a "cancer" and expressing her view that Muslims shouldn't be able to hold political office in the U.S. Needless to say, these views are far right of people on the far right, but they also align with former President Donald Trump's Muslim ban.

Soon after taking office in 2017, Trump issued an executive order banning people entry into the U.S. if they originated from a list of countries, many of which were predominantly Muslim. Loomer was fully on board with this, which shouldn't come as a surprise given her public opinions. Of course, calling oneself a "proud Islamophobe" has consequences, and Loomer was eventually kicked off Facebook, Instagram, and X over her constant inflammatory remarks.

The offending comment that saw Loomer banned from the ride-sharing apps, Uber and Lyft, was: "Someone needs to create a non-Islamic form of Uber or Lyft because I never want to support another Islamic immigrant driver." Other comments Loomer has made regarding Islamic people is that she believes Muslims are all "savages f***ing everything up for everyone."

If Donald Trump sold Kool-Aid, you can bet Laura Loomer would be the first person in line ready to throw back a cup or two. Just as the former president has claimed he didn't lose the 2020 presidential election, so too has one of his most outspoken supporters, and Loomer is fully committed to the lie that Trump won the election.

At a campaign event, Loomer arrived draped in a flag emblazoned with (via FiveThirtyEight), "Trump won. I know it. You know it." Loomer's stance on the 2020 election further pushed the lie regarding widespread voter fraud, despite the complete and total lack of evidence supporting such claims. Loomer's vocal support for these claims likely enamored her to Trump.

Similar to the Trump campaign, Loomer has also made claims about undocumented immigrants illegally voting in U.S. elections, which has not been proven in court. Regardless, Loomer is fully on board with the big lie, and she has repeatedly played the victim surrounding these issues, including when she ran for office herself.

Laura Loomer wears many hats, including that of a political candidate, though she's never won a general election. In the primary for Florida's 2020 congressional election, Loomer beat out five other Republicans to challenge incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel for Florida's 21st congressional district. Loomer was considered a long shot, given how entrenched Frankel was in the seat, and she lost the election by nearly 20 points.

After failing to win the 21st district seat in 2020, Loomer tried once more in Florida's 11th congressional district. She challenged incumbent Republican, Daniel Webster, in the primary, but he ended up beating her by nearly seven points. Loomer, ever the Trump supporter, claimed "big-tech election interference" and refused to concede her loss.

When it became clear she lost, Loomer gave a speech (via Newsweek), saying through tears, "I'm not conceding because I'm a winner, and the reality is our Republican party is broken to its core." Refusing to concede a clear election loss is straight out of the Donald Trump political playbook, so it's not surprising Loomer would follow suit.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was kicking off in full steam in 2020, Donald Trump downplayed the COVID virus' lethality. Laura Loomer soon followed suit, expressing in December 2020 (via Daily Beast), "I hope I get COVID just so I can prove to people I've had bouts of food poisoning that are more serious and life-threatening than a hyped-up virus."

Loomer eventually got her wish, and in September 2021, she contracted the virus. Loomer fell ill, but it didn't take long for her condition to worsen significantly. Loomer told her supporters on Telegram that she was in a lot of pain and hoped people would pray for her. "Can't even begin to explain how brutal the body aches and nausea that come with COVID are. I am in so much pain," she wrote (via Daily Beast). It wouldn't be unusual for a person to come out of that experience with a hefty respect for the virus and for the newly-developed vaccine, but not Loomer.

Loomer went the other direction and not only didn't change her views — she doubled down on them. After recovering from COVID, Loomer decried the vaccines, claiming they were "unsafe and ineffective" and saying she'd never get a COVID vaccine in the future.

There's been a pattern in social media and tech companies where far-right talking points are removed from various platforms. This is done when the talking point spreads misinformation or is patently false, and Laura Loomer has been on the receiving end of several bans. Because she's offended so many people and received a plethora of bans, Loomer has gone up against these big-tech companies, calling them out for their purported left-leaning biases. Loomer, pictured above wearing a "#StopTheBias" shirt with an upside-down former Twitter logo, calls herself "The Most Banned Woman on the Internet."

That's not necessarily an incorrect distinction because Loomer has been banned by a lot of companies. After she dropped some less-than-kind comments on X about U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar in 2018, Loomer received a ban. She has similarly been banned by Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, Uber, PayPal, Venmo, Comcast, and Uber Eats. After Trump-supporting billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter and transformed it into X, he allowed previously banned people back on, including Loomer.

Laura Loomer is someone who plays the victim whenever it suits her, but she's not afraid to go on the attack. This is especially true of women, as she's spoken out against many prominent women in and out of politics. For example, after the September 2024 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Loomer boosted Trump's claim that the Harris campaign was given the debate's questions beforehand to her X followers.

The daughter of Kellyanne and George Conway, Claudia Conway, responded by calling her "Loony Loomer" and saying she was spreading such comments as a way to distract the public from Trump's inept debate performance. In retaliation, Loomer attacked Claudia by reposting a New York Post article about her becoming a Playboy Bunny at 18. Loomer used this to call her father, George, a pedophile, asking if he inappropriately touched her and calling her "deranged." Claudia didn't take the attack lying down, replying, "Are you done yet, my love?" The far-right influencer seemingly was, as she didn't clap back.

Loomer has even gone up against right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who came out against Loomer's post on X (via CNN) about Kamala Harris, reading, "The White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center." Greene specifically called Loomer's post "appalling and extremely racist."

While trying to justify the racist tweet, Loomer attacked Greene's antisemitic views and her divorce from her husband after allegations of Greene cheating. "Along with being an anti semite, MTG is also a poor excuse for a Christian," she wrote in part on X. Getting on MTG's bad side when you're a far-right activist is jarring. Loomer and Greene were even previously close friends, but it seems at some point the two ideologically diverted, resulting in MAGA in-fighting.

Laura Loomer entered the public sphere via a stunt she pulled while attending Barry University in Florida. She attempted to film a gotcha-style video as she attempted to convince the school's representatives to allow for the creation of a pro-ISIS club on campus. Yes, she thought it would be a good idea to start a club for ISIS, but only so she could root out any hypocrites she felt were among the administration.

Loomer's club was to be called Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and her purpose was to push back against the concept of giving everyone a voice. Of course, Loomer edited her video in such a way as to support her claims, which was released by Project Veritas, a far-right outlet that employed Loomer for a few years.

Needless to say, the stunt backfired for Loomer, and she was suspended for what she did. The school revealed in her suspension notice (via NBC), "Your alleged actions were the cause root of disruption of the University community and the creation of a hostile environment for members of the University staff." Ultimately, Loomer was allowed to graduate in 2015.

Throughout her career, Laura Loomer has held press credentials from a number of organizations. This has made it possible for Loomer to enter into areas otherwise off limits to most folks, but it's also gotten her into trouble a time or two. When she was working for Illuminate Media, which is a similar organization to Project Veritas, Loomer got into trouble in Central Florida.

Loomer was at the trial of Noor Salman, the wife of Omar Mateen, who committed the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. Loomer allegedly followed Salman into the parking lot of the courthouse and launched a series of questions off at her, including one involving the defendant's Muslim family coloring Easter eggs. This harassment didn't go over well with Salman, nor did the judge overseeing her case.

Soon after the event, Loomer took to X (via Advocate), where she wrote, "U.S. District Judge Paul Byron issued a court order BANNING ME from the court as a member of the press and the public for the duration of the #NoorSalman trial." She went on to call her banning political in nature and a violation of her First Amendment rights.

Laura Loomer, who is Jewish, has never been shy about throwing around accusations of antisemitism. While those sorts of accusations can sometimes be warranted, Loomer tends to throw them around whenever she disagrees with someone on the left, which is often. She's even come out against Jewish Democrats, equating them to the Jews who were forced to work in concentration camps.

During a 2024 appearance on "The John Fredericks Show" (via Media Matters), Loomer made it very clear how she feels about Jewish Democrats: "That's basically what modern Democrat Jews are. They're kapo Jews. You might as well just go put yourself in a gas chamber yourself if this is how you're gonna behave. Because the crocodile might eat you last, but the crocodile is still going to eat you. And I don't care how inflammatory that sounds." She added that Jewish people who plan to vote for President Joe Biden in 2024 "deserve what's coming [their] way."

On top of that, Loomer appeared on the "Timcast IRL" podcast (via Villages-News), where she said plenty about what should happen to Democrats should Trump win the election. Loomer expressed her view that Democrats should go to jail, but quickly reversed herself and said, "Not just jail, they should get the death penalty. You know, we actually used to have the punishment for treason in this country."

There's a long list of derogatory statements Laura Loomer has made about people who aren't white, and given how unapologetic she is, it's likely that list will continue to grow. On "Loomer Unleashed" (via Media Matters), she went on a rant about how several prominent Democratic women have irritating voices. That's not really all that bad, but she expanded on her belief, saying, "I'm talking about Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Fani Willis. Like, all of the, like, meritless DEI Shaniquas talk the same way."

On top of that, while Loomer is Jewish, she seemingly had no problem rubbing elbows with neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and others at The American Renaissance Conference in 2022. "I consider myself to be a white advocate, and I openly campaigned for the United States Congress as a white advocate," she declared during her speech at the event (via The Guardian). Loomer also considers herself to be a white nationalist, and she isn't just a member of that side; she's one of its loudest proponents.

Laura Loomer embraces numerous conspiracy theories, and these beliefs tend to bump up against established facts and reality. One such wide-reaching conspiracy theory that is far more damaging to victims than others is her belief that many mass shootings aren't entirely real. For example, after the deadly 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Loomer embraced the theory that ISIS was involved and the FBI was engaging in a cover-up.

She's also gone after victims of school shootings, claiming many of them were staged. For the victims of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, Loomer insisted the survivors were being told what to say. "It's obvious these kids are reading a screen or notes someone else wrote for them," she claimed in a tweet (via Daily Beast). The reason behind this is a fringe conspiracy theory that all of these shootings are being staged so the Democrats would have an excuse to take away peoples' guns. This is, of course, nonsense, but that doesn't mean Loomer's actions around victims of gun violence aren't incredibly damaging and disrespectful.