A cast of far-right figures joined anti-Muslim provocateur and self-proclaimed “Islamophobe” Laura Loomer at a party celebrating her win of the Republican nomination to represent Florida’s 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House last night. Although Loomer faces a difficult challenge against incumbent Democrat Rep. Lois Frankel in a solidly blue district, her GOP nomination has invigorated far-right activists and media personalities, and excited figures notorious for spreading disinformation.
Right Wing Watch noted yesterday that Loomer, who was endorsed by a number of far-right personalities, was likely to win her primary. President Donald Trump congratulated Loomer on her win in a tweet last night.
Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet! https://t.co/pKZp35dUYr
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020
“Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!” Trump said.
A jubilant Loomer reacted in a video recorded after Trump’s tweet, which she said someone else had to tell her about because she was banned from Twitter.
“I am headed to Washington to provide you with some firepower and reinforcements Mr. President, so I look forward to meeting you soon next time you’re back in the Mar-a-Lago district,” Loomer said in response to the Trump’s tweet.
In attendance at Loomer’s celebration party were far-right notables, including:
- Canadian media personality Gavin McInnes, who founded and led the Proud Boys hate group as its members engaged in violent brawls across the United States. After some Proud Boys members were arrested and charged after one such brawl, McInnes left his formal role with the group. McInnes has a long history of violent rhetoric and a seeming fondness for extremists and white nationalists.
- Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, who was ejected from mainstream political discourse after BuzzFeed news reported on his efforts to launder white nationalism through Breitbart News and comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia spawned social media backlash.
- Hoaxster Jacob Wohl, who has achieved national notoriety for joining Jack Burkman in press conferences to peddle outlandish political smears that crumble under mild scrutiny from reporters in attendance.
- Right-wing political trickster, felon, and Alex Jones associate Roger Stone, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election but whose sentence was commuted by Trump before he started serving jail time.
- Ali “Alexander” Akbar, a right-wing operative who in 2019 launched a smear campaign questioning Kamala Harris’s race and ethnicity. Akbar has filmed himself speaking fondly of white supremacists and offering bounties for disinformation production.
Loomer is a right-wing conspiracy theorist, and promoter of disinformation who has been banned from multiple social media platforms for promoting anti-Muslim bigotry. She is best known for attention-seeking stunts like chaining her screaming self to the front door of Twitter’s New York headquarters in protest of being kicked off the service. She has rallied support for white nationalists while denouncing the supposed threat of “Sharia supremacy.”
On multiple occasions, Loomer has proclaimed that she does not care about what happened to Muslims in the Christchurch shootings, where more than 50 people were murdered by a white supremacist.
“Nobody cares about Christchurch. I especially don’t. I care about my social media accounts and the fact that Americans are being silenced more than Christchurch,” Loomer wrote on Telegram.
Last year, Loomer said she didn’t care about the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government because she claimed he was a Muslim Brotherhood operative and thus “an enemy of the state.”
In 2019, Loomer lost her media credentials and was removed from the Conservative Political Action Conference after harassing journalists. She has also contributed to with Alex Jones’ conspiracy-theory site Infowars, which has also been kicked off multiple platforms.
Loomer has often worked in concert with far-right nationalists to accomplish her goals of Trump-world notoriety and influence. In turn, her campaign has received support from an eclectic mix of far-right figures. As Melissa Ryan wrote for Right Wing Watch:
White nationalist hate group VDARE has promoted her campaign for Congress, as has Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. Trump allies Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is up for reelection this year and has his own connections to far-right figures, and Roger Stone, a convicted felon and associate of the Proud Boys hate group, have endorsed Loomer.
