Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was accosted by a lady as soon as he entered a hotel in Iowa on Friday. The woman followed him around with a video and asked him a series of questions, including when he would “drop out” of the campaign and if he had “already wasted enough of people’s money.”
The interaction was later shared on social media. Cut to a moment in which the lady, far-right social media celebrity Laura Loomer, said DeSantis “looked petrified,” adding that she thought “his soul left his body when he saw me.”
In a video recorded outside the hotel, Loomer—a self-described “proud Islamophobe” and twice-failed congressional candidate—stated, “He’s going to lose.” “On Monday, January 15, President Trump is going to kick his ass. That’s all Ron has to say. Your political career was destroyed, and I hope you’re glad. You’ve just been touched, b——.
The fact that one of Loomer’s most ardent supporters promptly shared the video on social media—former President Donald Trump posted it on his Truth Social account on Saturday—may have been even more noteworthy than the meeting.
This was just the most recent of Trump’s many endorsements and compliments to Loomer throughout the campaign. Some allies and advisers are concerned that Trump is becoming too close to a person they perceive as a fringe, far-right activist and that this could come back to haunt him in a general election campaign.
One Trump supporter remarked, “Everyone who works for him thinks she’s a liability.”
Loomer, who has supported conspiracy theories regarding the attack on the Capitol building on January 6 and many mass shootings, traveled to Iowa on Trump’s jet earlier this month and expressed interest in working as his press secretary if he is elected to a second term.
“You want her on your side,” Trump shouted out to Loomer on stage at his pre-caucus rally on Sunday.
In a video that he and Loomer featured in this summer at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he called Loomer “really very special.” Additionally, as The New York Times revealed in April, Trump urged campaign aides to appoint Loomer to an official position on the campaign; but, following the publication of the story, a senior campaign official blocked the appointment.
Trump last month used his Truth Social account to promote a video in which Loomer told an interviewer that she had previously informed a past love partner—who felt she was too preoccupied with Trump—that they needed to realize that Trump came first in her life.
“And you have some sort of, like, delusional personality disorder if you think that you’re more important than President Trump,” she added in the video. “It’s unfortunate to report that the relationship ended there. Right now, President Trump is my top focus.
“Laura, thank you very much!” Trump wrote.
Trump has historically sided with some of the more extreme right-wing personalities who have showered him with compliments. According to a source acquainted with the conversations, he has questioned everyone in his immediate vicinity about Loomer and believes that she is not hesitant to tell unpleasant realities.
The source went on, “And he likes what she did with DeSantis.”
Her attack on DeSantis goes much beyond the footage of her Friday ambush. She has previously charged Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, with “FAKE CRYING ABOUT CANCER.” She trailed and recorded Christina Pushaw, a prominent DeSantis assistant, as she went about the Florida GOP’s November gathering late last year.
Trump’s endorsement and promotion of Loomer, according to an associate of DeSantis, “shows that the adults are not in control in Trump World as much as they like to appear to be.”
This individual stated, “In the end, they can’t stop Trump from doing some of these crazier things.”
Before this article was published, Loomer did not reply to NBC News’s attempts for comment. However, following the story’s publication, she appeared on X and attacked anybody who would disagree with her role.
“Those who have anything to hide or are hostile to President Trump are the only ones who are concerned about his hugging me. In a long article, she stated, “I have only been a net positive for President Trump.
The notion that President Trump has a devoted buddy who watches out for him and doesn’t ask for anything in return tends to agitate a lot of people, she said.
Loomer has written in the last several days about getting kicked out of DeSantis and Nikki Haley rallies in Iowa. She had been getting along well with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been closely associated with Trump, but on Saturday, she started criticizing the rookie when Trump and his advisors began labeling him a “fraud.” In the run-up to Monday’s caucuses in the Hawkeye State, Loomer even went so far as to suggest that pals of Haley’s were controlling the weather.
Conservative lawyer Will Chamberlain, who previously worked on DeSantis’ campaign, tweeted following her ambush of DeSantis on Friday, saying, “There’s a name for people who, after being kicked out of a private event, follow the featured speaker at that event back to their hotel to harass them in the lobby.” We refer to it as a stalker.
Loomer tweeted, “Haters call me a stalker,” within an hour.
Then she went on, “But they wish they had someone who loved them as much as I love Donald Trump.”
“Everyone who opposes me in private wishes I was a street warrior. NEVER CRY, LITTLE ONE!”
Some worry that Loomer’s close relationship with Trump could encourage Democratic assaults on him when he turns to the general election. As a result, some may advise him to cut back on his interactions with her, which might enrage Trump.
The source with knowledge of Trump’s conversations with Loomer said that “he’s going to get pissed.”
NBC News was informed by some Trump supporters that they are frustrated with Loomer’s connection to him despite his constant criticism since Loomer has also attached herself to the political director of Trump’s 2024 campaign, Brian Jack, on social media. She called Jack a “mole” throughout the campaign and launched a barrage of internet attacks on him this spring, alleging that he tried to undermine her previous congressional run.
In June, Loomer said, “Brian Jack is probably one of the biggest parasites in Trump World.” “His firing is warranted.”
Since he announced his most recent presidential run, Trump’s current team has skillfully struck a balance between preserving a close-knit and devoted inner circle and not alienating or denying access to Loomer-like outer voices.
Democrats have already made the connection. The Democratic National Committee said in a press release that Trump “reached another low over the weekend when he once again met up with extremist and self-described white nationalist Laura Loomer— for at least the second time this year” following their appearance together at his golf club in August.
The statement went on, “This is the status of the 2024 GOP primary: Donald Trump continues to surround himself with some of the most far-right, extreme members of the party, and Republicans are in no hurry to condemn him.”
During the Trump administration, Loomer rose to fame after being barred from many social media, ride-sharing, and payment applications due to her online anti-Muslim statements. She chained herself to Twitter’s New York City offices in 2018 for almost two hours in protest of the social media giant banning her.
With Trump’s support, she campaigned for a Florida House seat in 2020 but lost to Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel by almost 20 percentage points. In 2022, she lost a GOP House primary in another Florida district against Rep. Daniel Webster. Following her loss in that contest, Loomer sobbed in front of her followers and insisted that there had been voter fraud. She also said, “We do not live in a free country.”
A request for comment was not answered by the DeSantis campaign or any of the Trump campaign executives. A representative from the Haley campaign declined to comment.
After reading The New York Times article on Loomer’s possible hiring by the campaign, one of Trump’s most well-known right-wing supporters has already publicly criticized the candidate severely. At the time, Loomer was described as “mentally unstable and a documented liar” by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who stated that she “cannot be trusted.”
Greene added, “Never hire or do business with a liar,” though his office did not return a message seeking comment. Everything a liar touches is poisoned and contaminated by them. I’ll see to it that [Trump] is aware.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Greene are two of Trump’s closest political friends that Loomer hasn’t hesitated to criticize, as she stated in an October article: “Matt Gaetz is all about Matt Gaetz.” Disloyal, untrustworthy, and eager to sell off MAGA for their benefit
“You could label her total fringe of the MAGA,” a second Trump associate remarked, “I don’t know who she gets along with really—she’s so fringe.”
This guy went on, “This is so bad for Trump to be around her.” “This doesn’t look good.”
