Matt Gaetz Endorses Extremist Conspiracy Theorist Laura Loomer's Congressional Run
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) officially endorsed Laura Loomer’s campaign for U.S. Congress on August 9, at the Palm Beach Republican Party’s Lobsterfeast event. Roger Stone, a former advisor to Donald Trump whose prison sentence was just commuted by the president, also endorsed Loomer at the same event.
Loomer is self-described Proud Islamophobe who has been banned from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, and other platforms for repeatedly trafficking in hate and disinformation. She has called Islam a “cancer” and Muslims “savages.”
Despite being Jewish, also promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories. She has stated that Jews “control the banks…and the media,” and that Jews “dominate Hollywood.” She has also promoted conspiracies about Jewish donor George Soros, accusing him of “buying” protestors. Loomer even went so far as to suggest that Soros was behind the series of attempted bombings that targeted himself and liberal politicians and activists. (This claim, like many Loomer has made, is categorically untrue).
Loomer also uses her Jewish identity to issue spurious charges of antisemitism against Muslims, progressives, people of color, and anyone who criticizes or curtails her. She accused Twitter of antisemitism after the platform banned her for violating its rules regarding hate speech. In a theatrical and offensive display in 2018, Loomer chained herself to the door of Twitter’s New York City headquarters to protest the ban. She wore a large yellow Star of David, comparing Twitter banning her from the platform to the Nazis forcing Jews to wear yellow stars. Two days after accepting Gaetz’s endorsement, Loomer stated during a radio interview that “even during the time of Hitler, Jewish people were still able to have services” in an effort to cast the temporary closure of Synagogues and other mass gathering spaces to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as antisemitic. She added, even more outrageously: “The Synagogues weren’t even shut down this long under Hitler” (23:10). In the same interview, Loomer said that “the Democrats are the party of Jew-haters and Israel-haters,” a sentiment the Republican Party has been pushing for nearly two years.
Gaetz is not the first Republican official to endorse Loomer. In August of 2019, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced his support for Loomer. Other Republican electeds have opted to distance themselves from Loomer. In November of 2019, Loomer posed for and shared photos of herself at an event with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). Both Stefanik and Scott were adamant that they did not know who she was and that they had not invited her. They stated that they had not endorsed her, but declined to comment on her extremist views.
Gaetz and Loomer at the Lobsterfeast event on August 9, 2020.
Update as of August 18, 2020:
On August 18, 2020, Loomer won her primary, making her the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress representing FL-21. Learn more here.