White Supremacist Who Traffics in Antisemitism & Islamophobia Wins GOP Primary Race
Laura Loomer, a self-described “proud Islamophobe” won the Republican Primary for Florida House District 21, the district where Mar-a-Lago is located. Loomer’s victory was cheered on by Donald Trump, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ). She celebrated her victory at a party attended by far-right extremists, including Gavin McInnes, founder of the hate group the Proud Boys; and Milo Yiannopoulos, who recently co-created an “America First” recommended reading list that included Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Laura Loomer at her victory party on August 18, 2020, with fellow far-right exremist Milo Yiannopoulos
Loomer herself is an extremist and conspiracy theorist who has been banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — as well as Uber, Lyft, Venmo, and a number of other apps and platforms — for repeatedly violating their terms of service against hate speech. Prior to her expulsion from these platforms, her social media accounts were rife with racist and Islamophobic posts, as well as posts full of homophobia, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories.
She is also known for her association with white nationalists like Richard Spencer, and the Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson, who Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) infamously brought as his guest to the 2018 State of the Union.
Posts from Laura Loomer’s personal Instagram and Twitter accounts (before she was banned from both platforms) of her with Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson, and white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Loomer has called Islam a “cancer on humanity,” Muslims “savages,” and said that Muslims should not be allowed to hold elected office. In 2017, in response to reporting on the deaths of 2000 refugees crossing the Mediterrenean Sea, Loomer wrote “Good. Here’s to 2000 more.” Following the mass shooting in Christchurch New Zealand by a neo-Nazi who murdered 51 Muslims praying inside a mosque, Loomer wrote: “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.”
Despite being Jewish, Loomer 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.
Just three weeks before the her primary election, 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: “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 narrative the Republican Party has been pushing for over one year.
In response to Loomer’s win, Donald Trump tweeted “Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet” — a reference to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL). The Florida Republican Party also congratulated Loomer the following day: