President Laura Loomer?

Susan Estrich on Apr 5, 2025

She is a self-styled Islamophobe, a proud white nationalist and a conspiracy theorist. She called 9/11 an "inside job." She has been banned from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (pre-Musk), PayPal, Uber and Lyft, among others, for hate speech and posting misinformation. She has been banned from events and had her press credentials suspended for harassing politicians she disagrees with and causing disturbances. She has called Islam a cancer and called for a complete and permanent ban on Muslims entering the United States. When Donald Trump wanted to hire her to work in his campaign, his senior staff revolted.

None of which stopped the president from meeting with her this week to review her "research" on which members of the National Security Council staff were insufficiently loyal to Trump. All of them had been vetted by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. It didn't matter. Waltz tried to defend his own people. He failed.

"She is a very strong person, and I saw her yesterday for a little while and she has her, she makes recommendations of things and people," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "And sometimes I listen to those recommendations, like I do with everybody, I listen to everybody, and then I make a decision."

This time, he listened.

"Out of respect for President Trump and the privacy of the Oval Office, I'm going to decline on divulging any details about my Oval Office meeting with President Trump," Loomer told the press after her meeting with the president. "It was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my findings, I will continue working hard to support his agenda, and I will continue reiterating the importance of strong vetting, for the sake of protecting the President and our national security."

After what The New York Times described, based on its interviews, as an "extraordinary meeting" with her in the Oval Office, Trump fired six National Security officials who she vilified by name based on a pile of papers she brought with her reflecting her own vetting process. These were senior officials with strong Republican credentials, including the senior director for intelligence, the senior director for international organizations and the senior director for legislative affairs.

Defending her, Trump described her as a "great patriot" who had nothing to do with the firings. And if you believe that ...

Why do the people around Trump allow this?

Easy. Because there is only one requirement for those on the inside: blind loyalty. He says, "Jump," and they say, "How high?" Nothing matters except absolute loyalty. That is Loomer's only qualification for being in the room with Trump, which matters more than her being a racist hater.

This has been a terrible week for the country. Against all legitimate advice, ignoring all the lessons of history and of basic economics, Trump has launched a global trade war that will increase prices on everything, could trigger a global recession or depression, and quite frankly makes him and us look like fools. Placing a tariff on islands only occupied by penguins underscores the sloppiness and cowardice of those who have the president's ear. Why didn't someone around him tell him how foolish he would look slapping tariffs on uninhabited islands? For the same reason no one told him that the president of the United States has no business meeting with a disreputable hater like Laura Loomer, let alone taking her advice. Look at his Cabinet. Look at his senior staff. You don't get there by giving tough advice. You don't stay there by telling him what he doesn't want to hear. Republicans who know better -- and there are plenty of them -- don't make it into the inner circle. Only blind loyalists do, no matter how hateful. Like Laura Loomer.

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