Laura Loomer: The Chaos Artist Who Wormed Her Way Into Trump’s Inner Circle

How a self-proclaimed provocateur went from fringe conspiracist to presidential enforcer—and why even Marjorie Taylor Greene fears her.

From my point of view, Laura Loomer is a real piece of work. Take, for example, her recent comments about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. In online posts, Loomer called Greene a “fake Christian Jezebel,” a “harlot,” a “white trash hick,” and a “loud-mouthed bitch.” And those weren’t even the worst things she said.

In response, Greene fired back: “Laura Loomer is the most unstable person and worst liability to ever walk in the Oval Office.”

If I have to take a side in this feud, it’s Greene’s. (There’s a first time for everything.) And in doing so, I join many others who are alarmed by Loomer’s growing influence—and puzzled by the question: who is this woman, and why does Donald Trump listen to her?

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If you live outside the world of right-wing extremism, you probably first heard of Laura Loomer in September 2024, when she appeared alongside Trump at Ground Zero during the 9/11 memorial ceremony. Despite his advisors warning him to stay away from her, Trump had invited Loomer to the debate the night before and even brought her along on his plane to the memorial.

As reporters noted at the time, Loomer is a virulent anti-Muslim bigot and conspiracy theorist who has claimed the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” orchestrated by the U.S. government. She has called Muslims “savages” and described Islam as a “cancer on humanity.” Her presence at the memorial sparked outrage—but not enough to blunt her influence. Instead, she became one of Trump’s informal advisors, serving as his self-appointed loyalty enforcer, reporting the “disloyal” to him and watching them get fired. Her rise has been fueled by a knack for drawing attention at any cost.

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Before her alliance with Trump, Loomer was a second-tier provocateur who occasionally broke into mainstream conservative media. She twice ran for Congress in Florida—first in 2020, when she won the GOP nomination but lost to Democrat Lois Frankel by a 60–40 margin, and again in 2022, when she lost a Republican primary by seven points. Yet she raised more than $1.1 million across those campaigns.

That fundraising power came from a loyal base of fans who adore outrage-as-entertainment. Loomer began cultivating them in 2014, posting anti-Islamic rants on Facebook that caught the attention of right-wing media. As a student at Barry University, she landed a job at Project Veritas—the notorious “gotcha” video operation. There, she staged stunts like showing up to a polling place in a burqa asking for a ballot in the name of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and attempting to dupe Clinton campaign staffers into taking illegal donations.

By 2017, Loomer had gone solo as a full-time entrepreneur of outrage. She stormed the stage at New York’s Shakespeare in the Park during a Trump-themed Julius Caesar performance, camped out on Nancy Pelosi’s lawn, disrupted a Women’s March in D.C., and donned a serape to protest immigration outside the California governor’s mansion.

At every turn, Loomer mimicked Trump’s formula: use shock and spectacle to gain attention, then turn notoriety into power. Like her idol, she said what others wouldn’t—mocking Black women, spreading racist tropes about Indians, and calling liberal Jews “self-hating.” Her devotion to Trump only deepened as she trolled his opponents online and eventually won his approval.

Trump, who has always loved a sycophant, called her “a fantastic woman, a true patriot.” He invited her to the White House last April, where she reportedly delivered a list of names she considered disloyal. Within hours, several administration officials—including three at the NSA, the nominee for surgeon general, and the FDA’s top vaccine official—were dismissed. Since then, Loomer has acted as a clearinghouse for purges within Trump’s inner circle.

Which brings us back to her feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene—another self-styled Trump acolyte. No one’s quite sure how it started, but the spark may have been Greene’s criticism of Loomer for insulting a Medal of Honor recipient last August. The spat quickly devolved into name-calling, with Loomer going lower than Greene and even claiming Greene would soon switch parties and run as a Democrat.

The irony here is rich. Not long ago, Greene was the extremist basking in Trump’s glow. Now she looks almost moderate next to Loomer, who wields real power as the president’s self-anointed loyalty enforcer. Greene may hold a congressional seat—but Loomer can walk into the Oval Office and get people fired. For now, she’s the apple of Trump’s eye, and as long as that’s true, she’s someone to be feared.