Republicans fear Laura Loomer will influence Donald Trump

She was on the plane with him on the day of the debate and on the ground with him the morning after. Some Republicans fear she had something to do with the events that took place in the meantime.

Laura Loomer, the right-wing agitator known for appealing to Donald Trump’s seditious instincts, regularly appears in the former president’s orbit. Now, after a debate in which Trump denounced false, viral rumors about pet-eating Haitians in an Ohio town, her potential influence is increasingly coming under scrutiny from both parties.

A person close to Trump’s campaign said they were “100 percent” concerned that she could exacerbate Trump’s weaknesses.

“Despite all the guardrails the Trump campaign has put in place, I don’t think it’s working,” the person said.

Loomer has long been a presence in Trump’s orbit, much to the chagrin of some of his allies inside and outside the campaign. Last year, the New York Times reported that Trump had ordered his aides to give her an official role in the campaign – but after fierce opposition from Republicans, he dropped the idea.

Her repeated appearances with Trump at the debate reopened some of those old wounds. While a common complaint from Republicans after Trump’s appearance was that he was “too online,” the appearance of Loomer – who once protested her suspension from Twitter by handcuffing herself to the network’s New York office building while wearing a yellow Star of David to compare her treatment to the Holocaust – put that situation in the spotlight.

“Trump lost the debate on his performance, or lack thereof,” said Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant. “That’s what happens when you improvise, live in the Fox News-X bubble and rely on Matt Gaetz, not to mention Laura Loomer.”

Loomer did not respond to a text message about her trip with Trump. On Wednesday afternoon, after the Harris campaign published a critical CNN piece about her that referenced recent posts disparaging the candidate’s Native American heritage, Loomer wrote that the vice president was “furious” about her investigative reporting.

“I don’t care if the media finds my factual posts offensive,” Loomer wrote. “I find it OFFENSIVE that they use government as a weapon and that their policies that have destroyed our country are OFFENSIVE!”