When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered a hotel in Iowa on Friday, he was immediately ambushed by a woman who peppered him with questions about when he would “drop out” of the race and whether he’s “already wasted enough of people’s money” as she followed him with a camera.
Afterward, the encounter found its way to social media. The woman — far-right social media influencer Laura Loomer — cut a scene in which she said DeSantis “looked petrified,” adding she believed “his soul left his body when he saw me.”
“He’s going to lose,” Loomer, a twice-failed congressional candidate and self-described “proud Islamophobe” said in a clip filmed outside the hotel. “President Trump is going to kick his a– on Monday, Jan. 15. And that’s it for Ron. You killed your political career and I hope you’re happy. You just got Loomered, b—-.”
Perhaps more notable than the encounter, though, was which of Loomer’s biggest fans quickly promoted it on social media; former President Donald Trump plugged the video on his Truth Social account on Saturday.
It was just the latest in a series of promotions and praise Trump has offered Loomer during the campaign, and it has some allies and advisers worried that he’s giving a figure they see as a fringe, far-right activist too close of an embrace — one that could come back to bite him during a general election campaign.
“Everyone who works for him thinks she’s a liability,” one Trump ally said.
Earlier this month, Loomer, who has promoted conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and several mass shootings, rode with Trump aboard his plane on a trip to Iowa, and she has suggested she would like to serve as Trump’s press secretary during a second term.
Onstage at his pre-caucus event on Sunday, Trump gave Loomer a shoutout, saying, “You want her on your side.”
This summer, he appeared with Loomer in a video at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in which he described her as “really very special.” And, as The New York Times reported in April, Trump called on campaign aides to hire Loomer for an official role on the campaign, only for a high-ranking campaign official to shut down the hiring after the story was published.
Last month, Trump promoted a video on his Truth Social account of Loomer telling an interviewer she once told a former romantic partner who thought she was too focused on Trump that they needed to understand that Trump was her first priority.
“And if you think that you’re more important than President Trump, then you have some kind of, like, delusional personality disorder,” she said in the video. “I have to say that was the end of that relationship. President Trump’s my number-one priority right now.”
“Thank you, Laura!” Trump wrote.
Trump has long embraced some of the more fringe figures on the right who have lavished him with praise. He has asked people around him what they think of Loomer and views her as someone who is unafraid of speaking uncomfortable truths, a source familiar with discussions said.
“And he likes what she did with DeSantis,” the person added.
Her targeting of DeSantis stretches far beyond her ambush video from Friday. She’s previously accused the governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis, of “FAKE CRYING ABOUT CANCER.” Late last year, she followed and filmed a top DeSantis aide, Christina Pushaw, around the Florida GOP’s November summit.
One DeSantis ally said Trump’s promotion and embrace of Loomer “shows that the adults are not in control in Trump World as much as they like to appear to be.”
“At the end of the day, they can’t keep Trump from doing some of these crazier things,” this person said.
Loomer did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News ahead of publication, but she went on X after this story went up and criticized anyone who might object to her involvement.
“The only people who are worried about President Trump embracing me are people who…
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