How Did Laura Loomer Finally Earn A Spot At Donald Trump’s Side?

In May, the anti-Muslim bigot and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer spent a couple of days with a Washington Post reporter , trying to arrange a casual run-in with Donald Trump.

Loomer, a fierce loyalist of the former president, had staked her hopes on landing a job in a future Trump White House. She wanted to demonstrate for the reporter and the world that “Trump likes me,” as she told the Post, and that she could get past his inner circle of campaign staff, who apparently saw her “as a liability” in their effort to make Trump seem less extreme, according to the paper.

Loomer failed. It seemed she was too toxic — even for a brief encounter with Trump. The Post reporter left Florida without a photo of the pair together.

How times have changed.

Starting last Tuesday, Loomer has regularly been spotted by Trump’s side on the campaign trail, repeatedly flying with himaround the country. She accompanied him to the presidential debate against Kamala Harrisand was backstage at the debatewith Trump’s entourage. She was in Trump’s possein New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11 — despite sharing a video that claimed “9/11 was an Inside Job!” just last year.

“Donald Trump likes me,” Loomer said Saturday. “Donald Trump trusts me. OK? Obviously, he trusts me if I’m on his plane.”

The admission to Trump’s inner circle is a remarkable come-up for Loomer, who has made a brand out of being openly racist, calling herself a “proud Islamophobe” and “pro-white nationalism.”

Loomer has, for years, been a vile and unapologetic bigot, repeatedly calling for ethnically cleansing the U.S. of Muslims, referring to Black politicians by racist slurs and pushing the “Great Replacement,” the conspiracy theory that has inspired