Laura Loomer is a conservative activist and provocateur. Loomer, a self-proclaimed “Trump girl,” has been associated with members of the Proud Boys; she herself is often in the public eye because of her dramatic protests. Most recently, Loomer was seen jumping the fence at California senator Nancy Pelosi’s home in Napa Valley, California as part of a protest calling on Democrats to fund the border wall along the US border with Mexico. But Loomer has also been behind public protests against other leading Democrats and against Twitter.
Here’s what you need to know about Laura Loomer:
1. Loomer Said She Had Just Come Back from Mexico With Some ‘New Amigos’ & Planned to Set Up a ‘Sanctuary’ on Nancy Pelosi’s Lawn
On January 14, Loomer took a film crew from Unite America to Nancy Pelosi’s home in Napa Valley, California. She was also accompanied by three men — two Mexican nationals and one Guatemalan nationals whom she described as her ‘new amigos’. Loomer said she’d met the three men during a recent trip to the Mexican border where, she said brightly, there was no border and it was easy to cross over into the US. The film crew described the men as “illegal aliens.” You can watch the whole thing here.
Loomer and the three men climbed over a low wall into Pelosi’s estate. Loomer said wryly, “I’m an American dreamer and I can’t live freely anywhere because I’m being banned everywhere.” She added that “Nancy” is very welcoming and that “everyone is welcome here,” while continuing to grumble that she is being banned everywhere and that she may soon not be able to pay her rent. Loomer and the men then started putting up a canopy which, they said, will be for the new sanctuary established in Pelosi’s home. The film crew invited “everyone” to come and set up camp in Nancy Pelosi’s home and on her lawn. They spray-painted the word “immorality” across the canopy
2. Loomer Grew Up in Arizona & Identified as ‘Ethnically, Culturally, & Politically Jewish’
According to a 2017 profile in The Forward, Laura Loomer was raised in Arizona. Her father raised her to identify as “ethnically, culturally and politically Jewish.” Loomer told the Forward that she often felt out of place growing up. She said that as a child, she was teased for being overweight and for having a “Jewish nose.” Later, in college, she said she felt that she was being “targeted” because she was conservative. Loomer spent a semester at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts before leaving because, she felt, she didn’t fit in politically. “I ate every single meal by myself for an entire semester,” she said. She transferred to Barry University in Miami, where she joined Republican groups on campus.
3. Loomer Worked for James O’Keefe’s ‘Project Veritas’ During the 2016 Election Season
During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Loomer, 26, worked for Project Veritas, James O’Keefe’s undercover sting operation which first came to fame when it went undercover at Acorn. While Loomer was with Project Veritas, she carried out a number of high-profile provocations, for instance showing up at a polling station wearing a burqa and asking for a ballot under the name Huma Abedin.
In 2017, Loomer left Project Veritas and started working for Rebel Media, a right-wing outlet which prides itself on mingling reporting with activism. The group’s About Us page describes itself as: “The fearless source of news, opinion, and activism that you won’t find anywhere else! TheRebel.media is different because of how you, our supporters, participate in shaping everything we do. Through a mix of online engagement, commenting, advocacy, and events, we don’t just report the news, we participate in it.”
Loomer left Rebel Media after just three months, saying that she wasn’t being given enough creative freedom. She said at the time, in an interview with Canadian media, “I left because there were disagreements over how I could use my social media, and I just couldn’t approve of that. I wasn’t willing to, like, not tweet about anything besides Rebel stories because essentially then I wouldn’t be able to use my voice.”
She added, “I didn’t want to stay in a situation that was aggravating me and pissing me off, so I resigned. I’m not going to play the victim. I didn’t agree with what they were telling me to do, and I don’t agree with the policy.”
4. Loomer Made Waves & Got Arrested When She Disrupted Shakespeare in the Park in 2017
In June 2017, New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park mounted a performance of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s play about a budding dictator who is killed by his fellow Romans. This particular performance was highly politicized, with the Caesar character portrayed as a Donald Trump-like character wearing a business suit. Many conservatives were outraged by the performance, and one — a social-media activist named Mike Cernovich — offered a thousand dollars to anyone willing to disrupt the stage.
On June 16, Loomer got herself a ticket to the performance of Julius Caesar. Just after the scene in which Caesar is assasinated, Loomer jumped onto the stage, shouting, “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right,” and, “This is violence against Donald Trump.” Meanwhile Jack Posobiec, another conservative activist, started shouting from the audience, “You are all Goebbels,” in reference to the man who worked as a propagandist for Adolph Hitler.
Loomer yelled, “Shame on the New York Public Theatre for doing this! You guys are ISIS! CNN is ISIS!” At this point, security led her off the stage and she was arrested by police officers, who took her down to the 19th precinct for booking. She was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct.
5. Loomer Was Permanently Banned from Twitter After a Tweet About Ilhan Omar
Back in November 2018, Loomer was handed a permanent ban from Twitter after the site accused her of “hate speech.” Twitter took down her account after a tweet about Ilhan Omar, who recently became Minnesota’s first Somali American elected official. Loomer tweeted, “isn’t it ironic how the twitter moment used to celebrate “women, LGBT, and minorities” is a picture of Ilhan Omar? Ilhan is pro-Shariah Ilhan is pro-FGM Under Shariah homosexuals are oppressed and killed. Women are abused and forced to wear the hijab. Ilhan is anti-Jewish.”
Shortly afterwards, Loomer and a couple of her associates arrived at Twitter’s New York headquarters to protest the ban. Loomer hung up a sign protesting the fact that she had been banned from the social media site. Then she took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed herself to the building’s front door. The protest fizzled out after Twitter’s management announced that they had no plans to take legal action against Loomer.