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The orbiters of Trump
One is loud, the other quiet. One is crude and unfiltered, the other reserved and prim. One courts controversy at every turn, the other mostly shuns it. One is a Donald Trump-seeking missile; the other seems to have as little to do with him as she can get away with. One got her start in the funhouse mirror of Right-wing media, the other as a model.
That Laura Loomer and Melania Trump should be two of the most important women in Trump’s orbit, though they have barely anything in common, is one of those odd realities of the Trump phenomenon. Each woman represents something essential about Trump’s 2024 campaign, and together they embody the past — and possible future — of his movement. While Laura is the keeper of the MAGA diehard flame, Melania is the inscrutable key to Trump’s life outside politics.
First, Loomer: the suspected source of Trump’s ludicrous “they’re eating the cats” claim during the recent presidential debate. The 31-year-old provocateur has made herself a crucial figure in Trumpworld to the chagrin of nearly everyone apart from Trump. She had travelled with Trump on his plane to the debate, and the following day was among his entourage to the 9/11 memorial for the yearly remembrance service despite being a 9/11 truther. The day before the debate, she had tweeted about the rumour regarding pet-eating Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, and so speculation soon began that she had helped plant the idea in Trump’s head.
Loomer is a quintessential MAGA character who gained notoriety for being shocking even by the far-Right’s standards. A self-proclaimed Islamophobe and “white advocate”, she’s been banned from nearly every social media platform for various bigoted remarks and provocations (though she’s been back on X since its sale to Elon Musk). In 2018, she chained herself to the Twitter headquarters in New York in 2018 in protest of her ban. She’s run for Congress in Florida twice; in 2020 she won the Republican primary in the district she was contesting.
“I don’t really have much of a life, you know?” Loomer told The Washington Post earlier this year. “So I’m happy to dedicate all my time to helping Trump, because if Trump doesn’t get back in, I don’t have anything.” She had lost 25 pounds, she told the reporter, in an advance effort to look good for the communications job she hoped Trump would give her. She is the kind of wacky hanger-on that the pros around Trump have been trying to get rid of for years, never quite succeeding. While Trump’s top campaign officials reportedly blocked his effort to give Loomer a campaign job last year, they haven’t been able to keep her away from the man himself. Trump has always lacked quality control when it comes to his friends and advisers. He’ll listen to anyone who says the kind of things he likes to hear. And he seems to have no intention of distancing himself from Loomer even though almost-equally-hardcore MAGA luminaries including Marjorie Taylor Greene have condemned her. Trump told the press earlier this month that Loomer was a “free spirit” who he couldn’t control.
That Loomer could have inspired the massive flap about the Haitians in Ohio is of a piece with Trump’s long-standing modus operandi. He has always repeated half-baked rumours he hears about or sees on Fox News, no matter how sketchy the source is. The Loomer incident is a reminder of how close Trump remains to the milieu that gave him his political start and that he’ll never really abandon; in many ways, Loomer is the “ghost of Trump past”. Her brash world of Right-wing media injected Trump into the political conversation more than a decade ago, laying the groundwork for his 2016 campaign. Trump’s authenticity in this regard lies at the core of his political appeal. Unlike his rivals with their focus-grouped talking points and triangulated statements, Trump says what comes to mind, much like how his fans might act if they were in his position.
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SubscribeThis article seems truncated. We’re presented with two key women in Trump’s life. We learn a little of their personalities, the aspects of Trump they purportedly represent, and then…nothing. Maybe Melania is distancing herself from Trump, or maybe not. Maybe Loomer will have a role in a second Trump administration, or maybe not. The article is sort of about Trump, but not quite. It’s sort of about Melania and Loomer, but not quite.
But, in fairness, it’s pretty good filler.
Yes, I agree. It reads like an intro to a longer story. It’s interesting, like bait, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. I’m not sure what to call this sort of writing. It’s a bit like the MSM where the story is really just a headline supported by general chit-chat. But this appears to be journalism today.
I really think an AI could take over this sort of writing without any effort.
How do you know it hasn’t?
You might be right.
It’s just another boring, vapid clickbait article. Unherd is beginning to resemble the Trump deranged left wing media some of us are trying to divest ourselves of for the sake of sanity. Very disappointing.
When I saw the headline in my UnHerd email, I clicked assuming the article would be about Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
I genuinely don’t understand why Democrats think calling Conservatives gullible idiots is a winning play.
Remember when Democrat Party including Harris along with the State Media ran with the false story about border agents “whipping Haitian immigrants.” Or when they all rushed to the defense of Jussie Smollet who alleged being a victim of a “brutal hate crime” courtesy of “MAGA Hat wearing extremists” at 2 AM in frozen Chicago. Or how about the “Fiery but Peaceful Protests” of 2020.
Democrats and the Media Regime are not going to win a game of volume stupidity insults. Conservative satire doesn’t even have to be nasty. They can just steelman. They simply point out that Democrat laws are terrible and Democrat Media allies are not reporting the news in a remotely objective Apolitical fashion. They’re not holding “truth to power.”
‘…….Trump’s ludicrous “they’re eating the cats” claim……’
With all the conflicting reports about the situation in Ohio I have no idea whether it’s true or not. But even the HaitianReport website publication confirms that cat meat is an occasional treat for some Haitians. So it’s not so ‘ludicrous’.
How about taking note of the clear statements of the local authorities and police that there have been absolutely no reports, official or otherwise, of anyone stealing pets for eating purposes or not.
Sure Tony. Maybe the claim is ‘unsupported’. Maybe it’s even ‘fallacious’. Almost certainly it’s ‘apocryphal’. But Kerry’s point – and I agree – is that the journo calls the claim ‘ludicrous’. Ludicrous can mean ‘unreasonable to the point of humour’, and this the claim is patently not, because Haitians do eat cats.
In fact, what the journo really means to say when she calls Trump’s claim ‘ludicrous’ is that it is ‘out of place’. As in: “in my New York City liberal circles, it would be in such bad taste to state such a thing, even if true, that it can only be seen as comedy in bad taste.’
Exactly.
Real reporters don’t use adverbs like “ludicrous”. And there’s this in the very first paragraph: “the other seems to have as little to do with him as she can get away with.” What the h*ll do you know about Mrs. Trump, lady?
Yet another obvious and substance-free hit piece. UnHerd following the herd. Too bad. Used to be an interesting publication.
There have been reported instances of Africans, mostly from the Congo residing in nearby towns, eating cat and geese. It’s not clear whether Haitians in Springfield have been seen doing it.
How easy would it be for the average person in Ohio to differentiate between a Haitian and a Congolese?
Except the ones seen on local TV in Springfield and reported on. You can watch them on YouTube. That is before they tried to delete them.
People, people, please. Why can’t we focus on at least one positive incontrovertible fact? Why can’t we just focus on the one thing we can all be certain of–the late, great Hannibal Lecter is not going to be eating anybody’s pets anytime soon.
Given the number of people living on the streets of US cities, it would be remarkable if none of them tried to supplement their diet with the cats and dogs wandering the streets. I suspect the error would be to single out the Haitians.
It’s actually confirmed. Chris Rufo went there with a team of reporters, tracked down the origin of the social media post in which a guy films a cat on a BBQ, authenticated it and interviewed the people in the community. You can read Rufo’s report on Substack, it’s actual investigative journalism complete with finding the right person by matching the video to satellite imagery.
It turns out there are even police reports. They just got ignored.
I don’t understand why reporters keep embarrassing themselves like this. Why do they never learn? The moment I heard about this flap it pattern matched to “probably true then”, because it happens so often that Trump says something un-PC, the media set launch a massive meltdown over how “absurd” it is, and then it turns out to be correct. This keeps happening so you’d think they’d be a tiny bit more careful after nearly 8 years of it, but no, they are incapable of improvement.
What’s that saying? A lie has gone half way round the world before the truth has got its boots on?
In this case, “the lie” is that Trump has made a ludicrous claim, which later turns out not to be ludicrous at all.
People on the Left are still repeating the “drink bleach to cure COVID”, and “Nazis are fine people” hoaxes despite thorough debunking.
Leftists embrace those claims for the same reason the Right accepted the (later substantiated) claims about Haitians eating pets; they seemed “truthy”; ie, conformed to their biases.
It just so happens that Conservatives’ biases tend to be more reality-adjacent than Progressives’.
Agreed. Rosie Gray’s statement about “Trump’s ludicrous ‘they’re eating the cats’ claim” refers to her source, which is… guess who? The Graudian. Who else? Instead of getting their journalists out from behind their chardonnays and laptops to interview REAL people, they continue to spew their un-researched TDS prejudices. And people like Rosie Gray simply, lazily, regurgitate the lies.
The ‘eating cats’ allegation (false or true) has been a perfect distraction for the media who have focused on this superficial spat and not the real issue: i.e. 15,000 migrants being dumped on a city population of 60,000 people. That’s an overnight increase in the city’s population of 25%!!! Not only that, but the 15,000 Haitians migrants are aliens who have totally different values, cultural identity and standards and nothing in common with their ‘hosts’.
The citizens of Springfield have been subjected to an horrific imposition. But the ‘progressive’ media is ignoring their plight and Trump-bashing instead. How dare anyone in Springfield complain about the negative impact of these migrants on every aspect of their existence! That a government (specifically the Biden administration with Kamala Harris playing a key role in the policy) can do this to its own people is utterly appalling. Focusing on the ‘cat’ story is morally reprehensible; ignoring the plight of the Springfield residents is symptomatic of the ‘progressive’ attitude towards its own.
Why is it that ordinary, decent people around the world appear to be completely powerless to challenge and overwhelm this madness and evil that is destroying our lives, our history, our values and our identities so relentlessly?
Well, at this point, you have to be willing to challenge it physically i.e. in real life. Posting online ain’t gonna cut it. The vast majority of Americans are not capable of this kind of bravery, probably not 1 in a 1000. Unfortunately, the authorities are well aware of these dynamics, and take advantage of it, literally as policy. This is the definition of an authoritarian police state, and that is what the West has become. Either get used to it, or be willing to take real risks for a better life.
I am certainly keeping an open mind and have seen some disturbing videos on X.
That’s a lie. HAITIAN REPORT did not confirm Haitians eats cats. Some idiot wrote something about some people he knows in the country side of Haiti eats cats as some kind of cultural event celebration? He was ridiculed and dismissed as a lunatic by 99.9% of the Haitians in comment section. He even admitted they would not steal a cat to do it. Sounds like a Quack to me. No one has ever heard about the cultural thingy he is talking. You are a Skkkumbag liar. The Publication did not confirm the individuals posting. Could be a Trump MAGGOT pretending to be a Haitian.
From what I’ve seen, the loony Lara Loomer is not an important woman in Donald Trump’s life. I follow American politics closely, and when I saw her picture, I had no idea who she was.
Lara Loomer has no role in Donald Trump’s life. None. She traveled on Donald Trump’s plane to the recent debate in Philadelphia, and was part of his entourage to visit the 9/11 memorial the next day in New York. And she may have suggested a Haitian-refugees-eat-cats meme to Donald Trump. That makes her a crucial person in Donald Trump’s life?
Lara Loomer could disappear from Donald Trump’s orbit and no one would even notice. Not so Melania Trump. One’s a groupie, and one’s a wife. One’s important, very important. One’s not important at all.
Just pointing out that you say she has “…no role…none”, then you say that she travelled on his plane and was part of his entourage. That looks like a clear contradiction to me!
Hanging around the candidate is not doing anything for the candidate. It’s just being a groupie. That’s not a role.
To get on his plane and to be part of a select entourage one would have thought required an invitation, rather more than just ‘hanging around’. Just saying!
So what role do you think Lara Loomer plays in Donald Trump’s life?
I have not idea, but seemingly more than ‘none’ since he invites her on his trips.
If I got horribly abused for everything I did and said for being the wife of my husband, then my efforts to please would have been stopped pretty soon aswell.
Melania did and does right: if there’s nothing good in the deal for you, extricate yourself as far as possible.
Liz Wheeler has been putting up videos of cats being barbecued in Ohio on her show. She might be thought of as a prototype for Ms Loomer, whom frankly I’ve not heard of.
I suspect Ms Loomer is not an enthusiastic believer though, whereas L Wheeler is Roman Catholic turned evangelical Christian. In that sense, she’s closer to Laura Southern then.
From a personal perspective, this article doesn’t really transmit much information. What was quite good though, was the Unherd interview with the youngish conservative pundit who spoke on JD Vance’s political vision.
This article is highly problematic as it is quite clear that Rosie Gay suffers from a clear case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and is heavily biased.
For example, is the cat/dog Haitian story really so ridiculous. Of course it is unthinkable to western country and pet lovers, but is it really so off the wall when it comes to a third world country. I think not. Even the French eat horse meat and nobody in the UK or US would do that. Immediately after the brouhaha, audio from police cruiser recordings revealed cases of Haitians killing and eating the local geese and ducks. Then a story with pictures appeared out of NYC showing Haitians stringing up cats and grilling them on the barnbecue. Has the author ever heard of voodoo. Does she know whether cats and dogs are actually eaten on occasion in Port au Prince. Recall eating dogs is common in places like Vietnam and the Philippines.
The truth is that if one simply drops in a group of 20,000 people into a small town of 40,000 there is going to be trouble, and it doesn’t mnatter whether those 20,000 are Haitians or elite Manhatanites. And in the case of the latter no doubt there would be stories of them eating fois gras. No doubt the author has eaten that but perhaps she doesn’t realize how the geese are tortured and force fed with fat – very inhumane.
Then she goes on about Melania and implies that she has no relationship with Trump. But she has absolutely no idea whether this is the case or not. All we know is that Melania is a very private person, and not surprising since she was ridiculed everytime she opened her mouth during the 2016 campaign and while in the White House.
Perhaps the author should try and be more factual rather than make belief that she wants to be real.
This essay is ridiculous. No one defines Trump. He defines himself.
Because there’s nothing to define.
I wonder when Trump will ask the American electorate how they justify voting for someone whose supporters believe in murdering their political opponent.
…or someone whose supporters believe in murdering his own vice-president?
Can you point to either attempt on Pence’s life? Be sure to include the gunshots, the gunmen either killed or arrested, and all the rest.
Stupid, vapid article. Trump is 77-years old, Laura Loomer does not in any way “Define” him. Another Trump hater writing trashy clickbait at Unherd. This article is what’s boring, old and tired. For goodness sake, get a life Unherd.
Yes, why on earth would Trump want to run again in 2028? He’s an energetic man (for his age) but he’s clearly slowing down.
As the US constitution now restricts presidents to 2 terms, then for him to run for president in 2028 would imply he’d have lost this coming election. Which would also imply he’d been cheated, again, and would face another 4 years of lawfare.
Run again the age of 81? He’d have to be truly insane.
“Polling shows a dead heat” between Trump and Harris? Trump with proven very positive track record and Harris nothing but a continuing incoherent train wreck. The so-called “Polls” are highly suspect as part of the Lefts propaganda machine and nothing more.
When they cheat Harris into office, they’ll use the polls to “prove” that she was clearly going to win.
I really hope he wins. I really couldn’t stand another 4 years of woke triumphalism.
Frankly, I dont think Trump can or will do much to prevent the US steepening decline – there are just too many hands I the till at this point – but watching the Progressives’ four years’ rending of garments will be amusing.
That, and laughing at their gaslighting about Kamala’s competence… they really have no shame.
This may well be the quintessential line from a member of the national steno pool: “He has always repeated half-baked rumours he hears about or sees on Fox News, no matter how sketchy the source is.”
If it’s not Trump making things up, it’s ‘Fox News!1!,” the ever-present boogeyman of a profession that has long since lost its way, a profession whose own behavior made the likes of Fox possible to begin with.
When I read stuff like this, it’s worth remembering the things the left keeps repeating, Joe and Kamala included: the disproven “fine people on both sides” claim, the equally disproven “he said to drink bleach” claim, the Russian collusion claim that greeted Trump’s administration followed by the Russian disinformation claim about the non-existent laptop that turned out to be real, after all. The list goes on and on.
This trend is becoming tiresome. Unherd could just post a line on the home page saying “we hate Trump” and it would make the point far better than this poorly researched, emotion-driven screeds that are offered up.
Filler. Stupid too.
Would any other potential leader of any other country in the world, ever, have warranted an article such as this? Bizarre hardly defines it. I’m not in any way disputing its veracity, just incredulous really, that anyone could get themselves into warranting such a write-up. You couldn’t make it up!
I have to disagree with Rosie Gray’s assessment that Melania’s “efforts as First Lady were generally half-hearted”. In fact, Melania’s Twitter feed during those years showed that her weekly activities included visits to various charitable or governmental organizations such as hospitals, schools, military bases, day care centers, etc. At every place she seemed warm and genuinely interested in the people involved, especially the children. Of course, the media gave these numerous visits no coverage, but it seemed to me that she did as much as any other First Lady, and that her low-key graciousness made her a valuable asset to her husband’s political career.
It’s impossible to define Trump because Trump does not even define himself, because Trump doesn’t know who he really is as a person. His entire life revolves around getting attention and winning the approval of everybody around him. His entire life has been nothing more than one giant performance in the world nothing more than a stage to him, with everyone else being nothing more than an audience for him who’s applause he craves. This is because Donald Trump does not have his own identity and thus seeks it from those outside of himself by seeking affirmation from others. The way Trump does this is by being a blank screen, It which people project their aspirations upon him, either those being positive or negative. It doesn’t matter either way because as long as people are paying attention to him, he is achieving his goal.