Laura Loomer arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on The Trump Organization’s plane ahead of the presidential debate, Sept. 10, 2024. (Julia Beverly/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Late in last year’s presidential campaign, the far-right Jewish conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer looked to be on the outs with Trump world, amid the perception that her appearance on the then-candidate’s plane would hurt his chances.
But now that he is ensconced back in the Oval Office, Loomer appears to be back in his inner circle — and this week reportedly urged him to fire specific security officials whom she decried as “neocons.”
On Thursday, a day after Loomer made her case to Trump, the president has fired as many as 10 officials on the National Security Council, according to journalists covering the Trump administration.
Three have been identified. They are: senior director for intelligence Brian Walsh, senior director for legislative affairs Thomas Boodry, and David Feith — a senior director for technology and national security who is Jewish. His father, Doug Feith, was under secretary of defense for policy during President George W. Bush’s first term.
The term “neocons” came into wide use to describe the hawkish foreign policy outlook of George W. Bush and those in his administration, including several prominent Jewish officials such as Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and Elliot Abrams. Some have said the term codes as antisemitic.
It now also functions as a shorthand for Republicans who believe that the United States should continue to play an interventionist role abroad, including to support allies such as Israel and Ukraine, rather than take a more isolationist stance — as Loomer and Vice President J.D. Vance advocate. The National Security Council advises the president on foreign policy issues, including on the Middle East and Israel.
Loomer, 31, originally from Tucson, Arizona, emerged as a provocateur in the mid 2010s. Fashioning herself an independent journalist, she has been embraced in recent years by some of the most prominent figures accused of antisemitism, from the rapper known as Ye to Nick Fuentes, the white supremacist activist. She spoke at a convention in 2022 hosted by a white supremacist group, where she called herself a “white advocate,” and she also once called herself a “proud Islamophobe.”
Amid scrutiny of her presence on Trump’s plane last fall, Loomer took aim at her critics in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Why are they so afraid of a 31-year-old Jewish-American woman?” she said. “A lot of people don’t like the fact that I’m a very outspoken, brash Jewish woman who also happens to be a diehard Trump supporter. They want to control what every Jew thinks, and they want Jews to be Democrats. I will never subscribe to their idea of who I should be.”
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