Conspiracy theorist said to have been key promoter of false rumour about immigrants ex-president repeated in debate
Republicans are blaming the influence of Laura Loomer, a rightwing conspiracy theorist, for this week’s botched debate performance by Donald Trump, which included the former president repeating a bizarre and unfounded claim that pet cats and dogs were being eaten by Haitian immigrants.
Loomer flew with Trump on his private plane to Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia and has been identified as a key promoter of the pets rumour, which has been dismissed as false by authorities in Springfield, Ohio, where the practice was alleged to have been taking place.
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Loomer, who styles herself as an “investigative journalist”, last year promoted a conspiracy theory alleging that 9/11 was an”inside job”. On Wednesday she posted an unfounded allegation that Harris had worn earphones disguised as earrings during the debate.
Trump knew it was bullshit. He just forgot that his audience wasn’t his brainwashed supporters.
Either that or he actually believed it was real. And I don’t know which one is worse.
I think he absolutely believed it. The “But I saw it on TV!” seemed 100% genuine.
Yeah he’s not nearly clever enough to be two-faced about this kind of stuff. He just believes whatever the people around him tell him to believe. It might be the scariest thing about him as Commander in Chief really.
The way he responded about the official statement reveals how he views all public servants as well. Paraphrasing the response to the official statement: “yeah, well that’s a nice thing for an official to say. But I saw it on TV what they were saying!”
His initial reaction is essentially “of course the official is lying, that’s what you do.”
Plus, he had “concept of a plan” in his front pocket. He had that think ready. If nothing else, his debate prep got that in his head.
He had it ready because he’s said it before and has been saying it since 2015. Seth Myers ran a supercut in his post-debate special.
When he said that it just made it so much worse. So he sees something on TV, decides it will benefit him in some way, so he repeats it.
What he believes is irrelevant except as mens rea, but at the same time he has given constant indication that he fully believes whatever is most convenient at the time. This is an individual who after over a decade involved in politics has embraced the card says moops with a consistency and commitment that surely must be pathological
With his feeble age and memory, he’s grown paranoid where he doesn’t even trust his team. So the people nearest to him are whispering.