Why is Laura Loomer making Republicans worried?

In a MAGA world of extreme-sounding influencers and agitators, Laura Loomer stands out. She has promoted conspiracy theories suggesting that 9/11 was an "inside job" and suggested that various American gun massacres were really carried out by "crisis actors" or ISIS terrorists. She is a self-proclaimed "white advocate" who is no stranger to racially charged remarks. Now she's hitting the campaign trail with Donald Trump.

That makes Republicans nervous. The former president's allies are worried Loomer's visibility at campaign events "could cost him votes in key battleground states," said NBC News. One recent Loomer comment — that the "White House will smell like curry" if Kamala Harris, whose mother is Indian, is elected — raised sharp concerns among GOP officials trying to get Trump elected. "She has to go," said one unidentified Trump supporter.

"I think that the president would serve himself well to make sure this doesn't become a bigger story," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a dedicated Trump supporter. Loomer's "rhetoric and hateful tone" are a problem, said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), herself a frequent user of charged rhetoric. Democrats are joining in. "No leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison," said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.

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What did the commentators say?

"Laura Loomer is the symptom. The real problem is Donald Trump," Ruth Marcus said at The Washington Post. Loomer is a "pungent example" of the people Trump chooses to associate with — adviser Stephen Miller, strategist Stephen Bannon and consultant Roger Stone among them. But Loomer's provocations "take the cake," so much that Trump's fellow Republicans are urging him to create some distance. That's good advice: Any "sane" politician "would stay as far away from a person like this as possible."

Loomer's public career has been "full-tilt insane and repulsively cheap," Jeffrey Blehar said at National Review. She's part of a "toxic ecosystem" of alt-right personalities known both for their loyalty to Trump and "contempt for the truth." And now she has found her way into Donald Trump's "direct orbit." But it is folly to blame Loomer for Trump's tendency to surround himself with "attaboying toadies." Loomer is a "symptom" of Trump's problems. "Trump knows by now the kind of people he wants surrounding him."

What next?

Trump has made a "half-hearted" attempt to downplay Loomer's presence, said MSNBC. "Laura Loomer doesn't work for the campaign," he wrote on Truth Social. And he told reporters on the campaign trail that she is a "free spirit" but otherwise denied knowledge of her activities. "I don't know that much about it," he said.

Loomer, meanwhile, is accusing the media of a "smear campaign" against her, said The New Republic. It won't work: "Donald Trump likes me. Donald Trump trusts me. OK?" she said on her podcast. Those comments mean that the Trump campaign's efforts to paint her as an outsider "have fallen flat." But the backlash from GOP officials makes Loomer a "unique liability" during election season, Ali Breland said in The Atlantic: "Laura Loomer is where Republicans draw the line."