Donald Trump allies are worried that the former president’s ties to right-wing activist Laura Loomer could cost him votes in key battleground states.
The allies told NBC News that there are “real concerns” about Loomer and Trump’s association, especially in the wake of her racist social media post about Vice President Kamala Harris this week, where she wrote that the “White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” if Harris wins the presidential election.
“She has to go. Laura Loomer cannot stay. She just can’t. She is unapologetic,” one Trump ally told NBC News, adding: “This woman attacked the vice president of the United States in such a racist manner. It was appalling and she hasn’t apologized.”
Several allies, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly, warned that Loomer’s rhetoric about Harris could hurt Trump’s standing with critical voters, particularly in the key states of Georgia and North Carolina, which have large Indian American and Hindu populations.
A second Trump ally told NBC News that Trump has been directly warned about this “by people in Georgia and North Carolina.”
The former president was told, “If you don’t fix this, it will be a problem,” the ally added.
A statement provided to NBC News from the Georgia Chapter of the American Hindu Coalition — which bills itself as a nonpartisan advocacy group — and posted by Greene on social media, also warned about Loomer’s rhetoric, saying that while “President Trump and his dedicated allies — such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — have worked tirelessly to build a future where every American can thrive … recent statements that attempt to divide our community along racial or ethnic lines, specifically those made by Ms. Laura Loomer, are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the values of this movement or the America we seek to build.”
One ally said they were glad Trump shared part of the statement by the group on his TruthSocial page, saying it was an indication he is taking the matter seriously.
Indian Americans account for a bit more than 1% of the total U.S. population, according to Census estimates. Georgia has the highest share of any 2024 battleground at about 1.5% of the state population, followed by Pennsylvania and Michigan at 1.2% and North Carolina at 1.1%.
Georgia and North Carolina are among the closest states in the 2024 presidential race, with most public polling showing the margins between Harris and Trump within a few percentage points in both places. Critically, both states have recent track records of ticket-splitting, with a slice of MAGA-skeptical voters proving decisive.
In 2022, Georgia voters deemed Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Herschel Walker unfit even while re-electing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a 7.5-point margin, two years after Trump narrowly lost the state. Walker, meanwhile, finished a point behind Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on the same ballot before Warnock won in a December 2022 runoff.
In North Carolina, voters elected Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in 2016 and 2020 even while Trump narrowly carried the state at the top of the ticket. And this year, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has had trouble getting traction in public polling of the governor’s race amid broad concerns about his policies and rhetoric on abortion, families and other issues.
“There are people who want to be helpful, who want to win, and have the operations to do so. But there is a bridge that those people won’t cross, and it seems right now that Donald Trump is intent on crossing it,” a Georgia Republican strategist said. “If he crosses that bridge with people like Laura Loomer, the people he needs to win won’t be on the other side of it with him.”
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in response to the criticism, “These anonymous sources have no idea what they’re talking about.”
“President Trump is leading in Georgia and North Carolina because voters in both states are devastated by Kamala’s inflation and open border policies — those are the issues that Americans trust President Trump to lead on and those are the issues that will decide this election,” she added.
On Friday, Trump appeared to attempt to distance himself from Loomer, telling reporters at a press conference in California, “I don’t control Laura. Laura — she’s a, she’s a free spirit. Well, I don’t know. I mean, look, I can’t tell Laura what to do.”
Asked by NBC News after the press conference whether Trump was familiar with some of the conspiracy theories Loomer spreads, the former president said, “I don’t know that much about it. No, I don’t.”
He added, “I know she’s a big fan of the campaign, but I really don’t know.”
