The 'proud Islamophobe' Laura Loomer's win in the primaries is a terrifying moment for the US

Meet Laura Loomer. She is a right-wing conspiracy-theorist-turned-politician supported by none other than the President of the United States Donald Trump. Last year, in August, she filed with the Federal Election Commission to run as a Republican for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 21st congressional district (Trump's home district). Earlier this week, she won the Republican primary. Why is that so terrifying for the country as a whole? For many Americans, Loomer represents everything that's wrong with America. From a strong disbelief in facts to a streak of bigotry, her character, life, and career denote the America that should never be.

Loomer started her career as an employee of Project Veritas, a right-wing organization infamous for producing secretly recorded, misleadingly edited, undercover audio and video investigations. She went on to work as the New York correspondent for the Canadian far-right news site The Rebel Media, and has even occasionally reported for InfoWars, Alex Jones' brainchild of the far-right swamp, where facts go to die. She also used this time to bolster her "activism," by which we mean she would commit offensive acts and call them activism. For instance, on November 8, 2016, the day of the last US Presidential elections, Loomer went to a polling station dressed in a burqa and asked for a ballot under the name of Huma Abedin.

She has supported the President's ban on Muslims entering the country and has referred to herself as a "proud Islamophobe." Most offensively, she has asked in a tweet for the creation of a "non-Islamic" form of Uber and Lyft because she never wants to "support another Islamic immigrant driver." Now, when you are the president of a country in which over 3.45 million members of the population are Muslim, you would maybe think twice before supporting a bigoted individual, whether that is on a political or personal level. Well, nope. When President Trump found out about Loomer's win, he rushed to congratulate her via Twitter. He stated, "Great going, Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!"

American citizens are not happy. Taking to various social media platforms, several folks have voiced their criticism of both Loomer as well as Trump's support for her. But what does her win mean for the nation? While it is highly unlikely that she will win in the general elections, Zack Beauchamp, writing for Vox, suggests, "She is living proof that the more sober elements of the Republican Party have lost the ability to contain the fringe—perhaps permanently." More and more, those in the far-right are becoming the new normal. Her win is a sign that the Republican Party is crumbling. "In a healthy party, someone like Loomer would be very unlikely to get even an entry-level job — and if she did, through some mistake in vetting, her career would be short-lived. Instead, she’s been consistently elevated by influential figures in the conservative movement. The more sober-leaning Republicans were either unwilling or unable to stop this," Beauchamp affirmed.