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ICYMI: ‘Rick Scott Leans On Right-Wing Bigot In Campaign To Become Senate GOP Leader’ [HuffPost]
“Scott wants to be Senate GOP leader. Apparently that involves cozying up to a racist activist who called the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks ‘an inside job.’”
A new story from HuffPost details Rick Scott’s exclusive interview with fellow extremist Laura Loomer. Loomer is so toxic even Marjorie Taylor Greene has called her “appalling and extremist,” but that hasn’t stopped Scott from wholeheartedly embracing Loomer in his desperate pursuit to become Senate Republican Leader.
Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below:
- A few years ago, the anti-Muslim bigot and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer was so politically toxic that after she took a photo with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Scott’s spokesperson claimed “the Senator had never met this person, that I’m aware of.”
- On Tuesday, things were different. In an interview on Loomer’s podcast, Scott — who is locked in a relatively close reelection race with former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and is trying to become the next Senate Republican leader — thanked the far-right activist and Donald Trump sycophant for “all your help in helping me win my election” for a second term as Florida’s governor in 2014.
- “To this day, from when I was a college student all the way to now, 12 years later, every time you see me, you know my name,” Loomer gushed, showing off what she said was a 2014 letter from Scott, apparently with her college address on it, and then saying she’d “saved every single note that you ever sent to me — because I really cherish these letters, Sen. Scott.”
- “I’m very appreciative. I’ve been blessed,” Scott replied. “I’ve gotten to meet wonderful people and work with wonderful people. Congratulations on all your success.”
- Loomer on Wednesday called Scott “the best candidate to be our next [Senate GOP] leader.”
- The interview was a major get for Loomer, a Trump devotee who has in the past called herself a “proud Islamophobe” and “pro-white nationalism.”
- Loomer’s ride-alongs came a year after she posted a video that called the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks an “inside job.” Earlier this year, Loomer referred to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who was born in Somalia, as a “black dog” and “American in name only.” “I really do believe in IQ science” Loomer said, adding that “some of the people that have the lowest IQs are Somalis” and saying of the congresswoman, “is it really acceptable to have somebody who’s so inbred that they have an IQ that is legally classified as mental retardation?”
- Loomer has also said Democrats should be executed, and that the White House “will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” if Harris — whose parents are from India and Jamaica — is elected. The racist comment drew strong rebukes from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a top Trump ally. Graham called Loomer ”toxic″ and urged Trump to keep his distance from her.
- When Loomer brought up “election integrity,” Scott said people were “very concerned that Trump is going to win and then somehow Democrats are going to do something wrong.”
- Most of all, though, Scott used his time with the well-known bigot and conspiracy theorist to pledge his loyalty to Trump, noting that he showed up in support of Trump at the Manhattan courtroom where Trump was ultimately found guilty of a hush money scheme