Vance-Loomer Feud Erupts, Divides MAGA

Vance attacks Loomer, and all hell breaks loose on the right.

Last night, JD Vance decided to take on MAGA activist and Trump superfan Laura Loomer with a post on X calling her “despicable.” That didn’t go over very well with a significant chunk of MAGA voters he needs to win over in the 2028 primary.

Whatever you may think of Loomer, she has developed a large and loyal following over many years with Trump’s base. Trump also continues to take her calls, texts, meets with her in person, praises her at events, and has never said an unkind word about her. Loomer has 1.8 million followers on X, many more across other platforms, and a podcast. Her followers include hardcore activists who have big followings of their own. So it was somewhat mystifying for Vance to go out of his way to go after her.

It didn’t go well for him.

It all began when Vance gave the headliner speech at the anti-abortion March for Life rally in DC yesterday. Vance gave an extreme far-right speech on the abortion issue, making it clear that he considered it murder and stating forcefully that he believed it should be illegal with no exceptions. This is a departure from Trump, who was pro-choice his entire life and was never comfortable talking about the issue.

In 2024, Trump (or his pollsters) understood that in the post-Dobbs era, advocating for a national abortion ban was going to be politically toxic. So Trump made it part of his campaign platform that abortion should be “left up to the states.” But what Vance said yesterday in his speech was a clear departure from the administration’s position. Why? Because Vance is positioning himself to win a contested Republican primary in 2028, and he isn’t going to let any of his challengers get to the right of him on abortion.

And that’s exactly what Loomer had an issue with.

Loomer noted that Vance is supposed to be the point man for the administration in the midterms. He is the one who is supposed to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to traveling around the country to support their candidates. And she believes his departure from Trump’s “leave it up to the states” approach on abortion could reignite this as a serious electoral issue for Democrats in the midterms, while it barely registers as a top-of-mind issue for most voters right now.

This is what Loomer said:

“Why is the GOP pushing more abortion messaging in a midterm election year? Didn’t they learn their lesson in 2018? Trump doesn’t like when the GOP focuses on abortion. How many times does he have to say this? Trump gets it. The GOP will blow the midterms.”

While Loomer was clearly talking about Vance’s speech, and that his presence at the event highlighted the issue again nationally while Trump doesn’t want to talk about it, she was careful not to mention him by name. So it was mystifying when Vance then decided to go out of his way to go after Loomer directly and alienate many in the MAGA base. This is how he responded to Loomer’s post:

“It's interesting that some ‘conservative influencers’ spend all of their time attacking the administration and sowing division. Disgraceful actually.”

At that point, it was game on. I’m not sure if Vance understood what he was getting himself into when he made that post, but he understands now. Much of the criticism he got noted that Vance has been a steadfast supporter of his close friend Tucker Carlson, who has criticized the Trump administration more harshly than almost anyone on the right in recent months.

Certainly more harshly than Loomer. But Vance won’t ever criticize Tucker.

The issue for Vance is that he only exists as a viable political entity as long as he has Trump’s support. If Trump ever withdraws that support, as we have seen him do many times in the past with former allies, Vance is finished. People forget that Vance was consistently polling 4th in the 2022 senate primary in Ohio at around 12-13%. Then his friend Donald Trump, Jr. convinced his dad to endorse him, and overnight Vance shot to the top of the polls. Vance was unable to attract Republican primary voters on his own despite spending heavily on the race, and only won because of Trump.

He knows that. Trump knows that. And Loomer knows that.

MAGA loyalists are also very much aware of the things Vance said in the past about Trump, including his “America’s Hitler” text to a friend. Some don’t like that his wife is of Indian descent and is not christian. They are aware of Vance’s recent conversion to Catholicism after being an atheist his entire life, and question whether he only did that for political reasons. He also doesn’t have the personality traits that Trump has that turn on the MAGA base. In short, he really is nothing without Trump’s support.

And Trump’s support, whenever he is asked about endorsing Vance in 2028, has been tepid. Every time he is asked about Vance in 2028, he says that there will be a lot of good candidates running that he likes. He typically brings up Marco Rubio when he makes those remarks. That has to concern Vance, and is another reason why many of the MAGA faithful have kept their distance from giving him their full support.

Now to the reaction to Vance’s post. Of course, Loomer has been attacking him nonstop since he made it - another reason for Vance not to pick a fight with her. She is relentless and obsessive and will not stop. She is going to be a thorn in his side now for years. This is just one of her posts in response:

“Since the VP is so focused on ‘conservative influencers’ causing division, I look forward to seeing him condemn the conservatives who called his wife a ‘dirty jeet’ and his buddy Tucker Carlson who has attacked every single policy of the Trump admin.

It’s rich, isn’t it? You can carry the casket of Charlie Kirk but you won’t call out Tucker for promoting a guy on his show who accused Erika Kirk of being involved in her husband’s assassination and who accused Tyler Bowyer (who took over for Kirk) of being a homosexual pedophile. Being aligned with the President is more important than being friends with degenerates.

You won’t call out the Republicans like your friend MTG who called Trump a pedophile protector and who lied and said Trump was trying to get her killed. We are all shocked you refuse to call out the Neo Nazis who attack Jews and Hindus like your wife and demand that she convert to be worthy in their eyes.

You refuse to call out those who profit off of attacking your boss Donald Trump on their silly Conservative podcasts because you want their votes in 2028, even if they spew poison and attack President Trump every single day. Or should we keep pretending this is about abortion?”

Vance got over 2,300 replies to his post. These were some of the replies from Trump supporters:

Doing the work for Tucker and Buckley Carlson. Interesting that the conservatives you’ve gone after have one thing in common.

Why didn’t J.D. Vance address the substance of Loomer’ well articulated questions and concerns? Many other conservatives are also asking the same questions! Weird.

You seem to really enjoy going after conservative Jewish women. Why is that?

This convinces me you are not there best pick for 2028. It’s fair to explain the President said to go to M4L… but then to call Loomer disgraceful while you’re silent on the real villains is insane.

You go after Laura Loomer who bends over backwards to protect this admin, while you are stuck to Tucker whose vile lies and hatred not to mention his constant attacks on this admin go unchecked by you. Seriously more the time goes by more we are not sure who you are.

Wait... what? Loomer isn’t perfect, but she certainly doesn’t spend even a fraction of her time attacking the administration, let alone “all” of it. Something tells me that you’re just angry at her for calling out your handler and division expert, Tucker Qatarlson.

Loomer did not attack this administration. President Trump literally praised Loomer at Mar a Lago last weekend. She’s the best.

Laura has been very restrained in criticizing you like the rest of us do. But you still selectively attack her for reasons we all know. You are such a disappointment.

I don’t agree with Loomer‘s abortion policy comment, but you’ve chosen the wrong target. If you really want to call out “conservative influencers” who attack the administration and sow division, it’s Tucker Carlson you need to be highlighting, not Laura. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Any analysis of all commentary made by Tucker and Laura over the past year would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Laura is an ally to the administration, while Tucker is an opponent who’s made an art out of sowing chaos and division among conservatives. THAT’S what’s disgraceful.

Wow! Interesting how you directed this at Laura instead of messaging her privately!
So name names since you felt this was beneficial to you to post this. Who are some “conservative influencers”! The republicans/conservative needs to be looking for a better candidate in 2028 because Vance is not the one!

Bad look Vance. Vote Rubio 2028.

JD to conservatives “Be like Tucker”. Conservatives to JD “Buh Bye”

Tucker will be your downfall. Rubio is looking great

She's right JD. I've watched my party lose elections on this issue all my life. Lately Kari Lake to name one. Leave it to the states. Leave it alone.

"Disgraceful actually". Sounds like you get your quips from Tucker....you know, the douchebag who slams Trump’s policies daily.

LOL Dude, if you dont have the balls to call out Tucker but find them to call out Loomer, you dont have the balls to fill Trumps shoes.

Is there anyone else you attack besides Jewish conservative influencers on X like Loomer because you are quite selective from what I have seen. She is trying to help the administration focus on winning and abortion simply isn’t an issue that wins elections. I’m pro-life myself. This isn’t about abortion. many, many people will not vote for you as President. Regardless of what you think of the American public who are trying to save conservatism, we aren't going to back down just because you shout down at us. Unhinged behavior coming from our own administration. Very disturbing.

I don’t like this response from you—at all. You know exactly what she is saying. Many within the GOP keep bringing up the abortion issue which always sabotages us during elections. Remember when Lindsay wanted to ban all abortions with no exceptions a month before the elections? It killed us.

You manipulated the post and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Please don’t do this anymore this is gaslighting at its finest.

The more you hitch your wagon to Tucker and the clinically insane Candace Owens, the more I’m starting to favor Rubio in 2028.

Trump has shown he can be highly unpredictable supporting candidates. He just knifed Bill Cassidy for his impeachment vote 5 years ago after not mentioning it for years - he never forgot it. He pulled his endorsement for Mo Brooks in 2022 to back Katie Britt after Brooks said he should “move on” from griping about 2020. He double-crossed Elise Stefanik, forced Thom Tillis into retirement - the list is endless. Of course, let’s not forget Mike Pence, who was loyal to Trump for 4 years and is now called a “traitor” by him.

So, given the things Vance has said about Trump in the past, he may want to think twice about going out of his way to take shots at Trump’s most loyal supporters - especially the ones who have his ear. It is unclear whether Rubio will run or whether another MAGA challenger will step up, but there is no shortage of Trump supporters out there looking for an alternative to Vance.

If you missed yesterday’s Today in Politics bulletin, you can find it here.