As a new member to the DC, Rep. Mary Peltola is already a target for the MAGA swamp.
Earlier this month, far-right activist/white supremacist/internet personality Laura Loomer tweeted a video of her chasing Peltola around, harassing her.
Loomer is a self-described “investigative journalist,” working hard to maintain her notoriety in a three-minute video where she stalks Peltola through the halls of the Cannon Office Building, demanding to know what she, as a “Native American” legislator, thinks about Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Loomer chases after Peltola, repeatedly calling her “Native American” while remaining undeterred when Peltola doesn’t respond, politely walking out to her car. Loomer shows no shame in using a Congresswoman’s (wrongly assumed) race to further her own agenda.
The blatant stunt to fire up extremist Twitter followers was covered by conservative blog Must Read Alaska, who characterized Loomer as a “journalist” and the video as “reporting.”
Loomer got her start working at Project Veritas and is one of a few in a constellation of far-right activists presenting themselves as journalists. Project Veritas was started by James O’Keefe in 2010 and has attempted, and failed, on numerous occasions to create viral “gotcha” moments meant to discredit and embarrass politicians and political causes outside of the far-right political sphere.
With an audience hungry to destroy any semblance of civil discourse, O’Keefe, Loomer, and others continue to profit off of conservatives desperate for political theater at all costs, whether it means impeding real policy work or inciting violence.
The supposed gotcha moment in Loomer’s video is a “confrontation” with the Capitol Police who, according to her, were called by Peltola. The interaction is quite the opposite. Peltola, along with her husband and staff, politely ignore the racist questions coming from Loomer as they attempt to exit the building. In the final shot, Loomer points the camera at a bewildered Capitol Police officer and demands to know what she did wrong, to which the police officer politely responds “nothing.” End of story. No confrontation, no reaction from Peltola or the Capitol Police, nothing at all worth mentioning. Making a fool of oneself is, after all, not an arrestable offense no matter how many Facebook likes it generates.
Suzanne Downing, Alaska internet personality, has had a recent obsession with Peltola, working hard to paint her as dishonest. While Alaska faces enormous questions about its budget, education funding, and delivering basic government services, Downing chooses instead to promote Loomer’s racist rhetoric, shouting it at her over and over again as she walks down a hallway.
