Person of Interest: Laura Loomer

Reactionary provocateur, former InfoWars and Project Veritas contributor, self-identified white nationalist and two-time Republican candidate Laura Loomer posted an interesting (and since deleted) tweet on Monday. 

Loomer, known for bizarre publicity stunts like handcuffing herself to the front door of Twitter’s New York office, claimed she is now a “full-blown accelerationist.” 

“I invite all of you to join me in admitting that our country is never going to ever again be what it used to be. We need a rapid & drastic change of scene in our country,” she concluded. 

Loomer’s perspective, however unhinged, is pertinent for a few reasons. For one, her bizarre perspectives are often a canary in the coal mine; the kind of extreme, anti-humanist philosophies of the fringe eventually become ironed out and refurbished by the “center” of contemporary American conservatism. 

Additionally, the “accelerationist” ideology seems to be coming into vogue on the right. While the term is often associated with left-wing intellectuals who argue the only way to end capitalism is to push it to collapse in on itself, the hard-right iteration is especially concerning. It seems as if the Republican Party is actively attempting to knock the support columns out from under every existing institution. 

“In the case of white supremacists, the accelerationist set sees modern society as irredeemable and believe it should be pushed to collapse so a fascist society built on ethnonationalism can take its place,” a Southern Poverty Law Center analysis explains. 

“What defines white supremacist accelerationists is their belief that violence is the only way to pursue their political goals. To put it most simply, accelerationists embrace terrorism.” 

Given the neo-Nazi affiliations and semiotics attached to the latest mass shooter in Allen, Tex. — and mass killings more broadly — Loomer’s tangent might be a signal that such destructive nihilism will soon become part and parcel to the broader, mainstream right.