Washington: Laura Loomer, a political activist allied with former US President Donald Trump, has come under fire for a social media post on Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris that has been described as "racist" for including cultural stereotypes. Loomer was criticised by her post from one of top Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Greene for the "appalling and extremely racist" tweet that has sparked a bitter feud between the two.
Loomer shared Harris' post where the 59-year-old Democrat reminisced about visiting her grandparents in India as a young girl, and her grandfather would take her on morning walks and "discuss the importance of fighting for equality and fighting corruption". Harris’ grandfather was a retired civil servant who was involved in the movement to win India’s independence, she said.
Reacting to the post, Loomer used derogatory language in her post on X, saying if Kamala Harris wins the upcoming elections then the White House "will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call centre and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand."
Several netizens, shocked by the language, immediately called out the activist for his "racist" language. "Hey Laura, Your racism is showing.. and this is one of many of the reasons Trump is going to lose.. Supporters like you!" a user said. Another individual said, "I thought JD Vance's wife is also Indian. Is there also open season on him and her?"
'This is appalling and extremely racist'
Laura's controversial post sparked a furious response from one of her party's top leaders. US Representative Greene called it an "appalling and extremely racist" comment that did not represent Trump, Republicans or the 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) movement.
"This is appalling and extremely racist. It does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA. This does not represent President Trump. This type of behavior should not be tolerated ever. @LauraLoomer should take this down," Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X.
This resulted in a public spat between Greene and Loomer, wherein the latter accused Greene of colluding with the left-wing media to "smear me with lies". She also refused to take down the tweet and said mockery and political humour to "make fun of pandering" was not illegal in America.
"Everyone just needs to chill out and laugh about the cooking comments and the Indian Call center jokes. Or are we about to deny the fact that every time we call customer service we get directed to a call center in India? Not my fault some people don’t have a sense of humor," she said.
Harris, 59, is the first woman of Indian and Black heritage to serve as vice president and to be nominated on a major party's ticket for the White House. Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan, who was born in Chennai and came to the US to pursue a doctoral program at UC Berkeley. Harris has always identified as both Black and Indian in an attempt to recognise both her parents’ heritage as part of her identity. She was recently attacked by Trump himself, who said she "chose to be Black" for political gain.
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