The escalating feud between conservative firebrands Candace Owens and Laura Loomer has devolved into a spectacle that says more about the state of online activism than it does about either womans professed principles.
According to Western Journal, the latest round in this increasingly toxic clash involves Owens, the former Daily Wire host whose commentary has grown steadily more conspiratorial, suggesting to her millions of followers that Loomer has been or should be confined to a psychiatric facility. Loomer, who is Jewish and a vocal supporter of Israel, is now accusing Owens and some of her online allies of doxxing the practice of exposing private information to facilitate harassment after they publicly discussed her alleged location and nearby mental health institutions.
The roots of the conflict are straightforward enough: Both women have, at various points, enjoyed influence within the conservative movement and competed for attention and clout on the populist right. Loomer has aligned herself firmly with Israel, while Owens has increasingly portrayed Israel along with Mormons, Erika Kirk, the Macrons, and even bee cults as part of a shadowy web of malign influence, a worldview that has veered into open hostility toward Zionism and, critics argue, toward Jews themselves.
This ideological rift has manifested in a series of online skirmishes, but Mondays exchange marked a new low, with Owens boasting that she had RECEIPTS!! regarding Loomers supposed psychiatric status. Pensacola, Florida has 3 psychiatric hospitals one of which houses patients under the Baker Act and is within close distance to where Loomer lives, Owens wrote, before speculating, Is @LauraLoomer actually living as an inpatient at Lakeview Center while pretending to rent the back apartment of someone elses property nearby?
The insinuation was clear: Owens was not merely questioning Loomers mental health but pointing her followers toward specific facilities in a way that could invite harassment or worse. The author of the original piece mocked this as conspiratorial nonsense, quipping that only if the Zionist bee cult couldnt get her sectioned elsewhere and pretend shes in Pensacola so it looks like an op, while Candace is really the one in an inpatient facility there, and shes using this to distract from the truth! would such speculation make sense.
I have just as much evidence as Candace Owens has for her claims. Prove me wrong, the writer added, underscoring the lack of substantiation behind Owens allegations. The broader concern is not merely that Owens is making wild claims, but that a significant portion of her nearly 8 million followers appears willing to accept them uncritically, either out of lingering goodwill from her earlier work or because her increasingly erratic rhetoric resonates with those already inclined toward fringe theories.
This dynamic is particularly troubling when it intersects with calls to institutionalize a political opponent or to track down where that opponent might be living or receiving treatment. The articles author noted that some of the individuals amplifying Owens insinuations seemed like cranks and dangerous ones before Owens call to institutionalize Loomer, or to find out what institution she was in. In other words, the problem is not just Owens words, but the audience she is energizing.
Loomer, for her part, responded forcefully as the day wore on, declaring that Candace Owens needs to be reported for doxxing and asserting that Owens had violated Xs terms of service. If she incites someone to commit an act of violence against me, she will be criminally held accountable, Loomer warned, making clear that she views the online campaign as a potential precursor to real-world harm.
She further stated, Authorities have already been contacted and anyone who comes to my home will be trespassed, arrested, or shot by my on site armed security. Florida is a stand your ground state. That statement, while stark, reflects a reality conservatives have long warned about: When political disagreements are escalated into personal targeting and mob behavior, people will inevitably feel compelled to defend themselves, sometimes with force.
One of the more disturbing subplots involved a user identified as TMO, who initially appeared to play along with the idea of tracking Loomer, only to later backtrack. My response to all of this was 100% sarcasm. I would never do that anyone including Larry. Although I do hope she moves like out of this state, TMO wrote after deleting the original post, offering what the article aptly described as a mea-sorta-kinda-culpa.
Loomers reaction to this half-hearted walk-back was described as blunt, and, as the writer noted, to be fair, this is exactly what it should have been. When ones safety is potentially at stake, there is little room for indulgent interpretations of sarcasm that involve hinting at someones location or encouraging others to seek them out.
The pattern in Owens behavior since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel has been one of escalating hostility toward Israel and its supporters, coupled with increasingly baroque conspiracy theories and personal vendettas. Like so much of Owens nonsense, this is telling in the lack of evidence for what amounts to an excuse to tell unhinged people roughly where they might find Loomer, nudge nudge, wink wink, the article observed. Whadya know: People took her up on that! But thats totally not her fault, Im guessing, in her mind.
The core issue for conservatives is not whether Loomer is beyond criticism or whether Owens has raised legitimate questions in the past; it is whether a prominent figure on the right should be using her platform to direct an enormous online mob toward a specific individual. This is a woman telling her almost 8 million followers how to find her enemies, literally, the writer pointed out, posing a stark question: Knowing that, who would you trust more to tell the truth Candace Owens or Laura Loomer?
Im not saying that Loomer is perfect, but if you even have to wonder which side to take in that binary choice, thats telling, the piece concluded, capturing the unease many on the right feel as once-trusted voices drift into extremism and personal destruction. For a movement that claims to stand for individual liberty, rule of law, and ordered debate, the spectacle of conservatives turning the tools of cancel culture, doxxing, and mob intimidation on one another should be a warning sign and a call to demand better from those who claim to speak in its name.
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