With the dust barely settled from a horrific shooting attack at a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a pair of notorious pro-Trump firebrands are in open war against each other as one blames the other for the attack.
Laura Loomer, a Jewish far-right activist who has routinely had a direct line of communication to President Donald Trump, made a furious post to X on Thursday assigning blame for the attack to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, an outspoken critic of Israel.
"Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both said everyone needs to know where their local Chabad is," said Loomer. "I said their hatred would lead to people shooting up Jews in synagogues. It will likely end up being a Muslim. The Trump administration must start deporting these Islamic savages from our country and we must start holding people accountable for inciting violence. This is very sad."
Carlson responded with an angry reply, accusing Loomer of telling falsehoods about him.
"I rarely read the filth you publish, and have never responded to it, for the same reason I avoid pornography. It’s unhealthy and I don’t want to encourage it," wrote Carlson. "But in this specific case I understand exactly what you’re doing and I’d like to stop it now. I have never said or suggested that 'everyone needs to know where their local Chabad is,' or anything remotely like it. I didn’t attack or even criticize Chabad, an organization I’ve mentioned precisely once in my life. Last week I said I believed that IDF soldiers in Israel have received third temple patches for their uniforms from Chabad. I believe that’s true. Please let me know if I’m wrong, not that you care."
"The point of your post is to blame me preemptively for violent attacks on American Jews that you believe are coming," he continued. "This is an absurd slander of course. I abhor violence against innocents, which is why I am disgusted by what Israel has done in Gaza and why I argued against the current war in Iran. As a Christian and an American I also vehemently oppose punishing anyone on the basis of bloodline. The concept of 'Amalek' has no place in Western civilization and certainly not in my country. I am therefore strongly opposed to anti-Semitism, precisely as much as I am to the anti-Arab hate you promote or the anti-white bias embedded in the US government and our largest institutions. It’s all immoral and indefensible."
"I believe in the inherent rights of the individual because I believe in God," he concluded. "What you’re doing divides this country more than you likely understand. I hope you will stop."
The gunman, who was fatally shot by security guards and then burned inside his vehicle, may have had explosives on hand, according to preliminary reports.