Donald Trump refused on Friday to condemn recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to Tuesday night’s presidential debate and several 9/11 memorial events.
“Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with Loomer, who once declared herself a “proud Islamophobe” and has a long history of promoting ugly and extreme conspiracies.
That he’s so easily influenced by the people around him is just one more reason he’s a shitty person to be President. He’s very likely functionally illiterate, so his entire worldview comes solely from the videos he watches and the people he talks to. He only surrounds himself with ‘yes’ people who are likely only there because they flatter his ego and don’t challenge him on anything. And the kind of people willing to flatter Trump are likely either batshit insane themselves or hold even more contemptible views than he does.
He’s an intellectual void that gets filled with the shitty ideas of those around him. There’s always this very direct line where you can trace some of the things he says right to a specific person or a segment on tv. There’s no processing or reflection or contemplation or anything, just garbage in, garbage out.