Laura Loomer’s 65 Million Meals Comment Isn’t a Joke—It’s Genocidal Rhetoric
Loomer’s Actual Words and Context
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a known ally of President Trump, caused outrage with a post on X (Twitter) that appeared to endorse violence against immigrants. Commenting on Florida’s new Everglades migrant detention center (nicknamed
“Alligator Alcatraz”), Loomer wrote: “Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.”. In plainer terms, she suggested feeding detainees to the alligators that inhabit the area. The context here is critical: this detention camp is literally surrounded by alligators, a fact President Trump himself joked about when he quipped that escapees should learn to zigzag to outrun the gators. Loomer’s comment took that cruelty a step further, implying a massive number of people could become alligator food.
Let’s be objective about what she actually said. Loomer did not explicitly mention any ethnic or racial group in that post. She didn’t say “Latinos” or “Hispanics” by name. What she did do was invoke a colossal number – 65 million – in reference to human beings as “meals” for animals. For perspective, one user immediately responded: “Who are the 65 million you are talking about? That’s approximately a fifth of the U.S. population”. Indeed, 65 million people is roughly one in every five Americans. So while Loomer’s phrasing was coy (and couched as a grotesque “joke”), the scale of her statement was anything but subtle. 65 million is not a random large number – it’s almost exactly the total Latino population in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 66 million Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino. By contrast, the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is around 11 million, a fraction of that figure. This means Loomer’s “65 million meals” comment, whether she admits it or not, corresponds shockingly well to “every Latino currently living in the United States,” as one commentator summarized. In effect, Loomer’s “joke” fantasized about exterminating an entire marginalized community. No amount of word-twisting can hide how extreme and inflammatory that is.
Progressive Outrage: Correct Message, Missing Nuance
It didn’t take long for progressive voices and civil rights advocates to condemn Loomer’s words. Prominent commentators labeled her post “openly genocidal” and “advocating mass murder”. Many noted the unmistakable implication that she wants to wipe out Latinos or immigrants en masse. For example, former Obama aide Tommy Vietor responded by calling Loomer a “lunatic” and stating bluntly that “what this [Trump advisor] is saying is that every Latino currently living in the United States should go to prison and die.”. The outrage is clearly justified: Loomer’s rhetoric evokes the darkest of historical parallels (commenters even compared her to a “21st century Nazi” targeting Hispanics).
Occupy Democrats, a popular progressive outlet, amplified this story with urgent messaging. They highlighted Loomer’s closeness to Trump and translated her tweet’s subtext into plain English – essentially that 65 million Latinos should be rounded up and fed to alligators. Their viral posts emphasized that “there are 65 million Latinos in the U.S.” and warned that Trump’s allies are now “casually fantasizing about mass ‘unaliving’ ALL Latinos.” This framing is basically correct in capturing the outrageous meaning of Loomer’s words, and it serves to wake people up to the danger. However, it’s also intentionally incomplete: it paraphrases Loomer rather than quoting her. She never used the word “Latinos” herself – and that omission is exactly what her defenders will latch onto.
A viral Occupy Democrats graphic underscored the implications of Loomer’s comment, equating “65 million meals” with the 65 million Latinos living in the United States. This widely shared image (see above) drove home the horror of Loomer’s statement by spelling out its genocidal subtext. Yet, because it doesn’t detail Loomer’s coy phrasing, her apologists are already howling that she was misrepresented. In other words, the message is true, but its blunt delivery gives bad-faith actors a chance to quibble over wording. We need to be prepared to address that gaslighting head-on.
Anticipating the Gaslighting and Spin
Whenever such hateful rhetoric is exposed, a predictable chorus of defenders emerges to distort the reality and attack the critics. We’re already seeing it with Loomer’s post. “She never said ‘all Latinos’!” is the immediate retort – as if the lack of that exact phrasing means her hands are clean. This is classic gaslighting: attempting to make the public doubt their own eyes and ears. Let’s break down the main deflections we can expect and why they hold no water:
“She didn’t literally say Latinos, so you’re misquoting her.” – True, Loomer’s tweet doesn’t spell out who the 65 million are. But it absolutely implies it. The number 65 million is a glaring clue. No other interpretation fits: it far exceeds any estimate of undocumented migrants, or of criminals, or any other subgroup her defenders might conjure. It matches only one demographic – the entire U.S. Latino population. Even conservative-leaning observers acknowledged this was intentional. As one commenter noted, “The entire Latino population in the U.S. is 65 million. She means all of us.”. Loomer herself effectively confirmed the target when she responded to that comment by falsely claiming, “There are 65 million ILLEGAL ALIENS in the United States. Nice try though.”. This rebuttal from her was a blatant lie (again, the real number of undocumented people is about one-sixth of that) – essentially a scramble to mask her original meaning. Pretending we are “twisting her words” is absurd when she’s the one tossing out a bogus statistic to cover her tracks. No, she didn’t say “Latinos” explicitly; she just chose the exact number that equals all Latinos and then tried to re-label that number as “illegal aliens.” We’re not falling for it, and neither should anyone else.
“She only meant violent criminals or illegals, not an entire group.” – Nothing in Loomer’s post mentions crime or specifies any subset of immigrants. The context was a migrant detention center, and her gator analogy explicitly celebrated the prospect of 65 million human beings being devoured. If she truly meant “just the dangerous ones” or something, why use a figure tens of millions higher than even the total immigrant population? The answer: she wanted a provocatively huge number – effectively a whole people – to demonize. It’s the same ugly trick we’ve seen before: paint all immigrants or all members of a minority group as a deadly threat, then claim you only meant the “bad ones.” The scale of 65 million belies any notion of selectivity. Loomer was broadcasting a wholesale hatred, not a nuanced policy proposal.
“It was just a joke / she’s being edgy.” – Genocidal rhetoric isn’t a joke; it’s propaganda. Calling it “edgy humor” is an insult to basic decency. Throughout history, calls for horrific violence have often been sugarcoated as “just kidding” or hyperbole – that doesn’t make them harmless. Suggesting that an entire ethnic group could become reptile feed is dehumanizing in the extreme. It reduces a population to animal fodder. Even if Loomer thought she was being clever or trolling liberals, her words have power and meaning. Dehumanization of this kind is a well-known precursor to real-world violence. As one aghast commenter told Loomer, “Not very pro-life of you…this is disturbing.”. It’s beyond disturbing – it’s the language of cruelty becoming normalized. No civilized society should shrug this off as a joke.
“Loomer is just a fringe provocateur, who cares?” – Don’t underestimate the messenger here. Laura Loomer is not a random internet crank yelling into the void. She is a prominent MAGA figure with a significant following and direct ties to those in power. In fact, she has been described as a “close advisor and confidant” to Trump and even reportedly flew on Air Force One with him recently. News outlets confirm that Loomer has Trump’s ear – earlier in his term, he fired a high-ranking security official after Loomer urged him to purge ‘disloyal’ staff. In short, her ideas can influence policy. When someone this close to a former (and potential future) president is comfortable spewing eliminationist rhetoric, we must take it seriously. It’s not just idle shock talk on some fringe forum; it’s coming from the heart of the Trumpist movement. Dismissing it as “just Loomer being Loomer” would be dangerously naïve. She’s saying aloud what others in power may believe or eventually enact.
Rejecting the Propaganda and Standing Up for the Truth
Loomer’s “65 million meals” comment is harmful propaganda aimed at a marginalized group, and it demands a firm rebuke. By framing Latino immigrants (and effectively all Latinos) as less than human – literally as food for predators – this rhetoric seeks to strip an entire community of its humanity. We’ve seen this playbook before: extremist voices dehumanize a minority to justify cruelty, detention, and worse. Today it’s “alligators” instead of gas chambers, but the chilling echo of “ethnic cleansing” is unmistakable. As one outraged observer noted, “MAGA [is] advocating for complete racial genocide”. That is not hyperbole – that is a fair reading of what Loomer floated, even if couched as a twisted joke.
It’s urgent that we call this out for what it is. No amount of gaslighting should deter us from the facts: Yes, she meant all Latinos. No, we’re not “overreacting” by labeling that genocidal – it is genocidal by definition to fantasize about exterminating an entire ethnic population. And no, hiding behind the fig leaf of “65 million illegal aliens” fools no one; it only underscores the bad faith and bigotry at play, since one can only reach a phony number that high by counting every person of Latin American heritage as “illegal.” We refuse to let critics of these inhumane policies be silenced or sidetracked by such rhetorical tricks.
In the face of propaganda, truth and moral clarity are our best weapons. The truth is that immigrants and Latino Americans are human beings who contribute to our society, not “invaders” to be massacred. The truth is that advocating violence – even sarcastically – has consequences: it normalizes hatred and primes people to accept atrocities. And the truth is that we’ve been warned about this rhetoric before. When someone tells you (even half-jokingly) that they want to eradicate 65 million of your neighbors, believe them. As the saying goes, and the far right wants us gone. Believe them. We cannot afford to downplay or forget Loomer’s words, no matter how much her defenders try to gaslight the nation into thinking it was no big deal.
It’s heartening that so many Americans – from liberal activists to libertarians and beyond – immediately recognized Loomer’s post as beyond the pale. Public outcry and awareness are crucial. But outrage must be coupled with resolve. We must reject these dehumanizing narratives and stand in solidarity with the communities under attack. Calling out lies and bigotry is not “hysterical,” it’s responsible. So the next time someone claims “she never said ALL Latinos” as a gotcha, don’t back down. Point them to the facts, challenge the distortion, and re-focus on the real issue: a powerful figure in Trump’s inner circle flirted with genocidal rhetoric against a minority group. That is unacceptable period, and no amount of gaslighting will make it otherwise. Our collective response now isn’t just about one person’s vile tweet – it’s about making it crystal clear that America will not tolerate hate speech that threatens millions of our friends and neighbors. The lives and dignity of our fellow human beings are worth more than an “Alligator Alcatraz” punchline.
Let’s make sure everyone understands that.
Sources:
U.S. Census Bureau: 65 million Hispanic/Latino population
Estimated undocumented immigrant population (~11 million): Pew Research Center
Loomer’s original tweet (June 30, 2025)