Part of traveling, the joy, some might even say, is opening yourself up to unfamiliar experiences, keeping an open mind, and learning to appreciate something on its own terms that you thought you may not have ever liked.
On that note, Florida-based right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer was recently in the urban nightmare that she believes Chicago to be—for a friend’s bachelorette party.
Chicago, it appears, wasn’t to her liking.
“I’m in Chicago and just saw some chick twerking on the sidewalk,” she wrote, asking if it was a “thing?”
Right-wingers have long painted Chicago as a dystopic hellscape with an out-of-control, violent population, so Loomer should be given credit for even attending.
But while someone publicly twerking was apparently disconcerting enough for Loomer to head to Twitter to post about it, what happened next was apparently too much for Loomer and her friends to bear.
On the trip, the group of women, who Loomer publicly posted about, attended a magic show. It went pretty well, with a talented blonde Lithuanian man Loomer seemed to like.
But then things took a turn.
“Bachelorette Party update: We just left the magic show early. It started out great with some blonde Lithuanian male magician who was really talented. But then the main act was some lady w/ purple hair who started worshiping her pentagram on stage. We all got up and left. I wasn’t going to stay for Devil worshiping. Yikes. Chicago is pretty wild…”
Being bothered enough to walk out on a magic show was a claim too ripe for Twitter users to skip, and a number of people laughed at the long-time Florida resident heading to the Midwest and being shook by some light Satanism.
Given Loomer’s penchant for stunts and efforts to go viral, a few people speculated that the event never happened.
But Loomer’s friend, whose bachelorette party it was, defended her friend, sharing a video from the show.
“Putting fish hooks in your mouth and praying to a pentagram isn’t a magic show I want to enjoy. Thanks,” wrote the bride-to-be on Twitter.
When someone joked that she “Ran away from a purple haired witch,” the bride replied, “Most people, who are religious, don’t appreciate devil worship, pentagrams, and fish hooks being pulled from your mouth being thrown at you. I didn’t sign up for it. No one “ran away.” I didn’t like what she was selling, so I left. Weirdos.”
Loomer’s group fleeing a big-city magic show isn’t all that surprising, as the right-wing has been beset by fears of growing Satanism in America, seeing the devil wherever they look.
And they weren’t the only far-right Satan fears this weekend. Members of the white nationalist outfit Patriot Front were seen in Boston, protesting Satancon.
The event is hosted by the Satanic Temple and was dubbed “a weekend of blasphemy.” The Satanic Temple does not actually worship Satan and is one of the most vociferous defenders of abortion rights in the country.
But their annual conference sparked fears from other right-wing figures online.
“If you don’t see yet that the ‘culture war’ is actually a spiritual war, open your eyes,” wrote Charlie Kirk.
And fighting that war never allows for any respite, apparently, not even at a bachelorette party in Chicago.
