No one can keep former President Donald Trump away from Laura Loomer.

During his third presidential campaign, his advisers and advisors have done everything they can to protect him from Loomer, a far-right social media influencer, and similar figures who stroke his ego and inflame his basest political instincts.

They lost that battle this week, when Loomer rode on Trump’s jet to his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday and to the Sept. 11 memorial service on Wednesday. Her presence at the latter infuriated some Democrats and Republicans, because one of the many conspiracy theories she has promoted is the false notion that the terrorist attack on the U.S. was an “inside job.” It wasn’t.

Loomer’s return to Trump’s side is pitting key figures in his coalition against one another, testing the strength of a campaign already reeling from his underwhelming debate performance on Tuesday and the Democrats’ resurgence after their July candidate switch. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., key Trump allies in Congress who represent opposite ends of the Republican ideological spectrum, have publicly urged him to drop her. Loomer fired back Thursday with a flurry of diatribes about Graham.

Moreover, her presence reflects Trump’s loss of trust in his campaign staff and their corresponding fear of upsetting him in a time of crisis, people familiar with the matter said. Last month, he tapped his 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as a top adviser to his top aides — a move widely seen as a rebuke to the existing leadership team.

A senior Trump campaign official said this explains why Loomer is no longer being kept at arm’s length.

“The people who have the authority to stop it are clinging to their jobs,” the former official said. “So are you going to take that fight to him?”

Loomer did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, but fighting is a big part of her appeal to Trump. She advocates for him as vigorously as she does for fringe theories, such as the unsubstantiated claim that Haitian immigrants eat cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio. Trump pushed that during Tuesday’s debate, creating an unwanted distraction from his substantive differences with Harris, many Republicans say. Graham and Greene portray her as a counterproductive influence on Trump as he engages in a fierce presidential battle with Harris.

Graham said Thursday that Loomer is “really toxic” and shouldn’t be in Trump’s circle. Loomer hit back at X with a schoolyard scolding.

“Senator Graham is working tirelessly day and night to help President Trump get re-elected,” Graham’s communications director Taylor Reidy said in a statement to NBC News. “This race is truly our chance to lose. Ms. Loomer is a stain on our society. Her despicable, mean-spirited, destructive, racist rhetoric and views should have no place in this country.”

A Republican senator who is also a Trump ally said Trump “often gravitates toward people who like him and promote him.”

“It’s really stupid,” the senator added.

Loomer’s willingness to hit below the belt and her influence among the most aggressive elements of the Make America Great Again movement are reason enough for many of her critics to keep their mouths shut. Few elected Republicans are willing to stick their necks out. But many lawmakers and donors are supportive of Greene’s handling of Loomer, according to a source familiar with the matter, with some reminding people close to Trump that Loomer lost two congressional campaigns.

Greene’s longstanding feud with Loomer flared up again this week when Loomer wrote on X that a win for Harris, who is Indian-American and Black, would mean “the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be routed through a call center.”

The comment led to a rare consensus between Greene and President Joe Biden’s White House on what constitutes racism: Loomer’s words.

Trump advisers are trying to distance themselves from her without angering him, making it clear that she does not speak for his operation. Loomer is “not a member of our staff,” said a Trump campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

When asked for comment by NBC News this week, Loomer said in the same text: “Why do you want to talk to me? I don’t work for President Trump.”

Last year, she said she would “love” to serve as a spokesperson in a Trump White House.

Democrats criticized Trump on Thursday for inviting Loomer to attend the 9/11 memorial service with him.

“It was shocking and irresponsible and insulting to the thousands of people who lost their lives on September 11th, including hundreds of brave first responders, members of the NYPD, FDNY and others who ran toward danger to help people escape and lost their lives in the process,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters.

“Donald Trump is a conspiracy theory-mongering, racial arsonist and pathological liar,” he added. “And the fact that on this holy day of September 11th, he would bring a 9/11 conspiracy theorist to participate in events during this solemn commemoration should shock the conscience of all decent Americans, and I believe it does just that.”

A Trump campaign aide said Wednesday that the memorial service was not about politics.

“President Trump put politics aside and stood with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden to honor those who lost their lives during the worst terrorist attack in our country’s history,” the official said in a statement. “The day was about none other than the souls who are gone, their families, and the heroes who courageously rose to save their fellow Americans on that fateful day.”

A Republican senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering his party’s nominee, said Trump is endangering his own chances of winning, as well as staffers who aren’t acting as gatekeepers.

“Everyone is shocked that he’s taking her on his plane to the debate, but even more shocked that she’s traveling with him to the 9/11 memorial. Those kinds of things create a distraction that you can’t overcome,” the senator said.

Asked whether Trump’s advisers were helping Loomer out of fear of losing their jobs, the senator replied: “You see that in almost every campaign, but certainly in this campaign.”