
Far-right MAGA activist Laura Loomer drew swift ridicule and debunking after claiming a credit card reader at a New York City motor vehicle office deliberately displayed the Palestinian flag.
Loomer posted a photo of the device on X Wednesday, the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, and blamed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NY).
A fact-check proposed by X users under her post says the screen shows the reader's standard welcome design, not the flag.
"Why does the credit card machine at the DMV in Mamdnai's NYC have the Palestinian flag as the screensaver on October 7th?" Loomer asked, saying the photo had been sent to her.
"Deliberate and intentional," she added, after calling the mayor "disgraceful." The post drew more than 322,000 views, according to X.
The screen shows a stock "Welcome" graphic in red, white and green, according to the proposed fact-check, which identifies the device as an Ingenico iSC Touch 250.
The note says the Palestinian flag instead has black, white and green stripes with a red triangle, and that such devices commonly use default or processor-set wallpapers. The model name is printed beneath the screen in Loomer's own photo.
Motor vehicle offices in New York City are run by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, a state agency whose leader the governor appoints, not the mayor, according to state budget records.
"Psycho," attorney and Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway wrote, sharing Loomer's post.
"They're calling her the most ridiculous human of all time," Irish comedian Tadhg Hickey wrote.
Left-wing social media personality June Sternbach, known online as Junlper, called it an "all-time delusional post." Wyatt Reed, an editor at The Grayzone, blamed "Zionism-induced psychosis." One X user replied with a photo of red and green Christmas ornaments.
Hours before the card reader post, Loomer had attacked a statement Mamdani released for the anniversary.
"Mamdani chose to make Muslims the 'victims' in his statement about October 7th today on the 3-year anniversary," she wrote.
"He is a full-blown jihadist who normalizes killing non-Muslims for the sake of pushing a global intifada," Loomer continued.
The statement, which Loomer posted as an image, does not mention Muslims. It condemned "the horrific war crimes of October 7," when "Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others," before accusing the Israeli government of "ongoing genocide in Gaza."
Loomer called Mamdani a "jihadist NYC Mayor" in a Sept. 20 post, the day before President Donald Trump met him at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence. After Trump praised Mamdani there, Loomer wrote that she was "pissed off," The Hill reported.
Trump flew Loomer on Air Force One to an Oct. 2 rally in Mobile, Alabama, where he called her "a great Republican strategist, a great person, a killer when she's angry at you," Mediaite reported.
Conway later posted a parody, sharing a photo of an ordinary traffic light outside a building marked "City of New York."
"This was just sent to me. Palestinian-flag colored lights on display in New York City. Disgusting," he wrote.