Laura Loomer's Ukraine reversal may signal a wider shift inside Trump's MAGA base
Laura Loomer visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv. (Photo: President's Office)
Laura Loomer, a MAGA blogger with close ties to U.S.
President Donald Trump, has never held a White House or other government post.
Yet her sudden turn toward Ukraine matters, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
James Risen wrote in The
Guardian.
Her social media posts have often influenced Trump
administration policy during Trump’s second term, Risen wrote.
Loomer spent the past several days in Kyiv, where she
declared her newfound sympathy for Ukraine in its war with Russia and
acknowledged that she had previously fallen for Russian propaganda.
She had echoed Kremlin talking points to her 2 million
social media followers and has enjoyed direct access to Trump since the 2024 presidential
campaign.
“In the first months after Trump returned to office, Loomer
used her online platform to push for ideological purges of government
employees, including many national security officials,” the article said.
For a time, her power to destroy the careers of foreign
policy officials made her appear to be Trump’s de facto national security
adviser, Risen wrote.
It is not yet clear whether she still wields that kind of
influence in the White House. Zelenskyy, however, plainly took her seriously.
After Loomer arrived this week, the Ukrainian president met privately with her
on July 23.
“Her reversal may matter not only because she is close to
Trump, but because she has long served as a reliable gauge of sentiment within
MAGA,” the article said.
Loomer had long regarded Ukraine with “contempt” and held a
position that could only be described as pro-Russian. But her reversal comes as
Trump himself appears to be changing his view of Ukraine.
Trump likes winners, Risen wrote. Even without Washington’s full
support, Ukraine has managed to slow Russia’s advance.
“Kyiv has become a global leader in drone technology and has
carried the war into Russia itself, striking the country’s oil infrastructure
with long-range missiles and triggering an energy crisis in one of the world’s
largest oil-producing nations,” Risen wrote.
Apparently impressed by Ukraine’s performance, Trump
announced at a NATO summit in Türkiye earlier this month that the United States
would license Patriot missile technology to Ukraine, allowing Ukraine to
manufacture the advanced air defense missiles itself.
Trump also backed an initiative in Congress by Sen. Lindsey
Graham to impose new sanctions on Russia. At the same time, he appeared to
retreat from his earlier demand that Ukraine surrender large areas of territory
in exchange for any U.S.-brokered peace agreement with Russia.
The policy shifts were modest but important, Risen wrote.
Loomer may have changed her position simply to remain aligned with Trump.
Her abrupt reversal could carry even greater political
significance if it signals a broader softening toward Ukraine within the MAGA
movement and a growing awareness of the dangers of Russian propaganda.
What we know about Laura Loomer
Loomer announced her arrival in Ukraine on X, posting a
video of herself arriving by train. She acknowledged
that Russian propaganda had led her to spread false claims about Ukraine and
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I really did say those things about Ukraine and Zelenskyy,
and I’m not going to delete my posts because I realized I was wrong,” she said.
“I was living in an information bubble, and Russian media accounts on social
platforms convinced me those claims were true.”
Loomer said she came to Ukraine to investigate for herself
the claims she had previously heard.
“I’m going to see whether there is any evidence behind the
propaganda I was fed,” she said. “If I don’t find any, I’ll tell everyone so
that other people can see the truth, too.”
On the first day of her trip, Loomer saw photographs
of priests killed by Russian troops in Bucha and a mass grave containing
victims of the occupation. She also met with representatives of agencies
involved in bringing prisoners of war home. They showed her photographs of
Ukrainian captives.
“Then who are the Nazis?” she said. “I was lied to for
years. I was wrong. I need to correct what I said before. Russia is very good
at information warfare.”
Loomer then visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and toured the
Dormition Cathedral, which was damaged in a Russian strike on June 15, along
with other damaged sites within the historic complex.
Loomer said on July 23 that she
had interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
She wrote on X that the interview took place at Mariinskyi
Palace.
“No subjects were off limits, and I held nothing back in my
questions,” Loomer said. She promised that the full interview with Zelenskyy
would be released “very soon.”
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
