For years, Laura Loomer’s position on Ukraine was crystal clear. It was “a country full of Nazi apologists” led by “a Jihadi apologist.” Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and avid Trump supporter, called American politicians who supported Ukraine in its war against Russia “traitors.”
But Loomer, who traveled to Ukraine last week, has changed her tune. She has posted a seemingly endless stream of content from the country, including a sit-down interview with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pictures of her eating McDonald’s surrounded by bombed-out buildings in the capital, Kyiv.
Earlier this month, hours after news broke of Senator Lindsey Graham’s death, Loomer was the first to raise the conspiracy theory that Russia was responsible. “Did Russia just murder a US Senator?” Loomer wrote on X.
Loomer is on one side of a MAGA civil war that has split Trump’s supporter base over the course of the past year. It’s not just about Russia, either: While figures like far-right podcaster Candace Owens, former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, and former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene have split with President Donald Trump over his failure to deliver on campaign promises, the war with Iran, and the administration’s close ties to the Israeli government, Loomer has remained loyal.
She has also spent the past year battling some of Trump’s detractors online. Following Owens’ trip to Russia in May, where the podcaster praised the country extensively, Loomer claimed that Owens was trying to “destroy MAGA.” (Loomer did not reply to a request for comment. Owens tells WIRED in a statement: “Laura Loomer is mentally unwell and has been committed against her will for psychiatric evaluation twice. We wish her well, but do not entertain her various documented delusions in the press or otherwise.”)
Loomer claims her change of heart about Ukraine was inspired by the realization that she had been “propagandized by Russian media.” Trump has a slightly different answer: “I think they support what I support,” Trump told reporters in the White House on Friday when asked about Loomer’s trip and some of the party’s reversal on Ukraine. “I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”
Trump has changed position on the Russia and Ukraine conflict many times over the past year. Last September, he surprised his NATO allies when he said Ukraine could win back land Russia had occupied since the beginning of the conflict, land he previously said Ukraine should just concede to Russia.
But a month later, after a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump reversed course again.
In recent months, Trump has continued to criticize Zelenskyy, derisively referring to him as “P. T. Barnum” in social media posts. But the administration has also turned to Ukraine for its expertise in countering drone attacks after six US service members were killed in an Iranian attack in Kuwait. On Tuesday, Zelenskyy visited the Oval Office while the Senate considered imposing harsher sanctions on Russia.
“The primary driver of Loomer’s political posturing is her unwavering adoration of Trump, not a rigid set of ideological beliefs,” Jared Holt, senior researcher at Open Measures, tells WIRED. “While she maintains some core attitudes, including anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant beliefs, she has repeatedly shown a willingness to shift her positions if she believes it will help the president. Trump calls the tune, and Loomer follows his lead.”
What Loomer’s surprise trip to Ukraine once again shows is that the MAGA civil war is not playing out in the halls of Congress but on social media feeds, where some of Trump’s most loyal influencers have shown a willingness to do and say just about anything to maintain their standing with the MAGA base.