MAGA’s Laura Loomer Visits Ukraine and Suddenly Wakes Up to Reality

Right-wing, Islamophobic conspiracy theorist and commentator Laura Loomer is on a P.R. tour of Ukraine in a complete departure from her historically pro-Russian, anti-Ukranian rhetoric.

Loomer touched down in Ukraine on Monday, posting herself eating McDonald’s near a destroyed building and heaping praise and defense on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Loomer acknowledged that she previously fell for Russian propaganda. In another post on X Monday, she wrote:

I did say these things about Ukraine and Zelensky and I am not deleting my posts because I’ve realized, I was wrong. I was living in a media echo chamber and I was propagandized by Russian media on social media to believe those things. So I came to Ukraine to see the country for myself. I am going to try to find evidence for the propaganda I’ve been fed, and if I don’t find it, I will let everyone know so they too can come to see the light. On day one, I’ve already seen photos of dead priests in Bucha murdered by Russia and I saw the mass grave where the bodies of murdered Christians were placed after Russia sent forces from Chechnya to massacre innocent people. I spoke with officials who rescue POWs and they showed me photos of Ukrainian POWs who had swastikas engraved into their forehead by Russians.

She noted that she had been lied to about who the real Nazis were. (There are real Nazis everywhere, including in Ukraine, for what it’s worth.)

“Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian,” Loomer said in another post Tuesday. “I feel like such an asshole for minimizing the struggle of Ukrainians for the last 5 years. I often said I don’t care. Looking back, that wasn’t very nice of me to say. There are people in Ukraine who have to run to a bomb shelter everyday and some of us had the audacity to say Russia wasn’t wrong because we believed the lie that Ukraine is a country full of Nazi sympathizers. We have been so propagandized by Russia and we don’t even realize it.”

Zelenskiy welcomed Loomer’s visit. “It is really important that [LauraLoomer] is in Ukraine and sees things with her own eyes as they are,” his office wrote on X. “There is no better way to get informed opinion than through personal experience which allows to deal with Russian propaganda.”

This is a radical departure for Loomer, who has spent years attacking Ukraine, and even wrote a few columns for the Kremlin-sponsored Russia Today.

“Zelensky shaking hands with an Islamic terrorist who has murderer US soldiers is another reason to have disdain for [Zelenskiy]. I don’t want any more of my tax dollars going to Ukraine. Ukraine is a country full of Nazi apologists and now it’s clearly a country led by a Jihadi apologist,” Loomer said in a post last year following Zelenskiy’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa, whom she referred to by his nom de guerre, Julani. “Julani is a cold blooded killer. He was wanted by the US for $10 million up until May. He’s a very bad guy who wants a global Islamic caliphate. This is going to backfire spectacularly on everyone who is shaking hands with Julani.”

In another post from 2023, Loomer accused former President Joe Biden of “funding Nazi death squads in Ukraine with US taxpayer dollars.”

“Look forward to your balanced coverage from ‘Kyiv,’” RT editor in chief Margarita Simonyan wrote Monday. “To Ms Loomer’s credit, we did enjoy her columns for RT back in the day.”

It’s unclear why Loomer has changed her tune so suddenly, but as an influencer who unfortunately has a direct line of communication to Trump, this may have wider ramifications. ...