Adam Zivo: Laura Loomer’s pro-Ukraine redemption tour

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The president argued that a revived Russian empire could, together with China, pose a serious threat to American security, and that Ukraine’s cutting-edge drone technology — built through years of real-world battle experience — is an asset to Washington. Loomer agreed. She emphasized that Ukraine currently produces 8 million drones per year while the United States produces only 300,000, a gap which she believed could be closed through cooperation.

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Loomer, meanwhile, has continued her tour with gusto. In an interview with one of Ukraine’s leading journalists, Marichka Padalko, she said that she was “very ashamed” of some of her past comments and that Ukrainians had been “very kind” to her.

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“I doubt I would have been welcomed the same way in Moscow. If I had criticized the Russian government, security service agents would probably have tracked me down right at the hotel,” said the MAGA star, who has since advocated for tightening sanctions against Russia and sending more patriot missiles to Kyiv.

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For many of Ukraine’s supporters, particularly those on the political left, Loomer’s sudden emergence as an enthusiastic ally has been discombobulating. How did this happen? Is she being authentic?

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In a phone interview over the weekend, I asked Loomer about her political transformation. It was almost midnight and she was returning to Kyiv after visiting Kharkiv and Dnipro, two major cities near the front line. She had passed many bombed-out gas stations earlier that day.

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Loomer explained that she originally fell into Russia’s orbit after she, like many other MAGA influencers in the late 2010s, was banned from mainstream American social media platforms. She migrated to using Telegram — a messaging and social media app where Russian media is widely shared — which functioned as a “digital gulag” for censored conservatives.

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She told me that, in this echo chamber, she began to regularly consume content published by RT (formerly Russia Today), Moscow’s state-controlled broadcaster, which warped her foreign policy views. After Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden, RT asked Loomer to write several unpaid columns in 2021, skillfully manipulating her anger at being deplatformed. They then used this relationship to gradually weave more propaganda into her worldview, she said.

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When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Loomer staunchly opposed American intervention. According to her, it was not just that Moscow had groomed her, but there were simply no trusted voices in her bubble that could address her concerns and misconceptions.

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Genuinely believing that Ukraine is full of Nazis, she did not understand the logic of investing billions of dollars into the country’s defence. “We were, you know, kind of broke as a country. We’re $40 trillion in debt. And so, from a foreign policy perspective, right off the bat, I was fully opposed to it,” she told me.

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Her mind began to change, though, after Trump was re-elected and a faction of conservative influencers — most notably Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens — turned against the president and began spewing “toxic” anti-American and antisemitic rhetoric.

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Loomer was disturbed by how these podcasters cheered on American adversaries — especially Iran and Russia — while demonizing the United States and Israel. Worse yet, media outlets owned by enemy states had a tendency to amplify their content. She came to believe, with good reason, that Republicans were being targeted by sophisticated foreign influence campaigns sowing sedition and discord.