'Old MAGA formula' falls apart as divisive Trump policy sparks 'turf war'

Far-right conspiracy theorist and self-described "proud Islamophobe" Laura Loomer is having a bitter feud with other MAGA influencers over U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign policy. In contrast to MAGA isolationists who want the United States to stay out of Iran, Loomer fully supports Trump's Iran intervention. And she has dramatically changed her position on Ukraine, voicing her support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after years of echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin's talking points on the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Now, according to Salon's Sophia Tesfaye, Loomer and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson are engaged in a bitter "turf war" over Trump's foreign policy.

"The spectacle of Laura Loomer touching down in a Kyiv bomb shelter to announce her sudden conversion to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia has been covered by much of the media as a sort of a political awakening," Tesfaye writes in Salon. "In a series of recent interviews with America's most prominent news outlets, the MAGA influencer and conspiracy theorist took a victory lap for discovering — nearly four-and-a-half years after Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine — that Vladimir Putin is a liar. But what looks to be a surprising shift away from Russia is not a moral reckoning. It is a petty turf war amongst MAGA media — and Ukraine stands to benefit."

Tesfaye adds, "Our unfortunate reality is that the shallow personal ambitions and petty feuds of MAGA influencers can dictate foreign policy. Loomer holds no elected office and possesses no genuine policy expertise, yet because she knows how to flatter the vulnerabilities of Donald Trump, she wields terrifying influence on the administration and its agenda."

Loomer is now saying that in the past, she was "bamboozled" by Kremlin talking points on Ukraine.

Tesfaye emphasizes that Loomer's "evolution" on Ukraine "comes at precisely the moment when the Republican coalition is undergoing a bitter fight over what 'America First' is supposed to mean."

"The old MAGA formula — distrust Ukraine, NATO and GOP hawks, and view Putin as a potentially useful counterweight to American liberalism — is colliding with a newer reality related to Trump's ongoing and unpopular war of choice against Iran," the Salon reporter explains. "Russia is increasingly difficult to portray as a friendly or even neutral power while it cooperates with the Islamic Republic…. Loomer's reversal is also inseparable from her rivalry with fellow podcasters Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly and other right-wing media figures who have become increasingly hostile to Trump over Israel, Iran and the use of American military power."

Tesfaye continues, "Loomer herself has said the right-wing split over Iran prompted her to reconsider Ukraine, and she claimed to have noticed that people she regarded as opponents of Trump were simultaneously advancing Russia-friendly arguments. Now, she worries those pro-Russian voices inside the MAGA coalition have become 'the biggest detriment to social cohesion' heading into what, by all credible predictions, will be a brutal midterm cycle for Republicans."

Tesfaye emphasizes, however, that Loomer's about-face on Ukraine shouldn't be praised as a "heroic" act.

"While Loomer works to convert MAGA to the Ukrainian cause," Tesfaye writes, "the press should stop treating her reversal as a heroic story about one brave influencer seeing the light. They should instead frame it for what it actually is: a split in MAGA media over Ukraine and Russia that is ultimately a domestic turf war disguised as statecraft."