On Wednesday, prominent MAGA influencer Laura Loomer revealed that she’s “starting to realize” that many in her political orbit are “ignorant.” Loomer has acted as a key online mouthpiece for President Donald Trump over the course of his second term, and her latest realization comes as she’s admitted to learning that other aspects of MAGA’s messaging don’t align with reality.
“I’m starting to realize many things, and one of those things is I really don’t actually like a lot of the people I have met in the GOP over the last 12 years,” Loomer posted on Wednesday. “Some of these people are so ignorant to me. They mock me for saying there’s Russian propaganda on social media and some of them even accuse me of being an Israeli spy for calling out right wing Jew hatred. Some of these people are literally ret—. Some are just paid off. Either way, I don’t like what I’m seeing.”
Loomer has recently expressedrecently expressed a 180-degree-flip in regard to her position on the war between Russia and Ukraine, having previously claimed that the former was merely purging the latter of neo-nazis. These beliefs have been widely held throughout the MAGA movement, and political commentators have suggested they factor in the Trump administration’s reluctant support of Ukraine in preference to Russia. Loomer has been a vocal proponent of such pro-Moscow narratives.
“I’ve realized, I was wrong,” she posted on Monday. “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.” She went on to describe atrocities committed by Russia, from massacres to “Ukrainian POWs who had swastikas engraved into their forehead.”
This turned out to be something of a social media bombshell, prompting vocal reactions from across the political spectrum. One popular MAGA-oriented account typified the response from the far-right, asking, “Laura have you lost your mind?”
Not everyone on the right was so negative. Conservative commentator Marc Thiessen — himself typically a supporter of Trump’s foreign policy — chimed in with a “Good for you Laura!” Others were more reluctantly positive. As one prominent attorney put it, “I hate to say this, but this is a good tweet by Loomer. This is exactly what you should do when you realize you were wrong about something.”
So far, Loomer remains a dedicated Trump ally, promoting MAGA conspiracy theories and Islamophobic beliefs. She credits her visit to Ukraine with changing her stance in regard to Russia, on Tuesday posting photos of herself eating McDonald's in front of a bombed-out street.
