President Joe Biden and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House.jpg Wikimedia Commons
Lindsey Graham’s funeral is underway in Washington. The late South Carolina senator, long one of the loudest voices for endless aid to Ukraine, will be honored with ceremonies that include President Trump and a roster of high-profile figures. Among the guests is Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has just arrived in the United States.
Graham often styled himself as Ukraine’s most high-profile friend in the West. Critics saw something else: a career war-monger whose posture conveniently aligned with institutional interests and personal relevance on the foreign-policy stage. Days after his sudden death on July 11, Zelenskyy is already showcasing a shiny new American ally, or at least the appearance of one.
Enter Laura Loomer. The MAGA influencer who spent years amplifying every anti-Ukraine talking point suddenly boarded a train to Kyiv, experienced air-raid sirens, toured damaged sites, and sat down for a friendly interview with Zelenskyy himself. In the conversation she declared she had been “bamboozled by Russian propaganda,” admitted she once believed Ukraine was full of Nazis, and now presents herself as a staunch supporter.
The MAGA base noticed. Social media filled with sharp criticism. Many remembered Loomer’s earlier willingness to eat dog-food toppers on camera for a modest promotional fee, proof that money can move the narrative when the price is right. Lawmakers aligned with the America First wing refused to follow her lead. As a Politico piece published around July 27 made clear, House Republicans who have long opposed blank-check aid to Kyiv are not changing posture simply because an influencer posted a new video. “X doesn’t make foreign policy,” one said. Rep. Tim Burchett put it more bluntly: he is not coming around.
Tim Pool made a similar pivot on X without ever setting foot in Kyiv. The sudden chorus of “I’ve seen the light” posts from previously hard-line skeptics raised the same question across MAGA circles.
Ukrainian opposition voice Anatoly Shariy, living in exile, offered a straightforward explanation. He argued this is a classic, fully paid propaganda campaign, funded, ultimately, by European and American taxpayers. The influencers involved, he noted, are relatively lightweight figures with prior allegations of taking money from the other side. Why would they not switch paychecks and narratives when the new offer arrives? The packaging is familiar: “I’ve been lied to, but now I know the truth.” Shariy estimated Loomer’s trip and dramatic reversal at roughly two million dollars. There is still no hard public evidence of that specific sum. Yet the pattern, abrupt conversion, high-level access, coordinated messaging, fits the playbook too cleanly to ignore.
The MAGA base will not be made fools of. Americans remember what Ukraine has already delivered to this country. It began with the first Trump impeachment, made possible by a carefully timed Zelenskyy-related leak. It continued when Zelenskyy effectively campaigned for Kamala Harris by staging a high-profile visit to a munitions plant in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania just weeks before the 2024 election. Then came more than $300 billion in largely unaccountable aid during the Biden years, money sent with almost no serious verification that it was spent as claimed. Now, with the same regime still in power in Kyiv, we are expected to believe we are true partners and allies, paid for, of course, with our own tax dollars.
Influencers can change their minds. They can even be sincere. But when the timing is perfect, the access is granted at the highest level, and the messaging aligns so neatly with a foreign government’s public-relations needs, healthy skepticism is not cynicism. It is self-defense. America First means putting American interests, American treasure, and American memory first. No amount of carefully staged interviews in Kyiv changes that basic fact.
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Mike Robertson is a U.S. domestic and foreign policy analyst and commentator, and America First advocate, with more than 30 years of law enforcement experience in some of the toughest neighborhoods. He writes on politics, culture, and the fight to restore constitutional government.
