President Donald Trump is widely accused of being overly-sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with various commentators referring to him as “Team Putin” or a “Putin puppet.” Yet after far right influencer Laura Loomer gave a sympathetic interview to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week, CNN journalists argued there is a way to change Trump’s mind.
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“The whole thing’s odd and interesting,” CNN’s S. E. Cupp said on Thursday. “Look, if she’s going to do propaganda, I’d rather it be Zelenskyy’s version of propaganda than Putin’s, okay? And she was regurgitating all the Putin propaganda before. So was Tucker Carlson. All the far right was. That’s crazy. And I’m glad that she went there, right? It’s one thing to be a keyboard warrior. It’s easy to say things from the safety of the patio at Mar-a-Lago. It’s much different when you go to a place.”
Cupp added, “That’s why we encourage journalists to get out of the newsroom. It’s why we send members of Congress to these places. Go see it. It might change your mind and inform your opinion.”
As Trump opens up channels of communication with Ukraine despite previously seeming staunchly pro-Russia, Cupp wondered if Loomer’s interview with Zelenskyy indicates that world leaders can alter Trump’s opinions by appealing directly to his influencer buddies.
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“I’m very curious, concerned about how this all came to be, right?” Cupp asked. “I mean, I covered [former Director of National Intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard going to meet with [former Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad without approval from Congress. And she came back and regurgitated his propaganda and talking points. That was very alarming. I don’t know how this came to be, and I’d be curious if she went as an envoy for Trump. Did she go as a podcaster? Did she go as a private citizen?”
Loomer is widely known to be one of the far right influencers closest to Trump, so much so that his allies became alarmed at her proximity to him during the 2024 presidential campaign. After he became president, Loomer reportedly had enough influence over Trump to convince him to make personnel changes based on her word.
All I can think of is, my goodness, the things one has to do to save their country,” David Axelrod, a political consultant who once advised President Barack Obama, told CNN. “I think [Zelenskyy] decided this is something he had to do to save his country because they call her an influencer, but the person she influences that he cares about is Donald Trump. And if this is what it takes, then this is what he’s going to do.”
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