{"id":15529,"date":"2026-07-24T08:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T03:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15529"},"modified":"2026-07-24T08:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T03:48:14","slug":"david-axelrod-marvels-at-loomer-influencing-global-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15529","title":{"rendered":"David Axelrod Marvels at Loomer Influencing Global Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<p>CNN anchor <strong>Erin Burnett<\/strong> led a panel discussion on Thursday night about MAGA influencer <strong>Laura Loomer\u2019s<\/strong> recent conversion on Ukraine and a sit-down interview with Ukraine\u2019s leader. Veteran political strategist <strong>David Axelrod<\/strong> just marveled at the whole thing and at one point said, \u201cMy goodness! The things one has to do to save their country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUkrainian President <strong>Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong> telling top Trump ally Laura Loomer, during a one-on-one interview in Ukraine, that his relationship with Donald Trump has improved,\u201d Burnett began before playing a clip of<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/laura-loomer-ukraine-russia-zelenskyy-trump-8ae91d7f5bfb3940388de800301b34ce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Zelensky with Loomer<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>You are right, the tone has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/laura-loomer-has-change-of-heart-on-ukraine-after-years-of-criticism-that-wasnt-very-nice-of-me-to-say\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">changed<\/a> \u2014 absolutely. We had our first changing moment in Rome, at the Vatican. Yes, it was not a long meeting, but I always said that I think it was a historic moment, because we changed the relationship in fifteen, twenty minutes. I\u2019m so happy, because a lot of lives depend on such relations and dialogue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThat clip emerged just hours after the MAGA podcaster posted a photo online revealing the interview, saying, quote, \u2018I just interviewed President Zelensky at Mariinsky Palace in Ukraine. No questions were off limits, and I didn\u2019t pull any punches.\u2019 The post and sit-down came just two days after Loomer had very publicly changed her stance on Ukraine,\u201d continued Burnett, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>After she saw Russian attacks on a historic monastery up close, she said: \u201cI feel like such an [expletive] for minimizing the struggle of Ukrainians over the past five years. I often said, \u2018I don\u2019t care.\u2019 Looking back, that wasn\u2019t very nice of me to say.\u201d There\u2019s some self-awareness there \u2014 and that\u2019s obviously an understatement given some of Loomer\u2019s past comments on Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s said many things, including that Ukraine is \u201ca country full of Nazis,\u201d and that it\u2019s now \u201cclearly a country led by a jihadi apologist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAlright, everyone\u2019s here with me. So, S.E., how significant is it that Zelensky would agree to meet with her?\u201d Burnett said, turning to guest <strong>S.E. Cupp.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole thing\u2019s odd and interesting. Look \u2014 if she\u2019s going to do propaganda, I\u2019d rather it be Zelensky\u2019s version of propaganda than Putin\u2019s, okay? She was regurgitating all the Putin propaganda before. So was <strong>Tucker Carlson.<\/strong> So was all of the far right. That\u2019s crazy, and I\u2019m glad that she went there. It\u2019s one thing to be a keyboard warrior \u2014 it\u2019s easy to say things from the safety of the patio at Mar-a-Lago. It\u2019s much different when you actually go to a place,\u201d Cupp replied, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s why we encourage journalists to get out of the newsroom. That\u2019s why we send members of Congress on codels to these places \u2014 go see it. It might change your mind and inform your opinion. But I\u2019m very curious, and concerned, about how this all came to be.<\/p>\n<p>I covered<strong> Tulsi Gabbard<\/strong> going to meet with Bashar al-Assad without approval from Congress, and she came back and regurgitated his propaganda and talking points. That was very alarming. I don\u2019t know how this came to be, and I\u2019d be curious whether she went as an envoy for Trump, as a podcaster, or as a private citizen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know. And, David, let\u2019s be clear here: when you see her sitting with Zelensky, part of the reason your jaw is on the floor isn\u2019t just because of the opinions she\u2019s had about Ukraine \u2014 based on propaganda and a lack of any real experience there \u2014 but because of the other things she\u2019s said other things,\u201d Burnett continued, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>She said that if Kamala Harris won, \u2018the White House will smell like curry, and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.\u2019 She said she \u2018can\u2019t even watch a Super Bowl anymore because immigrants have literally ruined everything.\u2019 And there\u2019s a lot more where that came from. The image of her sitting across from Ukrainian President Zelensky, in that context, is incredibly powerful.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt is. And all I can think is: my goodness, the things one has to do to save their country,\u201d Axelrod replied, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think he decided this is something he had to do to save his country. 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\u2019s going to do.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Watch the clip above via CNN.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CNN anchor Erin Burnett led a panel discussion on Thursday night about MAGA influencer Laura Loomer\u2019s recent conversion on Ukraine and a sit-down interview with Ukraine\u2019s leader. Veteran political strategist David Axelrod just marveled at the whole thing and at one point said, \u201cMy goodness! The things one has to do to save their country.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/loomer.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}