Could a conspiracy theorist change the MAGA view on Ukraine?

**Justin Webb** (0:00)
The funeral of the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has been taking place in Washington, DC, with guests there from around the world, including the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukraine's President Zelensky, and the US President Donald Trump, who did the eulogy in his own inimitable style.

**Donald Trump** (0:16)
He was extremely hawkish. I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn't like. Only his true friends would understand that, but he wanted it for the good of our country.
He felt in his bones that our destiny is to win, and that his job was to do everything he could to ensure our enemies would lose.

**Justin Webb** (0:35)
And he had the ear of Donald Trump. Now that Lindsey Graham is gone, one person in particular has been trying to position herself as a replacement.

**Laura Loomer** (0:44)
Hey everybody, Laura Loomer here. I am currently in Ukraine at the world famous Skyfall drone manufacturing facility. I am holding the P-1 sun drone interceptor. And you may have seen this drone interceptor recently because it's the same exact drone interceptor that was held by Senator Lindsey Graham just two days before he tragically passed away. Now a lot of people are…

**Justin Webb** (1:06)
It is really dizzying. That is the MAGA influencer and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has gone from saying that Ukraine is full of Nazi sympathizers to declaring her support for Zelensky and for his country during an interview with him. What on earth is going on? We're going to try to answer that question today. Welcome to Americast.

**Marianna Spring** (1:30)
Americast from BBC News.

**Donald Trump** (1:32)
You hear that sound? Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:37)
We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover-up and this administration is engaged in it.

**Justin Webb** (1:45)
This guy has Trump derangement syndrome.

**Anthony Zurcher** (1:47)
I have four words for you.

**Marianna Spring** (1:57)
Hello, it is Marianna in the worldwide headquarters of Americast in London.

**Justin Webb** (2:01)
It's Justin sitting next to her.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:02)
It's Anthony here at my home in Arlington, Virginia.

**Justin Webb** (2:05)
Anthony, you've been at a funeral. Tell us about it.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:08)
Yeah, the Lindsey Graham funeral at the National Cathedral. I've been to a few of these big National Cathedral memorial services now. There's a certain pomp and pageantry to them that is familiar.
I think it would reflected Lindsey Graham's life and the fact that there were foreign dignitaries, as you mentioned there, Laura Loomer, Zelensky, Benjamin Netanyahu, Alexander Rupp, the president of Finland, as well as a bunch of different senators and almost the entire presidential cabinet, Donald Trump and JD Vance sitting in the front row. Where we are in the media, we're up on a little balcony that is off to one side of the altar. One of the most interesting things to do is to sit here. I had a little pair of binoculars to look down and see the interactions between all of these people as they wander in and talk to each other. They're all there for a funeral, kind of like you and I would be, but these are the most powerful people in the world.
Look at the body language, look at what they're saying, look at who's talking to who. You saw Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, just go around and glad hand all sorts of different people up and down the aisle. He's a very gregarious guy. You saw Zelensky and some very intense conversations with some of the senators who would later vote on a Russia sanctions bill that evening. You would see Marco Rubio and RFK Jr. and Pete Hegseth, all of these cabinet secretaries, all kind of milling around and chatting. So that's interesting. I was struck by the fact that this was slightly more partisan affair than you normally see in these types of memorial services. I remember John McCain's funeral, Barack Obama and George W. Bush both spoke. Here it was Trump. He was the main center of attention. It was, despite the fact that this was Lindsey Graham's funeral, it was still kind of Trump show as well.

**Justin Webb** (3:59)
Yeah, and he made the most of it, didn't he? Let's listen to a bit of him.

**Donald Trump** (4:02)
Running against each other.
Back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty on his flight to becoming the next president of the United States. So naturally, I did something that I shouldn't have done. I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day as I made a speech, a very important speech. And I remember the number 202-228-0292.