
On his four-day tour making deals through the Middle East — both for the U.S. and his own personal benefit — President Donald Trump on Thursday had a surprise warmup act for his audience at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar: manosphere podcaster Theo Von.
“We don’t care if you’re politically correct,” Trump told the American and Qatari troops. The proof preceded him on stage.
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Trump said the firm “funds groups that engage in dangerous efforts to undermine … the United States military through … radical ideology.”
In a 24-minute set ahead of Trump’s appearance, Von loosed a fusillade of jokes about drugs, people with disabilities, the gays, and the troops’ Qatari hosts.
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“Where do you think the next 9/11 should happen?” Von asked the troops.
The famously drug-loving MAGA comedian paced the stage under a banner reading “Peace Through Strength” — a favored phrase of President Nixon during the Vietnam War — wearing a mullet, black t-shirt, and a baseball cap turned backward.
He extolled the virtues of cocaine, and said the high is elevated when it’s snorted off a baby’s back.
It was a “mixed baby,” so the blow was clearly visible, he said.
The Navy is “gay”, Von told the airmen and women.
Von edged up to offending his hosts when he riffed on a lack of crime in Qatar.
It would be impossible to identify a perp, Von blurted, because everyone is named Mohammed and they all dress in the same white robes.
They were like “Ku Klux Sandsmen,” Von said.
He also shared his impression of someone with Down syndrome.
The jokes drew laughter and some groans from service members at the base, home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command, the Associated Press reported.
Trump was introduced to Von, the president revealed, by his son Barron during last year’s presidential election.
“’Dad, you’ve got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von,’” Trump quoted his son. “I said, ‘Who the hell is Theo Von?’”
“This is before the election. You know, we won in a landslide, in case you hadn’t known,” Trump added. Trump won the 2024 popular vote by a margin of 1.5%, which is considered a narrow victory.
During his 2024 re-election campaign last fall, Trump sat down with Von for an extended interview with Von that earned 16 million views and exposure for an audience of young men that proved crucial to his narrow win over Democrat Kamala Harris in November.
“We had a good time, right?” Trump asked Von, somewhere in the audience. “A good time. We had like 270 million people that listened.” That number is a lie, as it represents nearly 80% of the entire U.S. population.
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