Podcaster Theo Von makes surprise appearance at Trump's speech to troops in Qatar
DOHA, Qatar — Theo Von was a surprise guest at President Trump's speech to US troops Thursday, with the commander-in-chief giving a shout-out to the popular podcaster outside the Qatari capital — as well as his son, Barron, who introduced him to the comedian.
'I want to influence you to clap for a man who's a great influencer. In fact, my son, Barron, said, 'Dad, you got to do an interview' with somebody I hadn't heard of. But my son knew very well,' Trump said to a packed crowd of uniformed military members at Al Udeid Air Base.
'This is before the election. You know, we won in a landslide, in case you hadn't known, but he said, 'Dad, you got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von.' I said, 'Who the hell is Theo Von?' He said, 'Dad, he's such a big guy. You got to do an interview.' So he knew all the names.
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3 President Trump gave a shout-out to podcaster Theo Von Thursday in Qatar.
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'Where is Theo? He's around here someplace, I think. Theo, thank you very much,' he added.
'We had a good time, right? A good time. We had like 270 million people that listened. So you know what? I think Barron was right. Thank you for being here, Theo.'
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3 Von attended Trump's speech to soldiers at Al-Udeid Air Base.
Theo Von/YoutTube
It's unclear if Von — spotted days ago in Miami with Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner — visited for a particular reason aside from greeting some of the roughly 13,000 troops on the base.
3 Trump also gave a shout-out to his 'friend' Tom Cruise, who was not present.
REUTERS
Von's 'This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von' show is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube — with the latter version of Trump's August interview raking up 16 million views, with additional views on shorter segments.
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Trump gave a shout-out to another celebrity who wasn't present — name-checking 'Top Gun' actor Tom Cruise while telling a well-worn story about his 2018 visit to Iraq.
'Air Force One was waiting for us. The pilots — best looking human beings I've ever seen, even better looking than Tom Cruise and he's a friend of mine,' the president said.
'These guys were central casting and they could also fly.'
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