Barron Trump Was The Real Mastermind Behind Donald & Ivanka's Latest PR Stunts

Before Donald Trump greeted the U.S. and Qatari troops at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Thursday, May 15, he was preceded by American comedian and podcaster Theo Von, who regaled the crowd with jokes. The audience roared with laughter (and a few groans) as Von discussed everything from Trump's bronzer obsession to doing cocaine off a baby (via YouTube). His surprise appearance was later praised by Trump, who revealed how their friendship came to be.

"I want to influence you to clap for a man who's a great influencer," Trump said of the comedian to a room full of military members. According to the Republican politician, his youngest son introduced him to Von during his 2024 presidential campaign. "My son, Barron, said, 'Dad, you've got to do an interview' with somebody I hadn't heard of. But my son knew very well," Trump said (via Fox News). When Barron named Von, Trump said, "Who the hell is Theo Von?" to which the NYU student purportedly said, "'He's such a big guy. You've got to do an interview.' So he knew all the names."

Likely thanks to Barron, Von has seemingly developed a relationship with another Trump family member, as he was seen in Miami with Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, the same week. On May 14, Ivanka shared a photo of the three of them on Instagram and X , writing, "Miami looked good on you @TheoVon! Come back and visit us soon!"

Barron Trump's Gen Z status gave Donald Trump the perfect advantage to rally support from young American voters during his 2024 presidential campaign. Streamer Adin Ross, who interviewed Donald in August 2024, gave credit to Barron on his podcast, "Full Send." "He's charming, he's well spoken, he's smart," Ross asserted. The first son also engineered his father's introduction to Joe Rogan, one of (if not the) biggest names in podcasting. He boasts nearly 20 million subscribers on YouTube, one of the platforms which airs his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience."

As for Theo Von, the outlandish internet personality has amassed more than 3 million subscribers on YouTube — one of the platforms where Von also publishes his podcast, "This Past Weekend" — and nearly 8 million followers on Instagram. "We had a good time, right? A good time. We had like 270 million people that listened," Trump said in Qatar. "So you know what? I think Barron was right."