Top MAGA influencer squirms in his seat when confronted by reporter

President Donald Trump was reelected in 2024 in no small part to the support he received from so-called “manosphere” influencers like podcaster Theo Von — and now those same influencers are being put in the hot seat.

“So I have a conversation with two different types of MAGA people,” journalist Van Lathan told conservative commentator Tim Miller during a talk that was posted on The Bulwark on Monday. “One is the people that are in that 35 percent. They gotta get f——. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm with you. But I'll tell you something that happened at Equinox, the gym up here.”

Lathan proceeded to talk about how he ran into Theo Von at the gym and the two began talking about their shared Louisiana roots. Then Lathan found himself feeling like a “bitch ass n——” who was “cucking out” because he refused to tell Theo Von what he really thought of him. Von, despite claiming to be “politically homeless” and non-partisan, threw his support behind Trump in the 2024 election and attended his subsequent inauguration. He is also an integral part of the pro-Trump podcasters ecosystem that includes figures like Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz and Tony Hinchcliffe.

“I pulled Theo to the side and I'm like, ‘Hey man, I was really, and have been really, disappointed in you and some of the stuff that you've done with your podcast. I've been pissed off at you. We've been taking some shots at you,’” Lathan told Miller. He then impersonated an uncomfortable Theo Von who reportedly responded by saying, “Man, I really didn't know he was gonna be like that." At that point, Lathan said that he wanted to “snip his nuts,” but thought instead to “push on that a little bit.”

“What do you mean?” Lathan said, describing the conversations that anti-Trump Americans can have with pro-Trump Americans like Theo Von. “Talk to him for a little bit, and he starts telling me stuff. And it's clear that that is somebody who you could probably move, right? You could probably get somebody like that, with that type of platform, with that type of reach, to come over. And if you can do it to that person, then you have to do it.”

He added, “My job is to tell Theo, ‘I'm gonna f—— over you every chance I get.’” Yet he urged conservatives like Miller to try to reach out to anti-Trumpers whenever possible, characterizing the effort to change minds beyond his hard-core base as being painstaking but still worthwhile.

Theo Von has attempted to put some distance between himself and the Trump administration. He has criticized the Iran war and Trump’s alliance with Israel, called out the administration’s cover up of the president’s friendship and alleged shared pedophilic predilections with the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and even demanded that the White House not use him to promote its anti-immigrant policies.

In September, when Trump’s White House used a clip of Theo Von to push its agenda to deport immigrants, the podcaster replied that "didn’t approve to be used in [the video].”

"I know you know my address so send a check,” Von wrote. “And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos."

He added, "When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!"