Barstool owner Dave Portnoy attacks Trump over tariff strategy
In this DML Report…
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy publicly criticized President Trump after losing $20 million in stock and cryptocurrency investments due to Trump’s sweeping tariffs. During a Monday morning livestream on his “Davey Day Trader” show, Portnoy dubbed the market crash “Orange Monday,” watching the S&P 500 plummet 4% at opening—a 13% loss over three days, the worst since the 2008 financial crisis. The tariffs, part of Trump’s “Liberation Day” plan launched April 2, impose a 10% baseline on all imports, with higher rates like 25% on Canada and Mexico, and a new 54% tariff on Chinese goods announced April 7, triggering global market turmoil.
Portnoy, a longtime Trump supporter who backed him in multiple elections, expressed frustration over the tariffs’ economic fallout, revealing he had already lost $7 million by April 4, with losses ballooning to $20 million by Monday. He admitted on the livestream to not fully understanding the tariffs, calling them a “trade deficit” move, and previously noted on April 4 that “everything’s in the sh*tter” because of them. Despite the financial hit, Portnoy, with an estimated $100 million net worth, said he’d still stand by Trump, believing the president is “smarter” and playing a “high-stakes game,” though he tried to recoup losses with a “Tariff Buster Parlay” bet on March Madness games over the weekend.
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The market chaos stems from Trump’s aggressive trade policy, which has drawn sharp rebukes from investors and allies alike, with China retaliating on April 4 with a 34% tariff on U.S. imports, effective April 10, and global stocks sliding—Japan’s Nikkei and Europe’s Stoxx 600 each fell 2.7%. Trump, unphased, berated a Bloomberg reporter on April 7 for questioning the market “pain,” calling it a “stupid question,” and indicated he’s not concerned about equity losses, even as Reuters reported he threatened further tariff hikes on China. Portnoy’s public pivot spotlights the real financial toll on even Trump’s loyalists, with the S&P 500’s brutal stretch signaling broader economic fears amid a potential global recession.