As Donald Trump celebrates the 100th day of his second term in office, Dave Portnoy has emerged as an unlikely critic of the 45th and 47th president.
And after Trump took to social media to blame the current state of the economy on his predecessor, Joe Biden, the Barstool Sports founder called B.S.
“What’s that old expression? Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining? Well that applies here,” Portnoy wrote. “The stock market is a direct reflection of [Trump’s] 1st 100 days in office. Doesn’t mean it won’t get better and that we don’t need to be patient, but this is his market not [Biden’s].”
To his point, it’s Trump’s tariffs and the threat of tariffs that have seemingly had the most dramatic effect on the economy since he reassumed office this past January. And that’s proven to be a major talking point for Portnoy, who has previously been a public supporter of the former Apprentice star.
When the stock market began to crash in early-April as Trump first enacted his tariffs, Portnoy griped that he had lost approximately $20 million of his net worth while taking issue with the optics of the president golfing over the course of the previous weekend. He also referred to the day as “Orange Monday” and noted that it was the first time he could recall that a stock market crash was man-made.
“So Trump rolls out the tariffs, right? And it destroys the stock market. People are comparing it to all these other crashes; this one’s the only one I can think of that’s like man-made,” Portnoy said during his daily Davey Day Trader stream on April 7. “Like the stock market crashes on 9/11, yes. The stock market crashed [during] COVID, yes. But this is a decision that one guy made that crashed the whole stock market. That’s why we’re calling it Orange Monday and not Black Monday.”
Dave Portnoy also called attention to the downstream effect that the state of the economy could have on media companies like Barstool Sports and took issue with conservative figures such as Will Cain and Clay Travis downplaying the situation. “El Presidente” even went as far as to tell CNN that he could envision himself voting Democrat in the future and insisted that he was “never like some crazy MAGA guy.”
Yet despite his criticism of Trump, he warmly shook hands with the U.S. President at a recent UFC event and later revealed that he had invited him to appear on one of his Davey Day Trader streams. Trump has yet to make an appearance.
Considering the current state of politics, Portnoy’s analysis has had the rare appeal to both sides of the aisle; to liberals eager to criticize Trump and conservatives who share his concerns but haven’t had a voice via a public figure. And considering that the White House hasn’t been eager to respond with its trademark fervor, it will certainly be worth monitoring how Portnoy’s criticism evolves over the course of the next 100 days and beyond.