‘Orange is the new black,’ according to Dave Portnoy – and a recent rant from the conservative Barstool Sports founder when it came to Donald Trump‘s tariffs.
His remarks were made during a Monday morning live stream he manned for nearly an hour on X, as markets opened to general unrest.
The stream quickly devolved into an anti-Trump rant, when Portnoy revealed he had suffered some $20 million in losses since the trade obstacles were announced last week.
He proceeded to tear into Trump while referencing swirling fears of another ‘Black Monday’ – an unexpected stock market crash seen on Monday, October 19, 1987.
In doing so, Portnoy also panned the president’s complexion – rechristening April 7, 2025, ‘Orange Monday’ in his honor.
‘This is a decision that one guy made that crashed the whole stock market,’ Portnoy raged, hours after losing $200,000 in parlay that included Duke in the ticket. ‘That’s why we’re calling it Orange Monday.’
‘The stock market is getting crushed. I’ve lost 20 percent of my net worth,’ he continued, before bringing up how Trump over the weekend bragged about being ‘a very low handicap’ at a senior-aged golf tournament in Jupiter, Florida, Sunday.
‘And you’re out on the golf course,’ Portnoy, who has a reported net worth of more than $100million, raged. Indexes have since recovered some losses, with the Dow Jones down about 1.9 percent as of midday.
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Right-wing sports pundit Dave Portnoy says Donald Trump ‘s tariffs have caused his fortune to slump by $20 million as he branded the chaos ‘Orange Monday’
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Monday morning, as Trump tariffs continue to tank markets
‘You think if I’m losing money, if the stock market is tanking that only affects rich people?’ Portnoy nonetheless continued, in a spiel that saw him openly pan the president’s policies for the first time.
‘We’re probably affected the least.
‘Yeah I’m losing $20 million, but I still have plenty of money… it all shakes down,’ he went on, before using experience he’s garnered running his own company to provide some purported expertise.
‘Look at Barstool Sports, alright? This economy tanks. Our advertisers, who do business overseas and sell products and advertise with us. They sell less products. It gets more expensive. What’s the first thing they cut? Ad budgets. Ad budgets that we get.
‘Suddenly we’re not getting as much money,’ he went on, juxtaposing the two business models to make his point. ‘Suddenly I have to fire Nate [a Barstool staffer] and lay people off.’
‘That’s how it works,’ he continued, offering some full-throated confidence. ‘The rich people are probably the least affected… It affects you whether you have money in the stock market or not.’
Major indexes, meanwhile, have lost around 10 percent of their value since last week, when Trump unveiled the controversial ‘liberation day’ tariffs he says will boost US manufacturing.
Many, however, have argued it will only spur stagnancy, while thrusting the US in the throes of what could become a self-induced recession.
‘The stock market is getting crushed. I’ve lost 20 percent of my net worth,’ he continued, before bringing up how Trump over the weekend was spotted golfing several times
‘This is a decision that one guy made that crashed the whole stock market,’ Portnoy raged, before referencing the unexpected stock market crash seen on October 19, 1987, and panning the president’s complexion. ‘That’s why we’re calling it Orange Monday’
Defenders of the president, meanwhile, have argued the pains that come in the short-term – including slumping 401(k) savings – will be worth it in the end.
‘Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,’ told reporters aboard the presidential plane on a flight back to DC from the senior golfing championship he said he had ‘won’.
‘I think your question is so stupid,’ he added, after being asked whether American consumers have the necessary ‘pain threshold’ to deal with plummeting stocks and prospective price hikes.
Critics appearing on networks such as CNN and MSNBC have insisted as such, arguing Trump is causing unnecessary chaos for ordinary Americans at a time where the economy was already facing unrest.
Others have question whether the infrastructure even exists to achieve the type of manufacturing boom Trump is looking for, as he seeks to jumpstart domestic operations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back against such concerns over the weekend,telling NBC’s Meet the Press there was ‘no reason’ to expect a recession.
‘This is an adjustment process,’ he said of losses seen over the past week or so and how they should not be a cause for alarm
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick similarly told CBS News Trump’s 10 percent ‘baseline’ tariffs – bolstered by additional obstacles against country’s with high tariffs against the US – on all imports, will be ‘stay[ing] in place for days and weeks.’
Developing story, check back for updates…
