As “El Presidente” of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy has seen more than his fair share of fights and disagreements. However, what he saw between President Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday made him think he was “watching Bravo TV.”
Portnoy devoted an entire video to his breakdown of the bizarre disagreement among world leaders that began – oddly enough – after a comment about embracing diplomacy.
“If you’re just here for the pizza reviews, keep it moving,” Portnoy told his listeners. “But … I had to talk about this meeting with Zelenskyy. I posted on my Twitter [Friday]. I said [it was] the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen in politics. Felt like I was watching Bravo TV.”
Portnoy correctly observed that everything at the meeting seemed fine until the end. He also outlined the stances of the camps supporting Trump and those opposing him.
“If you’re anti-Trump, you’re basically saying, ‘This is the worst day in the history of America,’” Portnoy said. “We’re basically the same as Russia and a dictator and Putin and evil. And if you’re pro-Trump, you’re like, ‘Finally, somebody sticking up for American citizens, American taxpayers.’”
The Barstool Sports founder noted the diplomatic failures of the Biden administration,
“This previous administration, Biden has [called] Putin a killer, a dictator, all the things Zelenskyy says,” Portnoy explained. “And what has that gotten us? Hundreds of billions of dollars given to Ukraine, and they’re really no closer to ending this war.”
In another moment, Portnoy spent considerable time criticizing Zelensky for not being appropriately dressed to meet President Trump in the Oval Office.
“You can say whatever you want about Trump,” Portnoy explained. “He takes signs of disrespect personally. He’s very much about, you know, respecting other things. So, Zelenskyy shows up, and he’s wearing his sweatshirt and his customary outfit, which is his way of essentially saying, ‘I’m at war. I don’t have time to play politics or any other stuff.’
“For me, this is just stupid. We get you’re at war, but you’re coming to meet a new administration,” he added. ” And it’s just a sign of disrespect not to show the same level of respect (in) the Oval Office that Trump clearly thinks it deserves.”
In addition, Portnoy stressed the need for Ukraine to show “deference” to the country that has done so much to help them.
“They should show some deference to or thank you to the American taxpayers. We don’t have to continually foot this bill. But I respect or understand Trump not wanting to vilify Putin. The last administration did it every single chance they could get. It got us nowhere. Trump made it very clear he wants diplomacy. He wants to end the debt. He wants to end this war.”
Portnoy said, “I don’t necessarily have the answers, but I think Trump and Vance handled this as well as they could. Like, we’re not going to just get steamrolled by Zelenskyy at the expense of getting a deal done. And if that means we have to throw a couple flowers at Putin, so be it.”