


Dave Portnoy, the founder and owner of media giant Barstool Sports, said he would consider voting for Democrats in the midterm election if the stock market continues to go down.
“I am not somebody who would just strictly vote based on Republican or Democrat,” Portnoy told Dana Bash in an interview Wednesday. “I vote on the people running, how I think they speak to me, the issues that are important to me. I will vote how I feel is the best interest of what I believe in.”
Portnoy, who has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and even attended his inauguration, spoke to Bash about his outspokenness since the stock market has fallen after Trump said he would implement tariffs on almost every country. Portnoy said he had lost $20 million in crypto and stocks.
Portnoy admitted in the interview that Trump ran his presidential campaign on implementing tariffs, so they don’t come as a surprise to Portnoy, but said Trump can’t pretend the stock market isn’t a “major issue,” and if it keeps “tanking,” America will have an “economic meltdown” in the future.
“This is who I voted for and time is going to bear it out,” Portnoy said. “He’s playing an extremely high-risk game of poker, and if it turns out great, it will be a great move and one of the great things he’s done. If not, I think the voters will speak at midterms.”

Barstool Sports has been described as the “Bible of Bro Culture,” and NBC News wrote that Portnoy understands the “elusive 18- to 35-year-old male demographic.” Portnoy told Bash that his and Barstool Sports’ audience is interested in the stock market like he is, but he doesn’t think that demographic is “jumping ship right now.” He added that the left is “far more intolerant” of him than the right is, and he doesn’t think people like him have a spot in the Democratic party.
Portnoy said people call him racist and sexist on social media all the time, and there’s “nothing to add up to that.” In a Business Insider article, several women have accused him of alleged sexual assault. Portnoy said the sex was consensual and that the article was a “hit piece.” He later sued the publication, but a judge dismissed the lawsuit.
In a 2010 post, Portnoy wrote on Barstool Sports, “[E]ven though I never condone rape if you’re a size 6 and you’re wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?” And in 2012, he stood by the statement.
In 2020, Portnoy said he was “uncancellable” after videos resurfaced of him using the N-word.
Last month, Portnoy spoke out against the Trump administration and said national security adviser Michael Waltz should have lost his job after it was revealed that the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was inadvertently added to a group chat with the national security team as they discussed war plans.
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“Trump, you may love Michael Waltz, you may love Pete Hegseth, you may love these guys, somebody has to go down,” Portnoy said in a video posted on his social media. “To me, it’s Michael Waltz. He’s the one who added him to this conversation. But you can’t have the top of the top security people in the United States with the most sensitive information in the world adding random editors of a magazine that hates Trump’s guts to a group chat talking about an attack before it happens on a terrorist group.”
Portnoy said Trump has not reached out to him.
The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.