Joe Rogan and Dave Portnoy, Trump supporters, are now questioning his tariff policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump’s tariffs Roll Global Market, some thought leaders and influential podcasts have expressed their questions.
Barstool sports owner Dave Portnoy, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and even Elon Musk are adding voices to many congressional Republicans who compare to tariffs that will take effect on Wednesday.
Here are some of what they said:
Dave Portnoy
“Welcome to Orange Monday,” Portnoy said before the market opened this week.
After last week's market plunge, Portnoy said he lost $7 million in “stocks and cryptocurrencies”, a figure he estimated could be close to $20 million, or up to 15% of his net worth.
But, Portnoy said he plans to stick with Trump, which he calls “the smart guy.”
“I think I'm smarter than me in these tariffs. I think he's playing high-risk games here, too,” Portnoy said on his livestream last week. “I'm going to roll with him for a few days, weeks and see how that's thrown away.”
Founded in 2003 by Portnoy as a free sports and gambling newspaper, Barstool has grown into a digital platform covering sports, lifestyles and entertainment with hundreds of millions of followers. Portnoy has been a Trump supporter since he was first recognized in 2016, interviewing the president at the White House in 2020.
Joe Rogan
Rogan, one of the most influential podcasts in the United States, recognized Trump on the eve of last year's election, said in March that Trump's hatred with Canada was “stupid” and lamented the fact that Canadians “did us overtake tariffs” during professional sports games on teams in both countries.
Rogan recently broke with Trump in other areas, including excessive deportation, referring to recent actions that detain immigrants as “terrible.”
Weeks on Election Day, Rogan had a nearly three-hour podcast interview with Trump, an opportunity for the Republican nominee to highlight most of his ultra-masculine flair in his 2024 White House bid.
Bill Akerman
“We will head to a self-inducing nuclear winter,” a pro-Trump hedge fund manager warned Sunday, unless Trump takes a more intentional approach to likening all tariff activations to “nuclear war.”
In another post later Sunday, Ackerman attacked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “indifferent to the stock market and the economic collapse.” The next day, Ackman apologized for his criticism, claiming that Lutnick, formerly head of financial company Cantor Fitzgerald, could benefit from tariffs due to his bond investments.
