With Trump back in charge, a lot of people are pretty convinced the future is looking bleak. Of course, there are still those who stubbornly believe he’ll make America great again, but the Trump Tariffs are proving them wrong in real time. Dave Portnoy, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, was left speechless after losing $7 million in a single day. On April 2, Trump announced new tariffs on several trade partners, causing chaos in the market. The next day, the Massachusetts icon went live on X, clearly shaken as he vented about his massive financial loss.
Although Trump announced the new tariffs after the stock market had closed, the market wasn’t about to be fooled. Not long after that spectacularly bad move, stocks took a nosedive. As someone who’s actively investing, Dave Portnoy was one of the first to feel the hit.
He broke down the massive losses during his Davey Day Trader Global livestream.
“I’ve been trying to understand them. I don’t. Like, it’s more a trade deficit tariff to me,” Portnoy said, clearly frustrated.
As a longtime Trump supporter, it’s pretty clear the tariffs are starting to shake Portnoy’s confidence. “Everything’s in the sh—ter because of it,” he said, talking about the Trump tariffs. “Seven million. I’m down seven million in stocks and crypto,” he added, still reeling from the loss.
Yet despite the massive loss, Portnoy still insists on calling Trump a smart guy. It’s giving denial, honestly. He claims Trump is playing some kind of high-stakes game and says he’ll wait a couple more weeks to see how it all plays out. “I’m gonna give Trump the benefit of the doubt here,” Portnoy said.
A lot of people aren’t exactly feeling sympathetic—in fact, plenty are straight-up enjoying the schadenfreude. Critics have been quick to call out Portnoy’s lack of foresight for not thinking through the consequences of Trump’s tariffs.
“The fact that he had to lose millions to finally ask the question ‘how does a tariff work’ is mind-boggling. Maybe you should’ve asked that before the election when he was talking about them…” one Redditor commented.
Some users aren’t impressed with Portnoy’s denial—or his insistence on still backing Trump. “If you still support someone who cost you $7 million for no reason other than his own stupidity, you’re a moron too,” one commenter said bluntly.
Others were more baffled than angry, wondering how the Massachusetts icon even got that rich to begin with. “How can so many stupid people get so rich?” another user asked.
