Barstool Sports founder and President Dave Portnoy sounds off on the embrace of socialism from young progressives and discusses his company raising $650,000 for the slain NYPD officer Didarul Islam.
Young progressives believe that politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani are the future of the Democratic Party, but Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is having none of it.
The sports media mogul joined FOX Business on Monday where he pushed back against the mindset of two young Democrats who proclaimed on-camera that their party should “look towards socialism” and described Mamdani’s growing recognition as “empowering” for young voters.
“It makes me want to puke,” Portnoy told Stuart Varney.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy criticized young Democrats who are espousing socialist values. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“These are college kids. They’ve never had probably had a job in their lives. They’ve grown up probably coddled, reading books about how the world is, but they’ve never been in the real world. I don’t like any government where [it has] disincentivized initiative [or] working hard, and that’s what socialism does.”
Expanding on his stance, he framed his opposition as a matter of basic function and real-world experience.
“I’m all for taking care of people and giving back,” he said. “But you know what entrepreneurs do? They create jobs, they create livings, they create wages. I just fundamentally [believe] socialism doesn’t work. There are plenty of examples…”
Zohran Mamdani, New York state assemblyman and New York City mayoral candidate, speaks at an emergency rally held by the Working Families Party to criticize the Trump administration, after ICE agents arrested Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark and New Jerse (Reuters/Bing Guan / Reuters)
“And I just have a hard time being lectured by a 19- or 20-year-old who’s never had a day of real-world experience…” he continued.
“I can’t have someone who’s been alive for five seconds telling me how the world works. I just can’t do it.”
The Democratic Party has taken a sharp left turn in recent years, a move recently evidenced by Mamdani clenching the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor in the Big Apple.
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Former NYC mayoral candidate Fernando Mateo argues New Yorkers don’t want socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on ‘Varney & Co.’
The self-proclaimed democratic socialist has espoused ideas like free buses, rent freezes, city-owned grocery stores and more. He will face off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and incumbent Independent Mayor Eric Adams in November.
At the same time, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., remains a rising star within the party on a national scale, and has been floated by some as a strong contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2028.
