Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, says Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has everything riding on Monday’s first presidential debate.
"[Trump] certainly has a monumental opportunity on Monday to really gain further momentum," the bond guru told CNBC. "I would also acknowledge he has the opportunity to blow himself up on Monday."
"It seems clear that Mr. Trump has momentum," Gundlach told CNBC. "You know that I've been saying all year Trump was going to be our next president," he said.
"If he does a good performance, I think he's going to pull ahead in the polls … in a definitive way," said Gundlach, whose firm has more than $100 billion in assets under management.
However, Gundlach also said he's looking for "downside volatility to develop" on Trump gains, because of the view that if the billionaire real estate mogul wins the election "the world is going to come to an end."
Gundlach isn't the only high profile name to speak out against Trump.
NBA team owner and "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban said that Trump is "an immediate and present danger to the security of this country" during a CNN Money interview.
"His inability to control the things he says, his inability to understand the impact of what he says, his inability to have situational awarenesses creates risk for my country, for my kids, for my family, for everybody I know," Cuban said.
The U.S. president must be fully aware that his words matter. According to Cuban, "When there's a misperception of those words — something he just blurted out — that can have serious economic and security consequences."
"He has yet to demonstrate that he can keep his mouth shut at the right time. That scares the **** out of me," Cuban said in the CNN interview.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur said that he's actively supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because "Our future's at stake. I've got three young kids, and I couldn't look them in the eye and feel good about their future if I didn't assert myself and try to stop Donald Trump from being elected."
Last week, Trump said about Cuban," He's not smart enough to know what I'm doing." That led to Cuban making a challenge to Trump on Twitter calling on the candidate to agree to a four-hour policy interview with Cuban.
Trump has not responded, according to Cuban.
"I wanted to make a point that I don't think he understands his policies. I don't think he understands or knows the details that go behind them, from whoever's giving him his policies," Cuban said.
If he were to interview Trump, Cuban outlined his plan: "I would take his website, repeat it to him, and have him explain it, and see if he can."
Meanwhile, Gundlach also said he has been selectively shorting shares in some restaurants, airlines and retailers. He said economic growth is sub-par and that continues to be reflected in certain names in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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