The first time I heard that name (as a non US citizen) was in a documentary about breitbart.com founder Andrew Breitbart, who apparently did not like the guy. I found this article about Podesta (on breitbart, so take that with a grain of salt, or an entire salt mine): https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2016/11/04/remembering-an...
Looks like Podesta is everything the 'Drain-the-swamp' Trump supporters hate. This deal is probably fueling a lot of debate on their social platforms right now.