A Mark Cuban presidency? President Trump first suggested Dallas Mavericks owner run
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said President Trump is the first person who made him think about possibly making a bid for The White House.
In 2016, during Trump’s presidential campaign, Cuban became a vocal supporter and had some positive things to say about the candidacy of the political neophyte.
That prompted Trump to start calling Cuban during the campaign on a weekly basis, according to Cuban, who was on the Bad Radio show with Dan and Jake on KTCK/1310 AM and 96.7 FM Friday afternoon.
During one of those calls, Trump told Cuban he would make a great president.
“We would talk about whatever,” Cuban said. “’He said, ‘You know what, you could probably be really, really good at this job. You should run.’”
Cuban said Trump was the first person to ever tell him that. Before the 2016 election, Cuban tried to keep a low profile when it came to politics. And he’s hoping there’s no need to entertain the idea in four years.
“Hopefully there’s no need for me [to run],” he said. “It wasn’t my dream to always run for president, not at all. And up until 2016, you never heard a peep from me about politics and you still don’t hear from me on local politics at all.”
Cuban said he likes Trump personally but doesn’t think he can handle the job and he told Fox News that’ll he’ll be voting for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November.
“Having known Donald Trump for almost 20 years now … I’m not a fan of his. I just don’t think he can do that job. I don’t think he’s competent enough. But I like him as a person. He’s fun to be around and he’s personable. I just don’t think he’s capable.”
Cuban said he initially supported Trump in 2016 because he didn’t think he could beat Hillary Clinton and he thought Trump’s outsider status and penchant for speaking off the cuff would be good for politics.
“I said he was the best thing to happen to politics because he just says what’s on his mind and I literally thought that would influence other politicians to be more honest. Boy, how wrong was I,” Cuban said with a laugh.
Cuban said he discussed a potential run for president with his family, which includes his wife, two teenage daughters and a 10-year-old son. They all basically vetoed the idea. Data analysis Cuban had done for a potential run this year showed he couldn’t win more than 25% of the vote, so he decided against it.
He said he asked his family around the dinner table about running for president.
His son was the only one who was initially open to the idea, until his 16-year-old sister shot him a look.
“My wife was like, ‘I wont be here if you do,’” Cuban said. “No one thought I would lose, that’s the problem.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 5:40 PM.
