Mark Cuban and President Donald Trump were friends long before the billionaires began verbal spats during Trump's 2016 campaign. The 2020 race is already heating up with a crowded field of Democratic contenders, and even Cuban thinks Trump has a clear shot to reelection "right now."
During an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Cuban was asked which of the prominent Democratic hopefuls had the best shot to defeat Trump in 2020.
"Nobody right now," said Cuban, who is owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Cuban went on to say politicians aren't very "trusted," and that it may take someone from outside of politics to have a chance at beating Trump—basically saying Democrats would most likely need to pull a page from the Trump playbook.
"Politicians are the least trusted of every profession," Cuban said. "If you look at why people voted for Donald Trump, in my opinion, first and foremost it was because he wasn't a politician."
He said Joe Biden "could do a decent job" and that the former vice president was "smart," but no candidate really stood out among the others.
Cuban said the current candidates haven't introduced policies that would be legislatively realistic, calling their campaign pitches "headline porn."
"I don't think they believe what they're proposing is passable," Cuban said.
And though Cuban claimed he could have beaten both Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign, he hasn't decided on whether he'll run for the White House or not in 2020.
"We'll see what happens. It would take the perfect storm for me to do it," Cuban declared. "There's some things that could open the door, but I'm not projecting or predicting it right now."
"I still think there's a real opportunity for somebody who is in the middle but has some charisma, has the ability to relate to both sides but is not a politician. The reality is people don't trust politicians,"
Cuban said he would run as an independent if he did, indeed, run. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has also contemplated running as an independent candidate in 2020.
Cuban, who like Trump had a TV reality show, said he was friends with Trump. In this Washington Post report from 2017, Cuban said he liked Trump when they first got to know each other. But as the two began trading barbs in 2016, Cuban said, "I told him I was really concerned about a candidate becoming president who was not making an effort to learn the issues," said Cuban, who also called Trump a "jagoff" who got "stupider before your eyes."
Trump, not to back down from a name-calling war, referred to Cuban as "dopey" and "not smart."
Which means, if Cuban actually tossed his name in the presidential hat for 2020, political debates could be quite interesting.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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