Mark Cuban continues to dip his toe in the political waters, brashly taking shots at Republican hopeful Donald Trump. Last month, we got a good chuckle after he compared the Donald to a guy at the bar who would say anything to get laid. Cuban admits to having a love-hate relationship with Trump, claiming the real-estate mogul is ‘that friend that you just shake your head at.’
The Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner has been thrown in the mix for a potential vice presidential nod, even claiming on NBC’s Meet the Press that he’s “absolutely” willing to discuss a VP offer from Hillary under one stipulation: “she would have to go more to the center.” At this point, attaching Cuban to a high-profile political position is just speculation and good headline material, but one thing’s for certain: when Cuban talks about politics, people listen.
In an interview this week on “The Bernie and Sid Show” on 77 WABC in New York, Cuban complimented Trump on his ability to brand real estate, but hit him with a haymaker on his habit on slapping his name on everything he touches.
“I think he’s good at real estate; I do give him a lot of credit there. I think he’s good at branding real estate. I don’t think he’s very good at brands for non-real estate products. And, to me, it’s more a reflection of desperation. So when you’re putting your name on steaks, and you’re putting your name on water, you’re putting your name on playing cards, you’re putting your name on all this nonsense, right? You’re not gonna make big bucks, no matter what. It’s not like Trump Steaks were gonna make him $100 million. It’s not like it was gonna make him $5 million…I asked, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Are you that desperate for money?’ Seriously.”
Cuban then pivoted to Trump’s financial standing, which his campaign claims is in excess of $10 billion. Cuban disagrees. Wholeheartedly.
“It’s not even close,” and “the reason I know is when you file your federal election campaign reports, you have to list all your cash and liquid securities and bonds. You have to list them one by one. So we know without any question that as of May 27, Donald doesn’t have more than $165 million in cash and securities and bonds…And trust me, I’ve got a lot more than that.”
Pfft! $165 million. I could find that between my couch cushions.
I hope this sparring continues. It will be interesting to see how Trump handles jabs by someone who isn’t a political robot with zero connection to society.
[h/t Salon]