# Mark Cuban on This Week | 10.27.24 Auto-transcribed by https://aliceapp.ai on Monday, 28 Oct 2024. Synced media and text playback available on this page: https://aliceapp.ai/recordings/H6NayexokZvcr23Vg_X1dWQbjJs5LiPl * Words : 2,351 * Duration : 00:11:12 * Recorded on : Unknown date * Uploaded on : 2024-10-28 02:00:22 UTC * At : Unknown location * Using : Uploaded to aliceapp.ai ## Speakers: * Mark Cuban - 67.72% * Jonathan Karl - 30.2% * Kevin O'Leary - Tape - 2.08% ---------------------------- Mark Cuban [00:00:00] I invest in so many companies and I talk to so many, and I help them. I see the struggles. I see the opportunity. I see the heart. I, uh, see the fear sometimes when you're running the business. And if Donald Trump is elected, that 60% across the board, tariffs, or even worse, can put them out of business. Mark Cuban [00:00:16] Which is exactly why we need Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States of America. Jonathan Karl [00:00:26] That was billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban making the case for Vice President Harris on the campaign trail. I sat down with Cuban to discuss why he's backing Kamala Harris, the stakes of this election, and his own political aspirations. So you've been out there campaigning with Kamala Harris. How's it looking? Is, uh, she gonna win? Mark Cuban [00:00:44] I think so, for sure. I mean, when you go to one of her campaigns, she is just a dynamic speaker. I mean, the crowd is engaged, the energy is off the charts. I mean, if that's any indication, she's going to win easily. Jonathan Karl [00:00:56] So I've heard you say a couple times that she's not a good salesperson. Mark Cuban [00:01:00] Right? Jonathan Karl [00:01:01] Isn't that important, not just in a campaign, but in being president? Mark Cuban [00:01:04] Well, there's different types of salespeople, right? There are salespeople with lousy products that have to oversell. That's Donald Trump. Then there's other salespeople who may not be as boisterous and relentless, but know that they have a great product, so they don't have to be boisterous and relentless. That's Kamala Harris. Jonathan Karl [00:01:19] Now, Trump has a basic message which he gives, and it's not all based on facts, to say the least. But the basic thing is the economy was great when I was president. It's a total disaster ever since, you know, Biden took over. I'm going to make it great again. Uh, how do you. Jonathan Karl [00:01:37] What do you say to people who. Mark Cuban [00:01:38] Are saying, look, you could use whatever metric you want. The economy is in great shape. That does not mean every single individual in this country is experiencing all the goodness of the economy. But that was the same under the Trump administration as well. You know, the stock market's at record high. The GDP is at record high. Mark Cuban [00:01:54] Real wages are greater than inflation. Now inflation is back down, you know, in the two and a half, three percent range. Variably, um, jobs are still, you know, we're getting an incredible jobs report. This goes back to the salesmanship, and this applies to Joe Biden. You know, I'm not going to throw Joe on the bus, but he's not a great salesperson. Mark Cuban [00:02:10] Donald Trump is saying the stuff that's not true. And you know the old saying, you repeat a lie enough, people will start believing. Jonathan Karl [00:02:15] Now you're, you're not a Democrat? Mark Cuban [00:02:17] No. Jonathan Karl [00:02:18] I mean, you're not a Republican? Mark Cuban [00:02:19] No, I think for myself, so. Jonathan Karl [00:02:22] And you voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary. Mark Cuban [00:02:25] Yeah. Jonathan Karl [00:02:26] Would you be supporting her right now if she was a Republican nominee? Mark Cuban [00:02:28] Um, not against, um, Kamala. Against Biden, maybe. Jonathan Karl [00:02:33] And what do you make of Kamala now? You spent time with her, you've gotten to know her more, you've been out there with her. What's your sense of her? What kind of president would she be? Mark Cuban [00:02:44] I think she'd be great because she's open minded. She's not an ideologue. She's not, um, dogmatic. She wants to get input from everybody. I haven't given her a penny. People think, oh, you're giving her a lot of money. No, I haven't given a penny to. Jonathan Karl [00:02:55] Why haven't you? Mark Cuban [00:02:55] I haven't given a penny to a candidate since 2002. Yeah. And it was just like, uh, my attitude is if I have a good idea and if I feel, um, passionate about the candidate, I'll help. I don't want them to work with me because I paid them to work with me. Jonathan Karl [00:03:09] What did you think of Harris when she was running for president the first time around 2019? Mark Cuban [00:03:13] I think I wasn't paying attention. Jonathan Karl [00:03:14] You didn't pay any attention. Mark Cuban [00:03:15] But look, when you. Jonathan Karl [00:03:16] But you know, the position she took, she was a Medicare for all, it was a Green New Deal. Mark Cuban [00:03:20] Uh, but she was representing the state of California. You can call it the People's Republic of California. Right. And so when you have a far left state, you know, you're going to do what those, um, your citizens want. When you're representing the United States of America, it's a much broader and better. Jonathan Karl [00:03:35] But she took those positions when she was starting to run for president. Mark Cuban [00:03:38] No, I get that. You know, I get that. But here's where we are now. That was not a very long lived run and I think she learned the hard way that certain. Jonathan Karl [00:03:45] Do you think she believed that stuff or was she doing it to run? Mark Cuban [00:03:48] I think she believed it for sure. But, you know, I mean, look, she has to speak for herself on those things. What I do like about her is she continuously says she's open minded and she's proved it. You know, I've changed a lot of my positions in the past five years. Donald Trump has changed his. Mark Cuban [00:04:02] I think a lot of reasonable people have Changed theirs. And, you know, to say this was your position for Medicare, for all, this was your position on whatever it may be, and to be shocked that somebody changed their mind, it's a bigger shock that someone's shocked. Jonathan Karl [00:04:14] Has she done a good enough job explaining to people why she did, why she's changed her mind? M on the border, for instance? I mean, she's done a good enough job. Mark Cuban [00:04:20] You know, there's two elements there. One, she's only been running for 13 weeks. And when she started to run, when she, um, replaced Joe Biden, she had a deficit in awareness. You know, even Donald Trump would say, I don't even know who Harris is. You guys know who Harris is. And she had negative favorables. Mark Cuban [00:04:36] And so she had to spend what is the last 13 weeks just letting people get to know her and, you know, getting to see that she is vibrant, she is smart, she is open minded. And so when you're, when you're trying to win that battle, you're not going to answer all the specifics of every, you know, have the opportunity to answer all the specifics. Mark Cuban [00:04:54] And the proof is in the pudding. She went from, as I said, negatives and, you know, being right where Joe Biden is. And in 13 weeks, they're in a dead heat and it's a toss up. Jonathan Karl [00:05:02] Well, that's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that, look at, look at the incoming that Trump has had. I mean, he's got his former chief of staff saying that he's a fascist, that he admired Hitler, that he called American heroes suckers and losers because they died in battle for America and the race is still tied. Mark Cuban [00:05:18] Yeah, well, in 13 weeks, you know, again, in 13 weeks, how far can anybody go? She's done an amazing thing that I think will be written favorably about in the history books. To go from nowhere, you know, from the outhouse to the penthouse. That's not easy. Jonathan Karl [00:05:34] Now she's called Trump a fascist now, too. What do you make of that? Mark Cuban [00:05:39] I mean, it's, you know, it's not far from her, him calling her a communist. Jonathan Karl [00:05:44] Well, he's actually called her a fascist too. He's called her a fascist too, right? Yeah, yeah, everything. Mark Cuban [00:05:49] I mean, the name calling, you know, in a normal world, the two parties would get together and say, let's just stop this name calling. Right? Let's just focus on the issues. But this is not a normal world. Donald Trump is not a normal candidate. And I think it's not a stretch to call Donald Trump a fascist. Mark Cuban [00:06:02] You talked about the people in his cabinet that spoke the same way. You know, he's talking about the enemy within and going after people using the military. He's talked about mass deportations where, you know, they'll stop people on the street and check their papers. What does that remind you of? Talking about, you know, knocking on doors and pulling people out and deporting them. Mark Cuban [00:06:21] What does that remind you of? That's pretty damn close to fascism, if not the definition of fascism. Jonathan Karl [00:06:26] So at the risk of going full shark tank, I want to show you something. Mark Cuban [00:06:28] Firewood. Friday nights on ABC. Jonathan Karl [00:06:30] Something that, uh, Kevin O'Leary said just the others about this. Kevin O'Leary - Tape [00:06:34] The January 6th deal has been in the market forever. This rhetoric from people saying Trump is a Nazi and a fascist in the market forever. Do you really want to spend your closing statements on old stuff that's already needled into 45% of the country that hates them? Mark Cuban [00:06:51] You know, that's like, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lincoln, you know, but let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the play. This is not new. You know, is it unnerving to a certain extent that, you know, half of America continues to support him? Yes. Um, is there a reason? In my mind, it's leadership. Mark Cuban [00:07:10] If you don't have strong leadership. And, you know, Joe Biden did a lot of great things, I think, you know, the economy and many other things that, you know, the CHIPS act, There's so many great things he's done, but a leader he's not, and he's effective. And I think, um, Kamala is a leader. Jonathan Karl [00:07:28] But you do hear from a lot of serious people that, look, I don't like the rhetoric. I don't like the stuff he says, but I like. I think he'll take the country in a better direction on the economy or whatever. Mark Cuban [00:07:37] But then you ask them, you ask them for the details. There are none. And that's one of the reasons I'm a surrogate, because I can go into the nitty gritty of any business topic you want to talk about, and I can tell you the difference between Kamala Harris plan and what evidence, whatever evidentiary things we have from Donald Trump. Jonathan Karl [00:07:52] I want to ask you about what Trump has said a lot about you, but can I just read one of his posts just to get you? He says, Mark Cuban is a loser, wouldn't take his phone calls anymore at the White House, and he went rogue. A weak and pathetic bully. He's got nothing going. Jonathan Karl [00:08:08] So that's what Trump has to do. Mark Cuban [00:08:09] Well, you left out the best part. Jonathan Karl [00:08:10] Oh, I did. I did. Oh, really Low club speed, a total non athlete. Mark Cuban [00:08:15] I can outdrive him all day, any day. Um, so what? I don't care. Yeah, we have this give and take when that's who he is. He's very transactional. Jonathan Karl [00:08:27] There was a nanosecond where you said it was a good thing that he got involved. He was running for president. Mark Cuban [00:08:31] Yeah. When he first ran, I didn't think he had a chance to win, but I'm like, this is great. He's not a traditional player politician. And I thought that would net. Be a net positive. I was wrong. Jonathan Karl [00:08:41] Did you? I know you briefly looked at running in 2020. Uh, 2020. Mark Cuban [00:08:47] Yeah. Jonathan Karl [00:08:47] And what about this time? I mean, there was talk about you. Mark Cuban [00:08:50] No chance at all. I have no interest. I have no interest in being a politician of any type. I have no interest in serving in the cabinet for, um, Kamala Harris or anybody. I like being a disruptor as an entrepreneur. Jonathan Karl [00:09:01] And finally, in the presidential race, you have a situation where both sides are saying that if the other side wins, it's basically the end. Mark Cuban [00:09:12] Armageddon. Yeah. Jonathan Karl [00:09:13] I mean, it's like the worst possible thing. Trump says we won't have a country anymore. Kamala Harris suggests we won't have American democracy anymore. What do you make of that? Mark Cuban [00:09:21] I mean, hyperbole is nothing new and. Jonathan Karl [00:09:24] But it's more this year, isn't it? Mark Cuban [00:09:26] Yeah. I mean, you know, you hear the stories about people saying, I'll leave the country and all that, uh, Trump wins. I mean, I'm not going anywhere. But, um, I'm an American first. I'll do whatever I can to help this country wherever I can. And it doesn't matter to me who's president. Jonathan Karl [00:09:40] But that's not the end of democracy. Mark Cuban [00:09:42] Um, I hope not. Do I think that Donald Trump has fascist tendencies? Absolutely. Positively. I do believe Donald Trump poses a threat. I'm, um, not going to say it's 100%, but I think it's a greater than 0%. And to me, I mean, just look at January 6th. Just look. I mean, literally, if anybody here that works for you, if someone was chanting outside, hang Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban [00:10:06] Hang Mark Cuban, you all would rally around me and try, let's figure this out. To have somebody who's second in command and they're chanting, hang Mike Pence. And you don't care. There's nothing you won't do. Jonathan Karl [00:10:17] But with all that, are Democrats going to accept the results? Mark Cuban [00:10:20] Yes. Jonathan Karl [00:10:21] If Donald Trump wins? Mark Cuban [00:10:22] Yes. Jonathan Karl [00:10:22] Even all that. You just said yes, and what it means, yes. Mark Cuban [00:10:25] Now they'll go to work and try to make sure our institutions remain solid. But I think this all resides with Donald Trump. Maybe he has a few, um, acolytes that he'll hire that will support him in some of these crazy things, like he did before with fewer adults in the room this time. Mark Cuban [00:10:46] But I do think those people around him will try to support our own institution or our long term institutions. But, um, I can't say with 100% certainty that, um, he won't overcome that and do something that really sets us back. I mean, we wouldn't be the first democracy that had to take a big step back to move forward. Jonathan Karl [00:11:10] Our thanks to Mark Cuban.