You want a billionaire? You want bravado? You may soon have choices. Mark Cuban called into CNBC to discuss his hypothetical prospects. His thoughts are, shall we say, Trumpian:
In an email exchange with CNBC, Cuban revealed his thoughts on the presidency, how he’d structure his campaign and what it would mean for the nation to have, in his words, a “three-comma POTUS—as in $1,000,000,000.
Asked whether he’d ever run for president, Cuban wrote: “I get asked every day. It’s a fun idea to toss around. If I ran as a Dem, I know I could beat Hillary Clinton. And if it was me vs. Trump, I would crush him. No doubt about it.”
Now, that might actually be an effective attack on Trump, unlike most of the other ones deployed by GOP candidates. If he were to jump in the race, he could incessantly point out that he still has a hit reality show. Trump would bellow that his net worth is higher. It’d be great times. Cuban says he’s not going to run, but he also sounds like he’s more than pleased that Trump’s run has opened the door to someone like him and applauds Trump for his unconventional approach.
“There is no question the game has changed and Donald has a much stronger command of it than the rest of the candidates,” Cuban wrote. “Most future voters will get their news from their Facebook, Snapchat, Cyber Dust, Instagram, Twitter feeds,” Cuban said (Cyber Dust is his own messaging app). “They open their apps and see what’s there. They don’t go looking for depth and explanations.”
“If you as a candidate can’t find your way into those feeds, you basically don’t exist,” Cuban wrote.
But Cuban said he’s mindful of the enormous stakes involved in running for president. “No matter how smart or arrogant you think you are, I can’t imagine anything more difficult or more humbling than making life or death decisions,” he wrote. “Whether it’s someone like me, or a Trump, the first time someone dies because of a decision the president made, I think all that bluster goes out the window.”
Well, he’s not going to crush Trump with that kind of thoughtful introspection. He notes that Trump’s use of media, instead of having to buy it, shows any billionaire with an understanding of the media landscape and a presence could be within reach of a nomination, imperfect though they may be. Cuban’s a smart guy and politically hard to pin down, with some heterodox and free-market views he’s unafraid to air.
I say let’s go full billionaire. Cuban vs. Trump.
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