Once a Harsh Critic, Mark Cuban Now Says Trump Is Our ‘No. 1 Draft Pick’
Mark Cuban Image by Flickr
By Nathan Guttman December 8, 2016
Billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has made a sharp reverse, from being an attack dog for the Democrats to giving Donald Trump his full-throated endorsement.
“Donald Trump is our No. 1 draft pick,” Cuban told CNBC Wednesday. Sticking with the basketball metaphor, he explained: “He’s who we put our hopes and dream with. Now it is easier because we haven’t played a game yet. No reason to rush to judgment or come to any conclusions now. Let’s see what happens starting January 21st and we’ll go from there. I hope he’s a superstar.”
This is an abrupt reversal for someone who taunted taunted Trump relentlessly. Before the election, Cuban predicted that if Trump wins, the stock market would “tank” and that his election would be the “worst thing possible” for Wall Street.
Now, Cuban is not only willing to give Trump a chance, he’s also downplaying the importance of the president-elect’s Twitter rants. Twitter, he said, is merely a “way to reach other celebs, other verified users, and reach the media.”
In late November Cuban was spotted sitting in a New York coffee shop with Trump adviser and former Breitbart chief Steve Bannon. Cuban said this is “not a topic for now.”
“What was that all about?” the reporter pressed Cuban.
“Coffee,” Cuban answered.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
The Forward is free to read but not free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
