Mark Cuban Says Trump Is 'Never' Seen With 'Intelligent Women’—Sparking Outrage On The Right
by Sara Dorn · ForbesTopline
Billionaire Mark Cuban said Thursday former President Donald Trump is “never” seen around “strong, intelligent women,” sparking swift backlash from Trump’s campaign and allies—as Trump’s own comments about how he would “protect” women drew criticism from Vice President Kamala Harris.
Key Facts
Cuban—who is backing Harris—said “you never see him around strong, intelligent women, ever, it’s very simple, they’re intimidating to him,” when asked about Trump’s ability to court Nikki Haley voters during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” adding “he doesn’t like to be challenged by them, and you know, Nikki Haley will call him on his nonsense with reproductive rights and how he sees and treats and talks about women.”
Host Joy Behar, a frequent Trump critic, immediately contested the remark, telling Cuban “I don’t think that’s 100%” and calling Stormy Daniels “very smart” in a veiled insult at Trump, who is accused of having an affair with Daniels in the early 2000s.
Trump’s female allies immediately seized on the remark, posting videos denouncing the comments on X: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called Cuban a “sexist disgrace,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Cuban’s remarks were “by definition misogyny,” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., touted her professional and academic accolades in a video of her working out in which she also alleged, without evidence, that Cuban “suffers from low testosterone.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement posted to X and directed at Cuban his comments were “extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are proudly voting for him.”
Cuban, a Trump-friend-turned-foe, made the comments as Harris and her allies were denouncing Trump’s vow on Wednesday to “protect” women whether they “like it or not,” a statement Harris told MSNBC on Thursday was “very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”
Tangent
Haley, Trump’s last remaining competitor in the GOP primary, has campaigned for Trump, but has not appeared alongside him at any events. She recently joined the criticism of Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe was widely rebuked for describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Haley told Fox News the rally was “overly masculine” and also condemned a since-deleted video Trump backer Elon Musk’s super PAC, America’s PAC, published on X that referred to Harris as the “C-word” (later claiming it stood for “communist”). Haley said “that is not the way to win women. That is not the way to win people who are concerned about Trump’s style.”
Key Background
Cuban has focused on promoting Harris’ economic policies while campaigning on her behalf. He has disputed the Trump campaign’s narrative that the Biden-Harris administration is responsible for inflation, promoted Harris’ promise not to raise taxes for people making under $400,000 and dismissed suggestions Harris would follow through with President Joe Biden’s proposal to tax unrealized capital gains (something she hasn’t taken a stance on). Cuban, a self-identified independent who once supported Trump’s political aspirations before breaking with him prior to the 2016 election, frequently spars with Trump. He accused Trump of being “divisive” and “denigrating,” in an interview with Fox Business recently, explaining that he broke with the former president because he lacked “depth” and nuance when it came to policy. Trump, meanwhile, called Cuban a “loser” and a “weak and pathetic bully” in a Truth Social post earlier this month in which he criticized Cuban’s golf game and alleged the billionaires had a falling out because Trump stopped taking his calls at the White House.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Cuban is worth $5.7 billion.