After #NeverTrump Republicans approached Mark Cuban about a possible third-party candidacy, the reality star said there simply wasn’t enough time for him to mount a viable third-party campaign.
He did, however, manage to sneak in a signature dig at Trump: “He could come after me all he wanted, and he knows I would put him in his place,” Cuban told the Washington Post.
The two reality-TV billionaires have a long history of trading barbs, it turns out.
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Last year, Cuban described his relationship with Trump: “Everybody’s got this friend that they pick on, right? That one guy that you know he’s got a good heart, and he wants to do the right thing, but he just does some of the stupidest shit all the time. And so, that’s Donald to me. I actually like him, and I get along with him, but he’s kind of gone off.”
Earlier this week, Cuban dissed Trump on MSNBC, saying he was an “amazing” real-estate savant—but little else.
“He hasn’t really demonstrated that ability in other business ventures,” Cuban told Steve Kornacki. “He puts his name on products that make no sense. You know, the products he puts his name on suggest that he just needed the money: you know, steaks, suits, water, university, you name it. There’s no rhyme or reason there.”
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In December 2015, Cuban also got a few laughs at Trump’s expense on Comedy Central (watch here).
“He’s like that guy who walks into the bar and will say whatever it’ll take to get laid,” Cuban said on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. “Only in this case, he’s not trying to fuck some girl. He’s trying to fuck the country.”
In 2014, Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, told TMZ that Trump couldn’t afford to buy the Buffalo Bills alone.
Trump fired back, insulting Cuban’s athleticism and wealth. “Mark Cuban is a lightweight whose net worth is a fraction of mine,” Trump said. “He was rejected by baseball and probably plenty of others! By the way, I watched him play golf and he is a total non-athlete—zero clubhead speed. He lives vicariously through his basketball players.”
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Cuban seems to have gotten the last word, accusing Trump of lying. “I never golf,” he said. “Never. 1x in my entire life.”
The feuding billionaires also tangled earlier in 2013, when Cuban appeared on The Tonight Show (watch here). He resurrected a letter that Trump had sent him in October 2004, when Cuban’s reality TV show, The Benefactor, tanked.
“When I initially called you to congratulate you on The Benefactor, little did you or I realize how disastrous and embarrassing it would be for you,” Trump had written on embossed Trump Organization letterhead.
But Cuban’s real pinnacle as a Trump troll was in 2012.
Trump had offered to give $5 million to a charity of the White House’s choice in exchange for President Obama releasing his passport applications and academic transcripts.
Cuban slammed the offer on Fox 4 News in Dallas, calling it “one of the dumbest things ever.” And then, Cuban delivered his counter-offer: $1 million to a charity of Trump’s choice, if only he would shave that signature corn-husk mane.
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Trump, hair intact, took to Twitter, also using Twitlonger.com to extend his diss: “Your team owners are tired of losing so much money with the @dallasmavs,” he wrote. “I love the fact that they are suing you or did you settle with them yet?”
Cuban, however, got the last word, stretched over two tweets. “You got me DJT. Im intimidated and at a loss for words. What a zinger. Im done for. Dayumm. SMH. ITTBYCD ? ILTS ! Come on #realdonaldtrump , you need to do better with the insults. This reminds me of when I used to pick on you when we were kids in Kenya.”
The Twitter battle seems to have since been deleted, but Forbes writer Kerry A. Dolan saved it for posterity.
Cuban, a self-proclaimed libertarian despite his affinity for the welfare state, probably won’t run. And even if he did, it’s unclear how much of an improvement he’d be over Trump. Still, if the past is any indication, a political show-down between the two billionaires would be an epic spectacle.
