Mark
Cuban Changes His Mind
An
e-mail conversation about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton with the
billionaire NBA owner and Shark Tank star.
By Ira Boudway
September 15, 2016
Photographer: Mike
Fuentes/Bloomberg
After Donald Trump
announced his candidacy in 2015, Mark Cuban—the billionaire NBA
team owner and Shark Tank star—called him “probably the best
thing to happen to politics in a long, long time.” A year later,
Cuban endorsed Hillary Clinton at a rally, asking: “Is there any
bigger jagoff in the world than Donald Trump?” In August, I
exchanged e-mails with Cuban about why he switched sides.
BW (8/4/16): Why did
you decide to endorse Clinton?
Cuban: When Trump
first declared his candidacy, I was truly excited about the
possibilities. I liked the idea that someone from outside the realm
of traditional politics was making a run for the presidency. I liked
the idea that he was unrehearsed and still think in the long run the
country will learn quite a bit from his campaign. I also had a very
strong dislike for Ted Cruz. I was an “anybody but Cruz” voter.
Cruz is a smart demagogue. To me that is a very dangerous
combination. So in my initial support for Trump, it was very much in
a hope that it would prevent Cruz from being nominated.
My comments about
Trump and my opposition to Cruz led to my being able to talk to Trump
over the phone and via e-mail by way of one of his assistants. In
those conversations, I was clear to Donald that I didn’t agree with
most of what he said. I also got the chance to ask him some poignant
questions along the way that I think were very telling. I asked him
if he realized that the job would entail making decisions that could
lead to the death of our service people. I asked him about going to
small businesses so he could connect and show people his business
skills. I’m not going to share his responses, but I learned more
about him from those responses.
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Once he won the
Republican primary, I honestly expected that he would start to become
more businesslike. That he would start to add details to his top-line
proposals. That he would demonstrate that he was learning the issues
that he could face as president. I didn’t see him making progress
or even effort on any of those fronts. But that alone wasn’t enough
for me to endorse Secretary Clinton. I have been in the public eye
for a long time and have never actively supported any candidate.
There were two things that finally led me to endorse Secretary
Clinton: The first was that I did quite a bit of homework to
understand all the allegations that were directed toward her and
found almost all not based on fact and the remainder far from
material. The tipping issues were Trump’s positions on NATO, our
treaties, dealing with our allies, his comments on nuclear weapons,
and his lack of understanding of the concept of deterrence. His
ignorance of these issues scared the shit out of me.
“I don’t think
he understands technology. And his suggestions that tax changes and
repatriation opportunities will create jobs and GDP are ridiculous”
BW: What of yourself
do you see in Trump?
Nothing. But I
understand him. He cares about two things, how people perceive him
and how much cash he has in the bank.
BW (8/9/16): Trump
gave a major economic policy speech yesterday. Did it change anything
for you as far as your judgment of him?
No. There was no
there there, and the hyperbole was truly Trumpian. Trillions of
dollars coming back to create millions of jobs? Factories don’t
just show up. Someone has to build them. Who? How long? And if a new
factory is going to be built, it’s not going to be a circa 1975
factory. It’s going to be as automated as possible. I don’t think
he understands technology. And his suggestions that tax changes and
repatriation opportunities will create jobs and GDP are ridiculous.
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BW: I’m curious
why you so admire the quality of saying what’s on your mind in
someone running for office.
I liked Trump’s
honesty because it was different and had a chance to change the
business of politics. What I didn’t realize he was missing at the
time was a complete and utter lack of preparation, knowledge, and
common sense.
I made the mistake
of assuming that he had to have some interest in learning and keeping
up with world events. That he would make the effort to learn what he
didn’t know. I obviously was wrong. I can’t say it enough that
learning how to learn is one of the greatest skills anyone can have.
It’s why I advocate that everyone go to college. I love being
challenged and defending my positions and, when I’m wrong, learning
from the exchange. It makes me smarter and better as a
businessperson. That’s the key difference between us. Trump never
takes on the intellectual challenge. He doesn’t even try. He just
talks about having a good brain. :)
BW (8/11/16): You’ve
said jobs are going to continue to disappear. Is there anything
businesses or the government can do so the dividends of automation
fall to workers as well as owners?
Going forward, we
will be automating the creation of automation. The business process
of iteration will be in many cases automated. That will lead to jobs
that we value today as being advanced and technical, like
programmers, engineers, drafts people, and others, being replaced by
future iterations of today’s machine and deep learning.
The libertarian in
me hopes that the future markets will figure out new jobs and careers
for workers. The pragmatist in me thinks that it could take decades
for this to work itself out, so we will need to come up with programs
that provide jobs to the millions of workers that will be displaced
here in the States and plan for the global disruption that will occur
when robotics displace low-paying jobs around the world.
I have been a
proponent of dramatically expanding the AmeriCorps program. By
increasing the pay of participants to a living wage, it can act as a
jobs program that, rather than trying to predict what will be
technically viable jobs, will value social support and provide jobs
that make communities stronger. It can provide valuable jobs to those
displaced by automation.
BW (8/16/16): What
would be your advice to President Clinton?
I have spoken to
them about simplifying regulations and enabling automation to reduce
friction for small businesses. They have been very receptive so far.
I believe that starting any business should be as easy as a
10-year-old starting a lemonade stand. I’ve conveyed this to them,
and they again have been very receptive.
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