Exclusive: Mark Cuban calls Trump "snake oil salesperson," praises Biden
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Mark Cuban is seen outside of the West Wing after attending a meeting about prescription drug costs at the White House on March 4. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban lambasted former President Trump on Tuesday as a "snake oil salesperson" while explaining his decision to back President Biden in the upcoming election.
Why it matters: The endorsement from one of America's most high-profile businessmen comes as the 81-year-old president struggles in the polls amid swirling questions about his age and his handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
- "I don't want a snake oil salesperson as President," Cuban told Axios by email Tuesday. "I'm voting for Biden/Harris over Trump all day every day."
Zoom in: "It's the snake oil salesperson vs the incumbent, traditional politician," Cuban said.
- "One will tell you his snake oil will cure everything that ails you. The other will show you the details of his policies through charts, graphs and statements," Cuban said.
- "He is precise and methodical and wants to sell the steak," Cuban said of Biden. "Not the sizzle."
- "Trump voters are happy with their snake oil whether it works or not."
The big picture: The fresh comments from Cuban expand on his recent remarks that he would support Biden even if the president was on his death bed.
- "If they were having his last wake, and it was him versus Trump, and he was being given last rites, I would still vote for Joe Biden," Cuban told Bloomberg on Monday after a meeting at the White House about prescription drug costs.
- The tech billionaire and Dallas Mavericks minority owner co-founded a company called Cost Plus Drugs in 2022 which aims to bring down prices for generic drugs.
State of play: Trump's stranglehold on the GOP is set to be on full display as Super Tuesday results start to flow in, setting him up for a rematch with Biden in November's general election.
- Cuban told Bloomberg he supported Nikki Haley, Trump's lone remaining Republican opponent, in the Texas primary — calling it a "protest vote against Trump."
The intrigue: Cuban also predicted a potential AI-driven "October Tech Surprise" before election day.
- Cuban said the information a voter is served on the presidential candidates depends on what platform they use, with X increasingly leaning right, some other platforms leaning left, and TikTok users getting "different versions" of the news depending on their demographics.
- With most consumers now getting their news from such platforms, he believes "the campaign that figures out how to reverse engineer the algorithms and use them to their advantage" will be the one that wins critical undecided voters.
- "It would not surprise me if someone is using machine learning and LLMs (large language models) to reverse engineer those algorithms in hopes of an 'October Tech Surprise,'" he said.
Go deeper: Mark Cuban says he's never running for elective office
