It’s a war of words between reality TV billionaires.
Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and co-host of the show Shark Tank, today tweeted that Donald Trump, former host of The Apprentice, does not have the cash he claims to fund his campaign.
If @realDonaldTrump were fractionally as rich as he says he is, he would write a $200mm check to propel his campaign. He doesn’t have the cash.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 21, 2016
Cuban’s claim followed news today that Trump is losing the campaign fundraising battle to Hillary Clinton by a shocking 9-1 margin. It has also been revealed that the Trump campaign has been heavily subsidizing his family for travel and other expenses.
In an interview today, Cuban also claimed Trump would not be a successful contestant on his entrepreneur business show.
“He’d get kicked out of ‘Shark Tank’ so fast, it would make your head spin,” said Cuban. “You know what? It’s rare that you see someone get stupider before your eyes, but he’s really working at it. You have to give him credit. It’s a difficult thing to do, but he’s accomplished it.”
Cuban, who is also an investor in numerous businesses, says Trump’s business record isn’t all he makes it out to be.
“Let’s look at it this way: Name one good deal he’s done,” said Cuban. “When he talks about his great renegotiations, they’re renegotiations, so tell me if you think this is a good deal: I lose four casinos, they go out of business, but I’m really good at renegotiating the debt of his companies that have already gone out of business.”
The harsh comments by Cuban followed earlier words of praise for Trump, but he now says he made those comments because Trump was a better alternative to Senator Ted Cruz during the GOP primaries.
“I really didn’t like Ted Cruz, so I started helping Donald, tried to encourage him, because I thought he’d be, and to this day thought he’d be a better candidate than Ted Cruz,” Cuban told Extra. “But at some point, you’ve got to start learning and understanding the issues, you know? Donald has been at this a year but you don’t look at him and say, ‘Wow, he’s gotten so much smarter on this topic or that topic.’ In fact, you look at him and say, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ That’s not good for America.”