Donald Trump: Mark Cuban Fires Back After Twitter Jab

A one-time supporter of Donald Trump, Mark Cuban is now firing back at the President. The Dallas Mavericks owner expressed strong support for Trump during the presidential race, and has since called for Americans to unite and give the President a chance.

In recent months, however, Cuban’s outward position, as shared in the communication method for which the current President himself is best known, has shifted dramatically to describe POTUS’s behavior and actions with such words as “lies,” “faltered,” and “blame.”

The 5 stages of Trump management style – Blame the media, blame employee, blame the media, fire the employee, replace employee, repeat

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 2, 2017

Aside from going after Trump’s planning, management, and honesty in 140-character-or-less format, according to WFAA, Mark Cuban warned CEOs to be careful with public statements about President Trump, after a series of events and backlash concerning Nordstrom’s decision to drop Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.

However, the Star-Telegram reports that the Shark Tank star, whose claim to fame includes giving a start to many inventors and innovators with good ideas and a lack of capital, also encouraged such political activity, saying they should merely make a considered choice, and “Be an American citizen first.”

“In the bigger scheme of things, our country benefits from peaceful activism a lot more than it benefits from one more shoe being sold, or one more basketball ticket being sold, for that matter. The people that say stay away from politics are the people that are looking for politics.”

It’s not clear exactly what part of Cuban’s criticism earned the reaction from Donald Trump Sunday morning, but alongside the President’s morning tweets calling CNN “fake news” and addressing statistics regarding refugees, there was a pointed jab at his fellow billionaire and businessman.

I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big-time but I wasn't interested in taking all of his calls.He's not smart enough to run for president!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2017

Without saying so directly, the tweet appears to insinuate that Cuban’s support began to flag when the then-candidate failed to cater sufficiently to him, before directly attacking the entrepreneur’s intelligence.

Perhaps the attack failed to land, because Mark Cuban merely retweeted it, adding for himself, “Lol.”

When Twitter followers chimed in to find out exactly what had prompted the insults, Cuban responded, saying he wasn’t sure, but declaring Twitter a better use of the President’s time than to continue attempting to run the country.

As for the reason his backing of Trump tapered, Cuban shared another piece of information — two notes appearing to be between him and the now-President. The first, signed “Donald,” is a brief scribble:

Mark — Wow — Saw you on CNN — Nasty What happened?

The response is a typed page, directing how Trump should have spoken, saying that he sounds like he’s winging it and getting bad advice, and that he’s failing to “dig into the issues.” It closes with a warning that Cuban may someday do exactly what Trump’s Sunday morning tweet says he isn’t smart enough to do: run for “that job” — and he adds the following.

…and it could be against you.

How soon they forget …. pic.twitter.com/VXcfnjj4qX

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 12, 2017

The datestamp on Cuban’s letter points to May of 2016, when he spoke to CNN, predicting damage to the stock market if Trump was elected President, and suggesting that he would vote for Hillary Clinton over Trump — indicating that the exchange of notes occurred after that interview.

However, while that may mark a major flagging point in Cuban’s support of Trump, he still called for support for the (then) President-elect after the election results were in.

We all need to give President-Elect Trump a chance. Support the good. Lobby against what we disagree on. No one is bigger than us all

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 9, 2016

He has also continued to call for Democrats and moderates to avoid obstruction and to instead make deals and work with the president.

However, his most recent public statements chastise the President for his battle with a department store over his daughter’s brand, asserting that the way to defend Ivanka would have been a private call with the upscale chain, and that tweeting about it instead was an act designed to get a reaction from the public, rather than a productive response.

Cuban even went so far as to hint that he is supporting Nordstrom in the wake of Trump’s complaints about the company.

Mark Cuban’s response to Donald Trump’s tweet, however, makes it clear that he, at least, isn’t too concerned about any potential backlash.

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]