Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire businessman Mark Cuban is considering running for president in 2020.
Asked if he would consider a White House run this year, Cuban said in an interview Friday that, while unlikely, it was “definitely doable.”
“I doubt it, but everything’s a reset right now,” Cuban told host Jim VandeHei. “It’s definitely doable, but should you do it, that I don’t know.”
Cuban, 61, referred to himself as a potential candidate, citing conversations with “other potential candidates.”
The Dallas-based business magnate took aim at Minnesota manufacturing giant 3M after Trump yesterday ordered the company to begin supplying the federal government with face masks.
Cuban slammed 3M as “arrogant” and chided the company for “making more globally than domestically.”
“When you look at what they’re doing here in the U.S. — the country they’re based in, the country they were founded in — according to their own numbers, they produce 110 million masks a month globally [and] 35 million masks a month domestically,” he added.
Cuban was among the first to criticize the company for routing its stock through distributors, leading to higher prices, in March.
A registered independent, Cuban has teased a presidential run before.
“We’ll see what happens. It would take the perfect storm for me to do it,” Cuban told CNBC’s Halftime Report last year. “I still think there’s a real opportunity for somebody who is in the middle but has some charisma, has the ability to relate to both sides but is not a politician. The reality is, people don’t trust politicians.”
A longtime entrepreneur, Cuban has been an advocate for small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has won praise for continuing to support his employees amid a virtual shutdown. The NBA was the first sports league to suspend games because of the virus after a player tested positive for the disease.
In an interview this week with Examining Politics host Larry O’Connor, Cuban explained his decision to continue paying hourly workers and arena staff at his Dallas team’s arena.
“It was an easy decision for me. We paid them as if the Mavs game had occurred,” Cuban said, calling it “the right thing to do.”
Cuban added: “There’s more at stake than just money right now.”
More than 10 million workers filed for unemployment benefits claims in March.
