Here’s Why Mark Cuban’s Attack on the Women Around Trump Is Backfiring
Audrey Streb / Jarrett Stepman /
In an attempt to insult Donald Trump and appeal to women, billionaire Mark Cuban instead insulted women and made Trump’s record with women look appealing.
Cuban, appearing on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday morning, said Trump doesn’t surround himself with “strong, intelligent women.”
“Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever,” Cuban said. “It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them.”
It’s clear that the Dallas Mavericks owner’s comment about Trump and women didn’t land the way he intended.
By Thursday evening, Cuban had amended his comments about Trump on social media.
“I know he has worked with strong, intelligent women, like Elaine Chao, Kellyanne [Conway], Ivanka [Trump] and many others,” Cuban said. “I stand by my opinion that he does not like being challenged publicly.”
The anti-Trump billionaire wrote more on X, acknowledging that his comments about Trump and “strong, intelligent women” weren’t exactly well received.
Despite Cuban’s follow-up remarks, his initial comments on “The View” triggered responses from millions of female Trump supporters, who now demand that Vice President Kamala Harris respond to her chief campaign surrogate’s insinuation that they are weak and stupid.
“Joe Biden called Trump supporters ‘garbage,’ and now Kamala’s top surrogate Mark Cuban insinuated female Trump supporters are ‘weak and dumb,’” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
“Women want a president who will secure our border, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and put more money in our pockets—and that’s exactly why we are supporting President Donald Trump,” Leavitt said. “Kamala Harris must immediately condemn Mark Cuban’s disrespectful insult to women.”
Trump personally responded on both X and Truth Social, writing: “Actually, he is very wrong, I surround myself with the strongest of women—With the understanding that ALL women are great, whether strong or not strong. This guy is such a fool.”
An email statement paid for by the Trump campaign compiled the responses of some high-profile, successful women who back Trump. Among them: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; fellow former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, now a Fox News host; former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.; Moms for Liberty cofounder Tiffany Justice; and daughter-in-law Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
“I’ve been a CEO and professional sports team owner JUST like you,” Loeffler wrote on X, addressing Cuban. “I’m one of the millions of strong, conservative women who back Trump. You might think we’re stupid, or that we’re garbage. We think it’s time to replace you and Kamala with leaders who don’t hate us.”
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, responded to Cuban’s comments through a prerecorded interview with SiriusXM Patriot host Matt Boyle.
“First of all, it’s insulting my wife, who’s a very strong and very intelligent woman, and goes to nearly every one of my campaign events with me,” Vance said. “And it’s insulting to Lara Trump, who’s done an incredible job as co-chair of the RNC. It’s insulting to Melania [Trump], who has the No. 1 New York Times bestselling book right now.”
Vance’s full comments are available on X. The interview was to air in its entirety Saturday at noon EDT on SiriusXM’s “Breitbart News Saturday” with Boyle.
There are a few important takeaways from Cuban’s comments about Trump and strong, intelligent women.
The first and obvious one is that Cuban fumbled his job as a campaign surrogate, and he will likely not be seen again in this kind of public appearance until the presidential campaign is over.
The second takeaway is related: When Cuban talks about politics, he generally speaks in liberal platitudes without the focus-group finesse of your typical Democrat politician.
On “The View,” Cuban chose to uphold a variation of the old left-wing canard that Trump and men on the right are macho brutes who can’t handle strong women and that right-leaning women are doormats.
(Never mind that at least two current co-hosts of “The View,” Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, used to pal around with Trump and gladly welcomed him to the show before he first ran for president in 2016, as the former president recalled recently on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.)
Not only was Cuban’s half-baked comment entirely and immediately debunked, he also revealed how the Left has created a sterile archetype of what is defined as a strong woman.
The Left’s model is akin to a Hillary Rodham Clinton or Kamala Harris type. This mentality says that to be strong, a woman must dream of power over men and a glamorous career that inspires worship of her work ethic.
But wearing a pantsuit and pursuing male-dominated fields isn’t an appropriate measure of strength, and the relationship between men and women need not be a fruitless power struggle.
Clearly, plenty of strong women with careers, families, and husbands know this. And they will continue to support and work for Trump, regardless of what Mark Cuban and the ladies of “The View” think.