Donald Trump has exploited recent controversial comments made by Democrat donor and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban about the former president being intimidated by “strong, intelligent women”.
In a phone interview on Fox & Friends Saturday morning, the former president said Cuban was “weak” and “insecure.”
“I know Mark very well. He’s a very insecure guy. He can’t hit a golf ball more than 50 yards,” Trump said.
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“He’s weak physically and mentally as far as I’m concerned, but I’ve known him for a long time. He would call me in the White House incessantly and finally I just couldn’t take his calls anymore and went to the other side, and he’s a guy that wants publicity.”
Cuban was publicly castigated for saying that the Republican presidential candidate did not surround himself by “intelligent women.”
“You never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever. It’s just that simple. They’re intimidating to him. He doesn’t like to be challenged by them and, you know, Nikki Haley will call him on his nonsense with reproductive rights and how he sees and treats and talks about women. I mean, he just can’t have her around,” he said on ABC’s The View.
Cuban backtracked on his comments on a post on X on Thursday night, admitting he had failed to respond well to the question yet failing to clarify what he meant.
“When I said this during the interview, I didn’t get it out exactly the way I thought I did. So I apologize to anyone who felt slighted or upset by my response. As I said, it wasn’t about Trump voters, supporters or employees,” Cuban said in his post.
“I set myself up for the 6 sec soundbite. No excuses. Can’t nail every interview. My skin is thick enough,” the message also read.
Cuban also said that what did “bother” him was the “level of insult attached” to comments made about him. But Trump, not known to be kind to those critical of him, went on the attack by (you guessed it) insulting him.
“You know, he’s totally retracted his statement like weak people always do, they restrict their statements,” he said.
Trump then appeared to get his words mixed up in the interview as his sentences trailed off without an end. But the former president appeared to claim that Cuban was “hit” by women that “make men look like babies.”
“If you know many of the women that I deal with, that I have—and I could go over the list but the list is long, including the fact that I happen to be married to a rather strong woman who just right now happens to have the number one best seller in the whole wide world.”
“I’ve surrounded myself by women,” Trump said as he restarted his sentence. “I’ve given women chances too. Kellyanne [Conway] is the head of my 2016, big victory. Susie Wiles is strong—she’s the daughter of Pat Summerall, good genetics there.”
Trump, who could not resist the bait offered by Cuban, has himself been accused of sexual misconduct on several occasions by several women. At least 28 have accused him of sexual misconduct, with former Miss Europe Beatrice Keul stepping forward to say that Trump repeatedly grabbed and touched her body.
