Mark Cuban Says Donald Trump ‘Absolutely’ Has ‘Fascist Tendencies’

Billionaire businessman and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban said Sunday that former President Donald Trump “absolutely” has “fascist tendencies,” during an interview with ABC News. 

“Donald Trump is not a normal candidate,” Cuban told Jonathan Karl, a co-anchor of ABC’s This Week, “and I think it’s not a stretch to call Donald Trump a fascist.” Cuban, an independent, has come out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and has become a key surrogate for her campaign, though he says he has not donated to her. 

The entrepreneur said Trump “poses a threat,” adding: “He’s talking about the enemy within and going after people using the military. He’s talked about mass deportations where they’ll stop people on the street and check their papers. What does that remind you of? Talking about knocking on doors and pulling people out and deporting them, what does that remind you of? That’s pretty damn close to fascism, if not the definition of fascism.”

Earlier this month, Trump referred to the “radical left” as the “enemy within.” 

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump told Fox News. “We have some very bad people, some sick people, radical left lunatics,” he continued. “It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”

During a town hall earlier this week, Harris said that Trump is a fascist. She said he is “increasingly unstable and unfit to serve.” When asked if she thinks he is a fascist, she said, “Yes, I do.”

Harris also said during a televised address that Trump wants a military that “will be loyal to him personally, one that will obey his orders, even when he tells them to break the law.”

Trump was reportedly interested in the concept of a military dictatorship toward the end of his presidency. “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” he said in a conversation at the White House, two sources told the Atlantic. 
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The former president has also said that he wants to be dictator for “one day.” This month, he relayed a conversation with Fox News’ Sean Hannity to his audience at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. “I only want to be a dictator for one day, and I’m going to close the borders and drill, baby drill. But after that, I never want to be a dictator,” he said.

Last year, during a rally in New Hampshire, Trump said that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” He later told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that he did not know this idea was something Adolf Hitler said as well. “I know nothing about Hitler,” he said. The supposed revelation did not prompt him to backtrack on his rhetoric.

As Rolling Stone reported in September, sources said that regularly described violent fantasies during his presidency. “Fucking kill them all,” he would say about gang members and drug lords, “An eye for an eye.” Officials privately spoke about Trump’s “American death-squads idea.” 

Harris and Cuban are not the only ones to express the sentiment that Trump is flirting with fascism. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, told The New York Times earlier this month that Trump fits “into the general definition of fascist” and that he “certainly prefers the dictator approach to government.” 

“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure,” said Kelly.
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During the ABC News interview on Sunday, Karl played a clip of fellow Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful, saying that the argument that Trump is a fascist is “old stuff that’s already needled into 45 percent of the country that hates him.” 

Cuban acknowledged that the argument had been around for some time but still relevant: “This is not new, you know. Is it unnerving to a certain extent that half of America continues to support him? Yes.”
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Trump recently took to Truth Social to insult Cuban. “Mark Cuban is a Loser,” Trump wrote. “Wouldn’t take his phone calls anymore while at the White House, and he went rogue. A weak and pathetic ‘bully,’ he’s got nothing going. Really low clubhead speed, a total non-athlete!” 

Cuban called the dig at his athleticism “the best part” of the post.