‘Innovative and Desperate’: Mark Cuban Slams Elon Musk’s Million Dollar ‘Sweepstakes’ To Juice The Vote For Trump
Mark Cuban joined CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday morning to discuss the latest from the campaign trail as he has joined Vice President Kamala Harris on the stump in recent weeks.
Andrew Ross Sorkin began the segment, saying, “Right now. We are just over two weeks until Election Day. And our next guest was out on the trail this weekend supporting Vice President Harris. And he found himself the online target of former President Trump. Joining us right now is billionaire investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. He’s, of course, a minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, co-founder of CostPlusDrugstore.com. Mark, it’s great to see you this morning.”
“Thanks for having me on,” Cuban replied.
“A couple of things I want to get to some of the things that Elon Musk, who’s on the other side of you, that sort of dueling billionaires, if you will. But I want to start just with the polls and where this election stands. Clearly, your candidate was at least it seems, doing better than she was a couple, but she was doing better a couple of weeks ago than she looks like she’s doing today. If that’s true, why do you think that’s true?” Ross Sorkin asked.
“Who knows. I mean, that was the regular season. This is the playoffs. It doesn’t really matter what happens going forward. And, you know, like every candidate always says, you’ve got to play like you’re one point behind. So that’s what we’re doing,” Cuban replied.
“What do you think of the polls and from your conversations inside the campaign, what do they think of the polls?” Ross Sorkin followed up.
“Just what I said. I mean, different polls have different results. Different people claim different weightings. You know, there’s conversations are there weighting women enough, you know, is it the reverse of 2016 where the Harris voters are the shy voters and aren’t communicating to polls or publicly? Nobody really knows. And so it really comes down to get out the vote. And the crazy thing is, it’s the Harris campaign versus Elon, not even versus Trump,” Cuban replied, noting Elon Musk has been working to get Trump’s voters to the polls.
“You’re a markets guy. What do you think of PolyMarket? What do you think of some of the other marketplaces where people are effectively taking bets on this election? And again, what looks like a big move for former President Trump?” Ross Sorkin asked.
“Well, let me first say I’m an indirect investor in PolyMarket through a fund that I’m in, a crypto fund that I’m in. And I know that you’re not supposed to be an American and bet on PolyMarket. And so it’s not really an indication, I think, of anything and I don’t really know what hedges are out there. So it’s possible to, you know, bet on one side and not bet on the other. And from all indications, the most of the money coming in to PolyMarket is foreign money. So I don’t think it’s an indication of anything,” Cuban replied.
“Let’s talk about Elon Musk. He’s been critical of you. You’ve been critical of him. What do you make in particular of this weekend’s new effort to get people to the polls that he is using $1 million a day he’s offering up for those who effectively sign his petition and register to vote?” Ross Sorkin followed up.
“I mean, it’s innovative and it’s desperate. You know, you only do that because you think you have to. But, you know, using a sweepstakes is not a bad idea. Whether or not it’ll work is a whole ‘nother thing that just as easily could backfire. But you don’t know until you try,” responded Cuban.
“Do you think it’s legal?” Ross Sorkin pressed.
“I mean, I actually looked into it. I initially thought it might not have been. But as a sweepstakes, it looks like it may be. But from a FEC, FEC perspective, I have no idea,” Cuban answered.
Watch the full clip above.
