Mark Cuban: 'It’s not a stretch to call Donald Trump a fascist'
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban said in a Sunday interview it’s “not a stretch” to call former President Trump a “fascist,” after his presidential candidate of choice, Vice President Harris, did the same at a town hall last week.
Asked what he makes of Harris using that label for Trump, Cuban told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl in a Sunday interview on “This Week,” that it’s not “not far” from Trump “calling her a communist.” Karl noted Trump has referred to Harris as a fascist, as well.
“In a normal world, the two parties would get together and say, ‘Let's just stop this name-calling, right? Let's just focus on the issues,’” Cuban said. “But this is not a normal world. Donald Trump is not a normal candidate. And I think it's not a stretch to call Donald Trump a fascist.”
Cuban cited several examples of steps Trump said he would take if elected, saying they bear similarities to fascist moments in history.
“You talked about the people in his Cabinet that spoke the same way. You know, he's talking about the enemy within and going after people using the military. He's talked about mass deportations where, you know, they'll stop people on the street and check their papers. What does that remind you of?
“Talking about, you know, knocking on doors and pulling people out and deporting them, what does that remind you of?” Cuban continued. “That's pretty damn close to fascism, if not the definition of fascism."
Harris agreed at a CNN town hall Wednesday that she believes her presidential election opponent is a fascist, but she avoided using the word directly as a label for Trump, instead saying, “Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” when asked if she thinks he’s a fascist.
Her remarks followed similar comments from Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, who said recently Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist.” Former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Mark Milley, also called Trump “a total fascist” in a recent report.
The Trump campaign pushed back on the remarks in a statement, suggesting Harris, Democrats and the media were to blame for “emboldening those who threaten the safety of President Trump," while noting there have been two assassination attempts against him.
“Their outright lies and weaponization of the justice system to perpetuate countless witch-hunt hoaxes against President Trump have been nothing short of disgusting and abhorrent," Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said. "If the Democrats and Kamala Harris do not come out and apologize for their hateful rhetoric and tone down their attacks that have stoked the flames of violence, they are explicitly advocating for and inciting more bloodshed against President Trump."