Mark Cuban’s Trump-Wife Remark Sparks MAGA Rage: ‘Deeply Offensive’

Mark Cuban, a supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris, is excoriated by the Trump campaign after he said the former president was never surrounded by “strong, intelligent women.”

The comments were made during Thursday’s episode of ABC The view after co-host and former Trump adviser Alyssa Farah Griffin asked the entrepreneur for his opinion on former President Donald Trump not asking former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to help him turn out female voters to reach.

“I mean… it will say [Harris] “I’m over the top with Nikki Haley supporters,” Cuban said. “Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women.” Always. It’s that simple. You scare him. He doesn’t like being challenged by them.

Cuban added that Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, would challenge Trump “on his nonsense about reproductive rights and how he sees, treats and talks about women.”

The comment sparked outrage from people close to Trump’s MAGA movement. The former president’s campaign account

Trump released his own statement on his Truth Social account, writing that the Cuban was “a really stupid guy.”

“Actually, he’s completely wrong. “I surround myself with the strongest women – with the understanding that ALL women are great, strong or not,” Trump said. “This guy is such an idiot.”

Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former White House press secretary, found Cuba’s statement “deeply offensive.”

“I worked for Donald Trump,” McEnany said during an appearance on Fox News. “I consider myself a strong woman. I consider the people around me to be strong women.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close Trump ally, released a video message Thursday responding to Cuba’s comment, In it, she was doing pull-ups in a gym.

“Here’s the problem with Mark Cuban. He suffers from low testosterone…He’s actually intimidated by strong, intelligent women like me,” Greene said.

Newsweek Harris’ campaign emailed Thursday seeking comment.

Cuban’s statement follows President Joe Biden’s gaffe during a Voto Latino call earlier this week in which he called Trump supporters “trash.”

Both the president and the White House said Biden was referring to the “hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally” and not to voters who support Trump. Harris told reporters Wednesday that she “strongly” disagrees with “any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Speakers at Trump’s rally on Sunday made inflammatory and racist statements about Latinos, blacks and other minority groups, including a comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”

Sexist comments were also made against Harris. Grant Cardone, a businessman and Trump supporter, referred to the vice president in his speech, saying, “She and her pimps will destroy our country.”

Polls have shown Trump trailing his Democratic opponent among women. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, Harris was ahead 50 percent to 38 percent. In the same poll conducted in October 2020, Trump trailed then-Democratic nominee President Joe Biden by just five points among female voters.

Haley, who ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has repeatedly criticized Trump’s message to women. While speaking to Fox News’ Bret Baier on Tuesday night, she said the Trump campaign is making a mistake “with this bromance thing they’re doing,” adding that it “makes women uncomfortable.”

“They have affiliated PACs that do advertising around calls [Vice President Kamala Harris] the ‘C’ word,” Haley said, referring to a recent ad from Elon Musk’s political action committee. “They had speakers at Madison Square Garden referencing them and their ‘pimps.'” That’s not the way to win women.

Haley also said Tuesday that she was “on standby” to campaign for Trump. In July, she endorsed Trump for president while speaking at the Republican National Convention.

“They are very aware that we are on standby. They know we’re here to help,” Haley told Baier. “We’re on the same team… It’s their campaign’s decision about what he needs in these last final days. That doesn’t bother me at all.”

Update 10/31/24, 7:38 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with a statement from former President Donald Trump.