Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban called President Donald Trump‘s time in office so far “political chemotherapy,” suggesting that supporters of the President knowingly voted for a “poisonous” leader in hopes of shaking up America’s political system.
Speaking during an interview with CNN on Friday, Cuban was asked to give a grade for the President’s term through the first 100 days. Cuban personally thought Trump deserved a C-minus, but then explained how others may feel differently, citing a conversation he had with one of his friends who surprised him with his vote for Trump.
“[My friend] said, ‘Mark, I voted for politicians my entire life’ — he’s in his 50s — ‘You know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, and so I voted for Donald Trump.'”
“‘Is he poisonous? In a lot of respects, yeah. This is our chemotherapy,'” Cuban continued, still quoting his friend. “‘We hope he’s going to change the political system.'”
Cuban then looped back to the discussion of Trump’s grade and said, “If that’s the way you’re evaluating Donald Trump, he’s doing a phenomenal job.” Cuban did not appear to subscribe to those beliefs himself, criticizing Trump over the failed Republican health care push, for lacking a “foundation” for tax reform, and for struggling to develop relationships with Democrats in order to get future legislation passed in Congress.
This is hardly the first time Cuban has taken aim at the President. The Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank co-host was an open supporter of Hillary Clinton and regularly slammed Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.