During an Axios town hall about business amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed that he was willing to consider a last-minute presidential run for the 2020 general election.
“If this would would’ve been a month ago, I would have said absolutely not,” Cuban told Axios CEO Jim Vandehei, who asked about a potential 2020 presidential run, reports Dallas News. “But obviously things are crazy, things are changing.”
According to Axios, the billionaire businessman’s decision to run would be highly dependent on the state of the country, given that “everything’s a reset right now.” But Cuban declined to elaborate on what would need to happen for him to run for president this year, only remarking that he would “keep an open mind.”
“I doubt it, but you know, like I said, everything’s a reset right now. You never say never,” said Cuban, reports the news agency. “I’ll keep an open mind, but I seriously doubt it.”
Earlier this week, Cuban refused to answer a question from Yahoo News about a future presidential run, but did mention that he believes the country is experiencing a “void of leadership.” Last year, Cuban told CNBC that it would take a “perfect storm” for him to declare a presidential run, and if he did, he would run as an Independent.
“We’ll see what happens. It would take the perfect storm for me to do it,” Cuban told the news agency. “There’s some things that could open the door, but I’m not projecting or predicting it right now.”
During the Axios town hall, Cuban slammed the N-95 mask-making company 3M, joining a chorus of commentators and pundits who have been scrutinizing the company for mask production and global distribution.
We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks. “P Act” all the way. Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing – will have a big price to pay!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2020
“It’s great that they’re doubling their production to 2 billion masks a year, but when you look at what they’re doing here in the U.S. — the country they’re based in, the country they were founded in — according to their own numbers, they produce 110 million masks a month globally, 35 million masks a month domestically,” said Cuban.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the organization’s distribution practices have also been scrutinized by President Trump, who invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday to require that 3M prioritize orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency instead of orders from other countries.
“We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks. ‘P Act’ all the way. Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing – will have a big price to pay!” Trump tweeted Thursday, using the moniker “P Act” to refer to the Defense Production Act.
Mike Roman, chief executive of 3M, has defended the company’s decision to export masks to Canada and Latin America amidst the coronavirus pandemic, reports CNBC.
“The idea that we’re not doing everything we can to maximize deliveries of respirators in our home country – nothing is further from the truth,” said Roman. “We are net importing [respirators] into the U.S., and we’ve been telling the administration for days and days.”