Mark Cuban Says Donald Trump’s Tech Supporters Think They Can ‘Manipulate Him’

Former President Donald Trump’s supporters in Silicon Valley don’t really support his bid for the White House, according to Mark Cuban — they just think they can control him.

“I think they think they can handle him,” Cuban said earlier this week during a interview with Brian Tyler Cohen. “I think they understand that he is so transactional and so lacking in core values ​​that whatever they want they can manipulate him into getting.”

Several prominent tech leaders, many with ties to crypto, have endorsed or recently financially supported Trump through aligned political action committees. That includes Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Muskthe Winklevoss twins and owners Andreessen Horowitz — Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — among others.

Cuban, who has quickly become one of the strongest voices advocating for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, previously took aim at wealthy Trump backers, calling their support “Bitcoin game.”

“Watching what’s happening in Silicon Valley is crazy,” Cuban said last month One interview with The daily show host Jon Stewart. “It’s not so much a support thing. It’s more of a takeover thing, trying to put themselves in a position to have as much control as possible.”

As for Musk in particular, Cuban said he is supporting the former president because “having the power to manipulate the most powerful man in the world is far more valuable in the world than any amount of (electric vehicle) sales from Tesla.”

“Elon is all in (on Trump),” Cuban added. “That’s why I like to mess with him on Twitter.” The two men frequently criticize each other, especially on social media. Cuban recently said he would interested when buying X (THE TARGET)formerly Twitter and Fox News (FOX) if he had money he would do it.

Cuban also called Trump “the most unethical” and “dishonest” individual he has ever worked with. Although it is not clear what business he is referring to, he Shark tank Star initially supported Trump’s 2016 campaign and said he spoke with him several times during his tenure.

The billionaire — who signed at least two pledges to support Harris, one featuring past and present prominent business executives and another designed for venture capitalists — promoted the vice president as firm pro-business and a political moderate. Her economic plan, according to Goldman Sachs (GS), it would be a boon to the US economythanks to new spending and tax credits aimed at middle-income Americans.

Cuban said Harris “has some work to do on” Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission. Some big Democratic donors they called for a Harris administration to fire Khan and Genslerwhich have been tough on cryptocurrency firms and antitrust matters, respectively.