Mark Cuban slammed for 'ridiculous insult' about women supporting Trump
Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt joined 'FOX & Friends First' to respond to Cuban's comments and offer her take on Democrats going after the former president over a comedian's joke about Puerto Rico.
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of women on the Trump campaign and female surrogates for the former president are blasting billionaire Mark Cuban, calling his recent comments about pro-Trump women "misogynistic" and a "disgrace."
The Trump campaign put together a video featuring current and former female Trump staffers and surrogates, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik; former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Brooke Rollins; former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick; lawyer Alina Habba; ex-ESPN anchor Sage Steele; former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi; former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler; Reps. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.; and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake.
The video comes after Cuban, a top surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, appeared on ABC’s "The View" on Thursday morning when he made the controversial comments.
"Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever," Cuban said. "It’s just that simple. They're intimidating to him. He doesn't like to be challenged by them."
Former President Trump, left, and Mark Cuban. (Getty Images)
TRUMP CAMPAIGN BLASTS TOP HARRIS SURROGATE MARK CUBAN FOR 'INSULTING' PRO-TRUMP WOMEN
"’You never see Donald Trump around strong, intelligent women.’ That’s the quote, Mark Cuban?" Steele says in the Trump campaign video.
"First off, that’s obviously wildly unintelligent," Patrick says.
Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
"Not only are you arrogant, but you're misogynistic, too," says Trump campaign Black Media Director Janiyah Thomas.
"It's a disgrace, and Kamala Harris stays silent," Stefanik says.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and former President Trump are pictured at a New York event. (Getty Images)
"How insulting is that?" Moms for America CEO Kimberly Fletcher says.
"You're putting women down? President Trump doesn't do that," Habba says. "He surrounds himself with strong women like me."
"President Trump empowered me and every other woman in America," Huckabee Sanders says.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as Trump's White House press secretary and went on to become the governor of Arkansas. (Getty Images)
Rollins also appears and claims there were "more women on senior staff, working moms, than any other White House in the history of this country" under the Trump administration.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., attends at a campaign rally for former President Trump at the Aero Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Sept. 21. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The video runs for more than three minutes and features more than 60 female Trump supporters.
"President Trump uplifted women and all Americans in his first term by putting more money in our pockets, expanding access to childcare and paid family leave, and making our communities safer," Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. "In Kamala Harris’ America, women are being raped and killed by illegal aliens, and working mothers are struggling to buy basic groceries for their families."
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign press secretary, ran for Congress in 2022. (Karoline Leavitt campaign)
Leavitt added: "Smart, strong women across the country are supporting President Trump because they know Kamala Harris broke our country, but President Trump will fix it."
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Cuban walked back his remarks in a statement, saying: "One, I know many strong, intelligent women voting for Trump. Including in my extended family. I’m certainly not saying female voters are not smart, strong and intelligent. Two, I know he has worked with strong, intelligent women, like Elaine Chao, Kelly Anne, Ivanka and many others."
Cuban, on ABC's "The View" on Thursday, was asked if he felt that Harris could attract supporters of former GOP primary candidate Gov. Nikki Haley.
"Yes, it will put her over the edge with Haley supporters," he said, followed by his controversial remark that Trump is "never" around "strong, intelligent women."
Cuban told Fox News Digital on Friday that he "wasn't trying to disparage anybody."
"If anybody took it the wrong way, I apologize," Cuban told Fox News Digital.
Cuban's comments came just days after President Biden apparently referred to Trump supporters as "garbage."
Biden spoke during a Zoom call with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S., on Tuesday. He was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at New York's Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."
Biden replied, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."
President Biden delivers a speech at Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore on Tuesday. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
The White House has since denied that Biden called Trump supporters "garbage" and claimed the comment was taken out of context.
And when asked about Biden's comments, Harris said, "I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for."
'STRONG, CONSERVATIVE WOMEN' STRIKE BACK AGAINST MARK CUBAN'S 'INSULTS'
"I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not," she said. "And as President of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not."
In Wisconsin on Wednesday, Trump drove around in a "Make America Great Again" garbage truck, wearing a garbage worker's high-visibility vest to address supporters at his Green Bay rally.
Former President Trump talks to reporters as he sits in a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. (AP)
"He called them garbage — and they mean it, even though, without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe and Lyin’ Kamala," Trump told supporters on Wednesday afternoon.
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But Trump said he had a response for the president and vice president.
"My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans," he declared. "And you can’t be president if you hate the American people, and there’s a lot of hatred there."
Fox News Digital reached out to Cuban for comment on the Trump campaign's video.
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