CUBAN: 'I was dumb enough to think I would be able to talk people out of voting for Donald Trump'
In a post published earlier this month on Blog Maverick, Cuban said the Trump campaign was "a lot smarter and able to rally" mainstream media "haters" and turn them into Trump "believers and voters" in key states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
It came as a result of many people distrusting the mainstream media, Cuban said.
"They not only distrust the MSM," he said, "they seem to feel strongly that the MSM is controlled by forces that are intentionally trying to discredit the things they believe strongly in."
Trump repeatedly lambasted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and The New York Times at his raucous rallies, attempting to discredit much of their reporting as "dishonest."
Cuban wrote that the media did their job and reported on what Trump said literally - but that it played right into the Trump campaign's hand.
"President Elect Trump won not because the media failed at their job or didn't recognize something," wrote Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank." "Donald Trump won precisely because the MSM did their job exactly as they expected they would and they used it to their advantage."
"Every chance Donald got he would say things that his campaign knew would get the MSM all riled up," he continued. "They knew exactly what they were doing."
The more media "and people like" Cuban criticized Trump, as Cuban did intensely for months during the general election, the more it played "right into their hands."
"We were the bad guys," he said. "We didn't get it. We represented everything they wanted to change. We were the forces behind the corrupt media. The elites. The establishment. The suckers getting paid off by George Soros and foreign corrupt interests."
"I was dumb enough to think I would be able to talk people out of voting for Donald Trump by detailing what I thought were his weaknesses," he continued. "The Trump campaign had to be laughing at me and thanking me at the same time. I approached my choice of candidates by consuming information literally. That was my hammer and I tried to use it to make everything else look like a nail. I obviously was wrong."
Cuban said he has not changed his mind about Trump, whom he roiled as a danger to the country. But he added that he's "willing to give him a chance," even though he doesn't "trust his temperament."
"His tweets are risky in so many ways," he said. "That still concerns me. Bigly."
The strategy of riling up the mainstream media and using that coverage to in turn rile up his support base has not changed since he took office, Cuban said. He pointed to his nominations or appointments of Lt. General Michael Flynn as national security adviser, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as attorney general, and Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon as chief strategist as examples.
"They knew exactly how the MSM would react," Cuban wrote. "They knew every single past issue each faced would surface. From tweets to not being confirmed to Breitbart news. They could have picked any number of qualified candidates that didn't carry that 'baggage.' But they chose them precisely because they had that baggage and of course because they were loyal to President-elect Trump."
He added that the mainstream media simply doing its job will make Trump "stronger than he was the day he was elected."
A few days after the post was written, Cuban was spotted with Bannon in New York City. He declined to comment on what their recent meeting was focused on when asked.
Cuban also provided a few bits of analysis on his meetings with potential appointees, policy positions, and his presidency looking forward.
The meetings with "non-supporters," like former Republican nominee and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were examples of "kiss the ring and kiss my a-- meetings," Cuban wrote.
He added: "More importantly, they give President-elect Trump the satisfaction of watching those like me who campaigned vocally against him, bend over, and kiss his ring. Touche, President-elect Trump. Touche.'"