BusinessPolitical leaning: Center-leftProfile last reviewed: 2026-07-29
Mark Cuban
Entrepreneur; Co-founder, Cost Plus Drugs
Post-partisan dealmaker's creed: the real enemy isn't red or blue, it's the middleman — and he'll stand next to any president, even the one he called lousy, to prove it.
The Shark Tank billionaire who barnstormed for Harris in 2024 and called Trump 'a lousy president' spent 2025 flogging Democrats for content-free 'Trump sucks' messaging — then walked into Trump's White House in May 2026 to plug Cost Plus Drugs into TrumpRx.gov, enraging his liberal backers. He has ruled out 2028 unless Trump seeks a third term ('a true threat'), still feuds with Musk over DEI and X, and insists drug-price transparency beats party loyalty every time.
Basis for the leaning assessment
Endorsed and campaigned for Harris in 2024 and defends DEI against Musk, but self-identifies as an independent, attacks Democratic messaging, and now partners with the Trump administration on drug pricing. Editorial estimate: a center-left independent who resists the label.
Current Stances
Stances are editorial interpretations, always shown with the statements and actions they rest on.
Wealth & Inequalityobserved 2022-01-19 – 2026-05-18
Drug pricing is America's most rigged market — kill the middlemen, publish every price, and partner with anyone who helps.
Since 2022 he has sold generics at cost plus a flat 15% and crusaded against pharmacy benefit managers as the hidden tax on patients. He frames the 2026 TrumpRx partnership as proof he will work with any administration to cut what Americans pay.
Supporting statements & actions (3)
2022-01-19Action
Launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company online pharmacy, selling roughly 100 generic medications at manufacturer cost plus a flat 15% markup and pledging 'radically transparent' pricing — e.g. the cancer generic imatinib at $47.40 versus a retail price above $9,657.
Launch of his flagship post-Mavericks venture, built around the mission that every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines at the lowest possible price.
2026-05-18Speech
This is a special announcement, this is a special partnership — 559 of those drugs are ours, so we're really excited to be part of this.
Speaking beside President Trump at a White House event announcing that TrumpRx.gov would list 600+ generic drugs through partnerships with Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx.
The sight of Harris's 2024 surrogate promoting a Trump-branded platform at the White House set off days of outrage from his liberal backers and wall-to-wall cable and social coverage.
Goals
Short-term
Push Democrats to an affordability-first message
ActiveGet the party to drop pure anti-Trump messaging and campaign on concretely lowering Americans' cost of living, starting with healthcare.
Declared: 2025-07-14Source ↗
Long-term
Break the PBM model and make cost-plus pricing the U.S. default
ActiveGrow Cost Plus Drugs — now wired into TrumpRx.gov — until transparent cost-plus pricing forces pharmacy benefit managers and other middlemen out of the drug supply chain.
Declared: 2022-01-19Source ↗
A 2028 presidential run — only if Trump seeks a third term
UnclearHe says he will not run and won't put his family through a campaign, but keeps one explicit trigger: a Trump third-term attempt, which he calls 'a true threat.'
Declared: 2025-08-15Source ↗
Consistency Tracker
Does each new statement or decision square with the record? Verdicts are not accusations: both sides of the record are presented so readers can judge for themselves.
Tension
Earlier statement / action
2024-10-25Interview
But I think he was a lousy president before, I think he'll be a worse president this time.
Said of Trump on 'Cavuto: Coast to Coast' while campaigning as one of Kamala Harris's most visible 2024 surrogates.
Later statement / action
2026-05-18Speech
This is a special announcement, this is a special partnership — 559 of those drugs are ours, so we're really excited to be part of this.
Speaking beside President Trump at a White House event announcing that TrumpRx.gov would list 600+ generic drugs through partnerships with Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx.
The sight of Harris's 2024 surrogate promoting a Trump-branded platform at the White House set off days of outrage from his liberal backers and wall-to-wall cable and social coverage.
Eighteen months after calling Trump 'a lousy president' who would be 'worse this time' while campaigning to defeat him, Cuban stood beside him in the White House to celebrate plugging Cost Plus Drugs into TrumpRx. His framing: this is exactly his 'policy over politics' creed — anything that cuts Americans' drug costs is worth doing with any administration. Critics counter that he lent his credibility to a platform literally branded with Trump's name, handing an affordability win to a man he had described as a threat — evidence, they say, that business interest beat stated conviction.
Most-Cited Sources from Voterscommunity reading list
Articles readers attached to their poll votes as evidence. Only pages cited independently by two or more voters are listed.
- 1www.foxbusiness.com/media/mark-cuban-asked-where-it-all-went-wrong-with-trump-lousy-president ↗
Cited by 7 voters
Liberal 7 - 2www.foxnews.com/media/mark-cuban-rips-democrats-constant-trump-sucks-message-calling-not-way-win ↗
Cited by 5 voters
Liberal 1Conservative 4 - 3www.foxnews.com/media/mark-cuban-says-trump-running-third-term-would-push-him-2028-race ↗
Cited by 5 voters
Liberal 1Conservative 4
Most-Discussed Moments
The statements and actions that set social media on fire — top 3, in chronological order. Every entry links to its source.
- 2024-01-18Interview
It's Elon's little echo chamber that rewards people that he rewards, and so I knew that I was going into the lion's den.
Podcast remarks after a weeks-long X feud in which Cuban defended corporate DEI programs and Musk called him 'racist' and proposed a cage match.
The Musk-Cuban-Ackman DEI brawl consumed X for weeks in January 2024; Musk branded Cuban a 'racist' and challenged him to a cage fight — Cuban's reply to Forbes: 'Lol no.'
- 2026-05-18Speech
This is a special announcement, this is a special partnership — 559 of those drugs are ours, so we're really excited to be part of this.
Speaking beside President Trump at a White House event announcing that TrumpRx.gov would list 600+ generic drugs through partnerships with Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx.
The sight of Harris's 2024 surrogate promoting a Trump-branded platform at the White House set off days of outrage from his liberal backers and wall-to-wall cable and social coverage.
Timeline of Statements & Actions7 records, newest first
2026-05-18Social post
In a since-deleted X post firing back at critics of the appearance ('Tell me one person who thinks that healthcare economics are well run in this country'), wrote that anyone who 'thinks I'm going to put politics ahead of helping Americans reduce their cost of healthcare and pharmaceuticals' is a 'f***ing idiot' — then posted: 'Deleted the last post because I decided cursing didn't make my point.'
Posted hours after the TrumpRx White House event as former liberal supporters accused him of selling out.
Screenshotted across X within minutes of deletion; the walk-back became its own news cycle and cemented the 'Cuban goes MAGA?' discourse.
2026-05-18Speech
This is a special announcement, this is a special partnership — 559 of those drugs are ours, so we're really excited to be part of this.
Speaking beside President Trump at a White House event announcing that TrumpRx.gov would list 600+ generic drugs through partnerships with Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx.
The sight of Harris's 2024 surrogate promoting a Trump-branded platform at the White House set off days of outrage from his liberal backers and wall-to-wall cable and social coverage.