Mark Cuban Is Confident He And Charles Barkley Could Win A Presidential Election If They Ran Together – 'No Question About It'

On a November episode of The Steam Room, hosted by Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley, the duo welcomed entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for a candid conversation about politics, leadership and the state of the world. The conversation got real fast, especially when Ernie asked Cuban if he'd ever seriously considered running for office.

"I did a little bit, you know, four years ago in 2020," Cuban admitted. "I even talked to a pollster and then I talked to my family. We took a family vote and they said, ‘Hell no.'"

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Cuban explained that his family had no interest in the toll that a campaign and public scrutiny would take. "My kids are like, ‘We don't want to. No, we just don't want to deal with it.' And it's even – it's gotten meaner, you know. It's not gotten easier; it's gotten meaner. And, you know, just the hate on social media. And if your kids live on social media, why would I put them through that?"

Instead, Cuban has focused his energy on initiatives like Cost Plus Drugs, his company aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. "With Cost Plus Drugs and other things I'm doing, I think I can have an impact that really helps this country," he said. "So, you know, I can stay focused on those things and help where I can."

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Ernie then steered the conversation toward the larger issue of division in the country, asking Cuban, "Hey Mark, how do you heal division?" Cuban, as always, got straight to the point.

"You know, it's a leadership issue. It really, really is. It takes somebody who wants to bring people together," he said. "You've got to be somebody who can walk into any situation in any town in America and sit and have a beer, coffee, tea, whatever it is or go to their kitchen table and explain how much more alike we are than different."

Cuban reflected on how social media amplifies division, contrasting it with real-life interactions. "You guys see it," he said. "There are times when you're getting into it on social media or someone's giving you a hard time on social media and then you run into that person in real life and you're friends. You get along great and you know, you shake hands, give each other a hug, whatever it is. And so, we're so much more alike than people realize."

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Charles chimed in and Cuban highlighted what makes Barkley special. "That's why Charles is so good at this. Charles can talk to anybody, you know and put himself in any circumstance and get along with everybody," Cuban said. "I think that's what we need."

Then Ernie asked if Mark Cuban and Charles Barkley ever run together on the same ticket?

Cuban didn't miss a beat: "We'd win. Yes. Absolutely yes. We would win running away. No question about it."

By the end of the episode, it was clear that while neither Cuban nor Barkley is jumping into politics anytime soon, they've both thought deeply about what real leadership looks like. And if they ever did decide to run? Well, let's just say they'd already have Ernie as their campaign manager.

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