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History Of The Mark Cuban And Donald Trump Feud

This article is more than 7 years old.

Monday's debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is one of the most highly anticipated political events in American history. But a big storyline of the evening has nothing to do with who will be on the stage. Instead, a lot of the pre-debate focus will be on who's sitting in the audience.

Dallas Mavericks owner and prominent Trump troll Mark Cuban said last week he scored front row tickets to the event, with a Clinton aid saying the tech billionaire has the best seats they have access to. Debate commission co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf told CNN he won't allow Cuban to sit up front to "distract the candidates," so his actual seat is still unknown. But given how viciously Cuban has attacked Trump on Twitter and television recently, it's clear that distance doesn't preclude him from launching a barrage of stinging attacks.

There wasn't always bad blood between the two boisterous billionaires. When Trump formally announced his candidacy last year, Cuban said he would consider being the now-Republican nominee's running mate. "I don't care what his actual positions are," Cuban said to Business Insider. "I don't care if he says the wrong thing. He says what's on his mind. He gives honest answers rather than prepared answers. This is more important than anything any candidate has done in years."

But over the ensuing months, Cuban changed his tune. He lambasted Trump on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in June before endorsing Clinton and calling his fellow reality television star "bats--- crazy" at a rally later in the summer.

Since then, Cuban has continued to sling insults. He chastised business mogul Carl Icahn for his support of Trump in August and told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto a Trump presidency would crash the stock market. Trump fired back the next day, saying on Fox News that Cuban "isn't smart enough" to understand his economic proposals.

It didn't take long for Cuban to issue a retort. He offered to donate $10 million to a charity of Trump's choice for a four-hour sit-down about policy issues. Given Trump's penchant for spending other people's dollars in his charity's name, perhaps Cuban thought a check to the Trump Foundation was all he needed to get his wish. But so far, the challenge has been unanswered. (Cuban later amended his offer to say Trump could just keep the money for himself.)

After Cuban had announced Friday he would be sitting front row, Trump responded with an insult and a threat. He called Cuban "dopey" and said he wanted to invite Gennifer Flowers, who had a sexual affair with Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas, to sit next to him.

Cuban shot back, reminding Trump of an alleged complimentary phone call they had.

The Trump campaign says an offer was never extended to Flowers, but the Clinton campaign has confirmed Cuban's invitation. Clinton and Trump may trade plenty of barbs, but the most scathing commentary of the night may emanate from Cuban's Twitter feed.

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