Billionaire investor Mark Cuban warned on Real Time With Bill Maher Friday night that a second Donald Trump presidential term will be a “new season of The Sopranos.”
During a roundtable discussion among Maher, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and Shark Tank star Cuban, the former president’s past comments about targeting his political opponents came up.
Making the comparison between another Trump term and The Sopranos, Cuban said, “It’s crazy.”
Cuban was referring to the early 2000s gangster drama on HBO, which is about an Italian American mob boss in New Jersey named Tony Soprano. Throughout the six seasons of the hit series, Soprano authorizes the killings of a dozen people.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, for comment on Cuban’s remarks. In response, he shared a link to an X (formerly Twitter) post comparing a video of Cuban to a photo of Rosie O’Donnell, who has publicly feuded with Trump in the past.
Asked specifically about the fears some people have that a second Trump term could involve retribution against political enemies, Cheung said, “Kamala Harris and her allies are trying to gaslight voters because they know she can’t walk away from her destructive policies of soaring inflation, an out-of-control border and rampant crime that terrorizes communities.
“President Trump will make America great again for all Americans, and no amount of lies from the Democrats can stop prosperity from coming back to this country,” he added.
Newsweek reached out to Cuban via email for comment on Saturday morning.
Bill Maher: “The Republicans say, ‘yeah he talks like a fascist, he’d never really do it’.”
Joe Scarborough: “This past week Donald Trump said he was going to use the military to arrest his political opponents.”
Mark Cuban: It’s the new season of The Sopranos.” pic.twitter.com/sRCRzPFeB9
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) October 19, 2024
Cuban’s comments followed remarks by Maher and Scarborough about Trump’s past attacks against Hillary Clinton and his other political opponents.
“I know what the Republicans say is ‘Yeah, he talks like a fascist, he’d never really do it. He used to say he’d put Hillary [Clinton] in jail. Remember, everything was “lock her up.” He didn’t do it. He had four years he could’ve done it.’ That’s not good enough for me,” Maher said.
“He tried to do it,” Scarborough said. “He went to two attorney generals, and both of them said, We have nothing to bring charges against her.”
Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally Tuesday in Atlanta. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban said Friday a second Trump presidential term will be a “new season of ‘The Sopranos.'”
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
During his 2016 race against Clinton, Trump repeatedly used the phrase “lock her up,” calling for her imprisonment after an FBI investigation into her use of a personal email system to conduct business as secretary of state. The FBI decided not to recommend criminal charges against Clinton.
“This past week, Donald Trump said that he was going to use the military and the National Guard to arrest his political opponents,” Scarborough added.
In an interview with Fox News last Sunday, Trump suggested that an “enemy from within” could threaten Election Day security and that “if necessary” the military may have to intervene.
“I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical-left lunatics,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. “I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
Trump later told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner during a town hall event in Georgia on Wednesday, “I’m not threatening anybody.”
