Cuban blasts Thiel's Trump speech: what about his policies?

Thiel sees Trump's outsider status as a good thing, while Cuban fears the instability he would bring

The 2016 election has become the battle between two extremely rich people, each trying to sway the people toward their side. No, not Trump and Clinton; I'm talking about Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, two billionaires who have come out on complete opposite sides of the election, but have both been major surrogates for one of the candidates. 

Thiel is a big Trump supporter, having spoken at the Republican National Convention in July, and having donated $1.25 million to the campaign. Cuban, on the other hand, has endorsed Hillary Clinton, citing Trump's potential to incite "political and social instability."

On Monday, Thiel came out and defended his support of Trump, specifically his status as an outsider, who hasn't been involved in the decisions made by the government over the last two decades.

Cuban, unsurprisingly, was not a fan of the speech, telling Carl Quintanilla of CNBC on Tuesday that Thiel, "didn't say a word about Trump policies and that's the point."

"He said somewhere else, I think, that we take what Trump says seriously, but not literally. That's craziness. That just reinforces that Trump doesn't know what his policies are. Peter Theil doesn't believe in his policies," said Cuban.

"What he also didn't say, and I think he is suggesting, is that he takes, along with a lot of other Trump supporters, he takes everything said about Secretary Clinton literally and seriously, which is also a problem."

He accused Thiel of not agreeing with what Trump wants to do, but voting for him because he doesn't like Clinton.

"That's not an endorsement. That's running away from the issue."

Thiel and Cuban both see Trump as an outsider, but they differ on whether or not that's a good thing. Thiel is of the opinion that what we need is someone who hasn't been making the decisions that have gotten the country where it is now.

In his speech, Thiel called Trump, "the only outsider left in the race."

"He points toward a new Republican party, beyond the dogmas of Reagaism. He points even beyond the remaking of one party, to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking, and reckons with reality," said Thiel. "When the distracting spectacles of this election season are forgotten and the history of our time is written, the only important question will be whether or not that new politics came too late."

To Cuban, Trump represents a threat to the stability of the country, and potentially the entire world. 

"The most expensive risk is political and social instability. If we're not safe, if there's riots in the streets, or there's social unrest, then businesses can't open, you can't get to work, and commerce can't happen. To me, Trump increases that risk exponentially," he said at Vator Splash LA last month. 

"He has such a lack of self awareness, and such a lack of contextual awareness, that it's likely that he would say something offensive as President and offend North Korea or China or Russia. Invasions happen. There's military instability. There's a very fragile global peace and, to me, he's the greatest risk. What's more expensive, higher taxes and bigger government, or instability? Instability every time."

It should be noted that Cuban actually supported Trump in the beginning, before hearing what the candidate actually had to say, 

"I don't care what his actual positions are," Cuban wrote in early 2015. "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." 

There's a week left before the election, and I'd pay good money to see these two battle it out over Clinton and Trump. It might not sway anybody's opinion at this point, but it would be extremely entertaining, there's no doubt about that. 

(Image source: huffingtonpost.com)