Presidential candidates should be capable of hugging people, says billionaire investor Mark Cuban.
The “Shark Tank” star made the remarks in defense of Vice President Kamala Harris after conservative commentator Ben Shapiro criticized a video of Harris hugging a supporter.
“If you want your presidential candidate to hug you, please seek psychological help,” Shapiro wrote in an X post on Monday.
Cuban, however, had a different reaction to Harris’ actions.
“If you don’t want a presidential candidate capable of hugging, please seek psychological help. Empathy and kindness are skills that are possessed by great leaders in 2024,” Cuban wrote in response.
Representatives for Cuban and the Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.
This wouldn’t be the first time Cuban, a vocal supporter of Harris, has touted the Democratic nominee’s approachability.
When Harris picked Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate last month, Cuban said the Harris-Walz ticket would have an edge over former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, because of their non-elite academic backgrounds.
Harris and Walz didn’t attend any Ivy League colleges, unlike Trump and Vance, who went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Yale Law School, respectively.
“People are tired of the ideologues and hate from both parties,” Cuban wrote in an X post on August 6.
“They want to vote for normal people they can relate to. Walz can sit at the kitchen table and make you feel like you have known him forever. That’s an incredible skill these days.”
