Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is so impressed with Donald Trump’s success that he is now considering running for office himself.

“I love the fact that he has changed the game. … The idea of imperfect candidates with forceful ideas opens the door for a lot of people that would not have previously run,” said Cuban, cautioning that if he were to follow Trump’s example, “My positions would be far different.”


Cuban — who in the past has feuded with his fellow rebel billionaire — is hosting a Monday mega-rally for Trump at his Dallas arena. The Republican frontrunner called to ask about using the venue and Cuban saw the opportunity to strike a deal. “Our arena is amazing and his checks will clear,” explained the Mavericks owner.

Cuban is not the only famous, and famously, rich guy moved to reevaluate his view that the only people to succeed in public service are second-rate hacks who are full of baloney. Inspired by seeing one of their own do it, a slew of flamboyant moguls are giving politics a second look.

“Why would having government experience be a plus for a presidential candidate?” asked one-time multi-millionaire software pioneer John McAfee. The former fugitive from authorities in Belize who was arrested on DUI charges in Tennessee last month is now running for president. “I’d rather have a Trump, or I’d rather have a man on the street who has no knowledge of government.”

Unlike hip-hop mogul Kanye West, who may or may not have been sincere when he announced at the MTV Video Music Awards that he would seek the White House in 2020, McAfee is unambiguously serious about his campaign. He filed the papers for a third-party presidential bid with the FEC on Tuesday.

Explaining the rationale for his candidacy, McAfee, who made his fortune with the antivirus software that for years bore his name, said, “I appear to be the only one who sees that we’re living in an insane society created by an insane government.”

McAfee maintains he was neither “encouraged nor discouraged” to run by Trump’s success, but the parallels are unavoidable: an outsider campaign run by a brash businessman and first-time candidate with an outsized ego.

While Trump, a reality television star, has fueled his campaign by attracting saturation coverage of his run on cable news — which amounts to free publicity — the computer programmer McAfee said he plans to run an entirely online campaign.

“I apologize for the hands I will not be shaking,” said McAfee. “Instead, I will be giving unprecedented access to me, as the future president,” through online fireside chats.

Cuban — who is not now planning to run for any specific office — said he believes top American executives and entrepreneurs could “absolutely” hold their own in government and politics.

He is less impressed with the country’s top politicians. “Would I hire any of the other candidates? Maybe Marco Rubio,” Cuban said.

Cuban added it’s “too early to tell,” whether Trump could succeed at governing. He said he would be open to serving in a Trump administration “if he promises to do exactly what I tell him to do. ... Otherwise, it's highly unlikely.”

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn, on the other hand, has come around to the idea of public service under a President Trump.

In the 1980s, as Trump was penetrating the American consciousness, Icahn was shaking up the business world with a hard-charging corporate takeover of air carrier TWA.

In June, after Trump said he would name Icahn as his Treasury secretary, Icahn wrote in a statement that he would not take the position. But after the first Republican primary debate on Aug. 6, Icahn tweeted that he would be willing to accept Trump’s offer after all.

Trump’s run has also drawn billionaire car dealer Ernie Boch Jr. into the political process. Boch, who also inherited a family business from his father, said Trump’s run has energized him to become an active supporter of a national political campaign for the first time in his life.

Boch — known in Massachusetts for appearing in quirky television commercials for his dealerships — had never met Trump before this summer but said he is “fascinated by the man” and that he has been a longtime admirer of Trump’s business career. “He’s been the guy since the ‘80s.”

After lying in bed one night this summer and finding the businessman’s face on every news network as he flipped through television channels, Boch decided to host a fundraiser for Trump.

He called up conservative radio host Howie Carr, who has hosted Trump on his program, and Carr gave Boch a phone number for Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.

Boch called Lewandowski, a Massachusetts native who told the car dealer he was a fan of Boch’s rock band, Ernie and the Automatics (one benefit of being a rebel billionaire is that people have heard of your passion projects) and arranged for the event in about 10 minutes.

Boch said that after observing Trump up-close at the fundraiser — which featured his personal drone hovering overhead taking aerial camera footage and a large, expressionist portrait of Trump displayed on an outdoor patio — at his mansion outside of Boston, he determined that Trump is more authentic than career politicians.

He said he is now willing to do whatever is asked of him to assist Trump’s campaign and would be willing to serve in a Trump administration. Boch added that a group of his wealthy, normally apolitical, friends who attended the fundraiser were similarly impressed and have asked him to broker a meeting with the campaign so that they, too, can offer their services.

He said the group wished to remain private, but offered, “These are people who have more money than they know what to do with and can do whatever they want.”