John Legend Tells Mark Cuban to Donate to Democrats Over Food Banks, Cuban Absolutely Nukes Him

It goes without staying that the upcoming Senate runoff races in Georgia are a big freakin’ deal.

With this week’s confirmed victories in Alaska (Sullivan) and North Carolina (Tillis), as it stands now Republicans are ahead 50-48 in the battle for control of the Senate in 2021. If incumbent Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue win their runoffs, that makes it a 52-48 advantage. If they don’t, the Senate will be tied at 50-50, and in the event the Biden-Harris campaign wins the election, that would give Harris the tiebreaking Senate vote.

But in the meantime, due to pandemic-inspired local government mandates that essentially forced many businesses to either cut back or shut down, many Americans are struggling and in need here at the holidays and could use some immediate help to provide food for themselves and their families.

It was perhaps with that in mind that Dallas Mavericks NBA team owner and businessman Mark Cuban took to the Twitter machine Thursday to call on people to donate to food banks rather than to any of the Republican or Democrat candidates in the Georgia Senate runoff races. “Lets put Americans in need above Politics” Cuban stated:

For those considering donating to Reps or Dems in the Georgia Senate run-offs, can you please re-consider and donate that money to your local foodbank
and organizations that can help those without food or shelter? Lets put Americans in need above Politics

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 12, 2020

Normal people who would read that, even those who understand the importance of these races, would get the message loud and clear: Let’s not look to politicians to solve all our problems. Let’s look to the people and local communities instead.

But that’s not how compassionate liberal celebrity/icon John Legend views it. The entertainer replied to Cuban by actually claiming that flipping the Senate “would be far more impactful than a food bank donation” because of the stalled COVID relief bill or something:

I get that politics is annoying and contentious, but the bottom line is that the Senate flipping would be far more impactful than a food bank donation. We need massive stimulus and aid to individuals and small businesses. Government needs to do this. Charity isn’t sufficient

— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 12, 2020

Perhaps sensing the stupidity and selfishness of his comment, Legend quickly followed up with this tweet noting that he planned on doing both (which is actually what someone who is passionate about helping others and getting the candidates he supports elected would have said in the first place):

That being said, I’ll be doing both

— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 12, 2020

Cuban flat nuked him in response:

Let's go all the way. Stop donating to charity, give those $ to politicians because 1 party will solve all of our problems! Come on John. There is a point of diminishing returns on political ad spend, there are no diminished returns when it comes to feeding the hungry. https://t.co/kGJsPrqw0K

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 12, 2020

And he wasn’t the only one:

This is crazy, John. Democrats just blocked a Senate bill that had funding for individuals and small businesses, House Democrats' bill didn't even have small business funding.

Telling people not to feed the homeless because a Dem government will take care of them is just wrong.

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) November 12, 2020

Senate Democrats just burned *$260 million* dollars on 3 candidates that lost by a collective 40 points

In other words: “Don’t donate to the Food Bank, give it to Democrats” is a #1 seed for worst idea to ever hit this website https://t.co/mYnrdXdbzy

— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) November 13, 2020

If you were starving right now and relied on food banks, I don’t think you would agree. Once again it’s easy for an out of touch millionaire to say politics are more important than feeding hungry people right now. What THE fuck.

— abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (@iwannagotoitaly) November 12, 2020

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) also tried the “Democrats are the compassionate ones so please give” act as well, and Cuban again was having none of it:

Cause you know when you win Ga, you wont be able to pass the full bill and deliver aid till February ? March ? Later ? Shouldn’t you think about the people’s needs today ? BTW, $1200 ain’t near enough.

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 13, 2020

I don’t agree with Cuban much but on the issue of the importance of giving to food banks as a priority over political donations, he is spot on.

Millions are pouring into those races from individuals and Super PACs alike. People with the money to do so can flip out their wallets if they so desire and give money to their local charity organizations in need as well as the candidates they support if they want to.

But beyond that, let’s look deeper into Legend’s message here: Not only did he prioritize donating to Democrats over food banks, he also insinuated it’s the only way a COVID relief bill would get passed (which at the earliest would be a couple of months away – not now). But he’s wrong. If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would stop blocking the bill in hopes of getting the “perfect” one that would fund Democrat pet projects unrelated to COVID relief, one would get passed. But it’s because of her calculated political antics that we’re where we are now.

Cocaine Mitch hasn’t been the one holding up things here. Nancy Pelosi has.

Even worse was the mindset behind his comments. I honestly can’t recall a time when I’ve seen the “government knows best” mentality of Democrats described so accurately and succinctly as Legend did with his tweet. “Hang on a few months and give a Democratic government time to work their magic!” he said in a nutshell. Unfortunately, he saw nothing whatsoever wrong with it and kept at it long after Cuban had moved on to Lieu and others who share Legend’s warped “government over private charity” viewpoint.

When Democrats tell us who they are, we should listen to them – and vote accordingly.