Outspoken San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich had some harsh words for President Donald Trump before his team squared off with the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday.
Popovich slammed Trump to media members, saying that “you really can’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth.”
He said, “[Trump] could talk to the groups that he disrespected and maligned during the primary and really make somebody believe it. But so far, we’ve got [to] a point where you really can’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth. You really can’t.”
“Pop” went on to criticize Trump for complaining about the reports of a difference in crowd size for his inauguration, as opposed to former President Barack Obama’s crowd.
“With the CIA today, instead of honoring the 117 people behind him where he was speaking, he talked about the size of the [inauguration] crowd,” he told reporters. “That’s worrisome. That’s worrisome. I’d just feel better if somebody was in that position that showed the maturity and psychological and emotional level of somebody that was his age.
“It’s dangerous, and it doesn’t do us any good. I hope he does a great job, but there’s a difference between respecting the office of the presidency and who occupies it. And that respect has to be earned. But it’s hard to be respectful of someone when we all have kids, and we’re watching him be misogynistic and xenophobic and racist and make fun of handicapped people.”
The five-time NBA champion coach then communicated his disgust over Trump’s appointees.
“What really bothers me are the people around him. The Sean Spicers, the Kellyanne Conways, the Reince Priebuses that know who he is and actually have the cynical approach and disingenuous attitude to really defend him and try to make it look like he didn’t say what he said. And so when he’s mad at the media for them reporting what he said, that just boggles my mind,” he stated.
On top of calling him a liar, Popovich also called the president a bully for not acknowledging things he has said that has made people feel uncomfortable or “scared.”
“There was a young lady on today who said, ‘I just wished he had gone up there [during his inauguration] and said something like, ‘And I know I said certain things …’ or, you know, ‘I would really like to bring the people who don’t feel …’ or, ‘I know some of you are scared,’ Popovich said. “But he can’t do that because bullies don’t do that. That’s why.”
As he concluded, Popovich added that the “thin-skinned’ president should do better about owning up to things he has said instead of getting angry with the media.
“When the media reports what he says, I’m not sure why he can get angry about that,” Popovich said. “It does boggle the mind how somebody can be so thin-skinned.
He continued, “I want to be totally vanilla, whether someone says something great or something bad [about me]. You can’t let that affect you. We have somebody in office right now who should take that lesson.”
Full transcript of Popovich’s 14-minute session with the media can be found here:
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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