Popovich pops off at “racist” Trump

Cleveland (AFP) – San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich took aim at Donald Trump Saturday, devoting nearly half of his pre-game news conference to describing his contempt for the newly sworn-in American President.

Popovich, 67, called Trump a bully, chastised his top advisors and praised Saturday’s protests defending the rights of women on Trump’s first day in office. 

“It does boggle the mind how somebody can be so thin-skinned,” Popovich said. “It’s all obvious — it’s about him …. It doesn’t matter what it is, there’s a pattern there. And that’s dangerous.

“I’d like to have someone with gravitas, but he got there through the Electoral College, which is part of our system, and I hope he does some good things.”

Popovich was speaking on a day that more than one million people protested Trump’s presidency by marching in North America and across the world at a series of women’s rallies.  

“The march today was great,” Popovich said. “That message is important and it could have been a whole lot of groups marching. And somebody said on TV, ‘What’s their message?’ Well, their message is obvious.

“That is our president comes in with the lowest rating of anybody who ever came into the office.

“And there’s a majority of people out there, since Hillary (Clinton) won the popular vote, that don’t buy his act.”

He said Trump should spend less time attacking his critics and more time trying to bring the country together by ending the racial and political polarization in the United States.

“And I just wish that he was more mature, enough to do something that really is inclusive rather than just talking and saying, ‘I’m going to include everybody.’

“He 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.”

Popovich said he worries about the effect a Trump presidency will have on young Americans.

“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.”