Gregg Popovich calls Donald Trump a ‘soulless coward’

Gregg Popovich is one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, but in recent weeks he’s been in headlines because of things going on off the court.

Popovich responded to a claim President Donald Trump made today about former Presidents Barack Obama and George Bush, saying that they “didn’t make calls” to the families of fallen soldiers when asked why he hadn’t mentioned four United States soldiers being ambushed in Niger.

“A lot of [former presidents] didn’t make calls,” Trump said in a press conference on Monday afternoon. “I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it.”

After hearing these remarks, Popovich reached out to The Nation’s Dave Zirin to sound off on Trump’s use of the false claim that Presidents Obama and Bush did not call the families of fallen soldiers.

Popovich said he is “amazed and disappointed by so much” of what Trump has said and the job he’s done running the country. He called his approach one of “never-ending divisiveness.”

He wasn’t done. He proceeded to call the president a “coward” who only brings others down to boost himself up.

This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner — and to lie about how previous presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers — is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this President should be ashamed because they know it better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all.

Popovich has always been a thoughtful person on matters outside of basketball, but he’s rarely had the opportunity to showcase that. But since Trump took office, Popovich has called out the president in multiple instances.

He said the election’s results gave him a sick stomach in November after Trump was elected. In May, he referred to the president’s tenure as a “game show.”

On media day in September, Popovich said it was ‘comical’ that the president was rescinding the Warriors’ invitation to the White House because they weren’t going anyway. That same day he spoke about using his platform as an NBA head coach to rebuke white privilege and promote equality.

For Popovich, this could be personal. He has a background in the military and having fallen soldiers involved in this controversy could have sparked something in him. Or maybe it was just more of the usual. Either way, Popovich wanted to make his feelings here clear.

Popovich feels that Trump’s rhetoric creates a divide throughout the NBA’s various communities. And he isn’t alone in that. Other coaches and players have come out and spoken against Trump. Steve Kerr, Stan Van Gundy, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry are on that list with Popovich, just to name a few.

Popovich and the others are very aware of the platform they hold and feel it’s more necessary than ever before that they speak their minds in an effort to unite the country. And their feelings don’t seem to be changing anytime soon.