San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich Voices Displeasure Over Election of Donald Trump

SAN ANTONIO, TX — Many pundits have weighed in on the improbable election of Donald Trump to the American presidency on Nov. 8. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has added his insights, and his candid assessment has voiced the frustration many feel over the divisive rhetoric the businessman employed to get elected.

Popovich, the five-time-championship-winning coach of the NBA-leading Spurs, said the outcome of his election has made him "sick to my stomach" during an interview with the San Antonio Express-News.

"Not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenure and tone and all of the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic," Popovich said. "I live in that country where half of the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That's the scariest part of the whole thing to me."

In his six-minute monologue, Popovich took to task the evangelicals who threw their support behind Trump, wondering how they were able to reconcile his beliefs about entire cultures with their theological teachings.

"We live in a country that ignored all of those values that we would hold our kids accountable for," the coach said. "They’d be grounded for years if they acted and said the things that have been said by Donald Trump in that campaign. I look at the evangelicals and wonder: Those values don’t mean anything to them? "

Regardless of his business acumen, the lack of values the coach perceived in Trump are what disqualified him from consideration to reach the presidency: "All those values to me are more important than anybody's skill in business or anything else because it tells who we are and how we want to live and what kind of people we are."

Hear his full comments below:

Known for his candor, Popovich is one of the most accomplished coaches in NBA history — earning five championships, named Coach of the Year three times, a regular season winning percentage of .684 and winning more than 1,000 career games — with his impressive achievements all reached with a single franchise, in itself a rare feat.

But he's also distinguished himself with building a team comprising cultural diversity by often scouting for talent overseas, yielding some of the game's top international stars: Manu Ginóbili of Argentina, Tony Parker from France and the recently retired future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, to name just three.

While majoring in Soviet studies with he Air Force Academy, Popovich was able to partake in world travel, acquiring an appreciation for various cultures along the way.

"He took his curiosity and appreciation for foreign cultures with him as currency, and it has paid dividends now with the Spurs," the New York Times wrote about his approach in a 2005 profile. "Popovich's team flies the flags of Argentina, France, Slovenia, New Zealand, the United States Virgin Islands and the United States."

It's that worldview and cultural appreciation that makes the imminent Trump presidency anathema to his own set of values, the coach explained in the interview.

"So that's my real fear, and that's what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly that the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that's necessary to understand other groups' situations.

"I'm a rich white guy, and I'm sick to my stomach thinking about it," Popovich added. "I can't imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African- American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person. How disenfranchised they might feel."

During the interview with the Express-News, Popovich condemned Trump's hateful rhetoric while on the stump (he's called for a ban on Muslims entering the country and categorized Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists), including his mocking of a disabled reporter for the New York Times.

"That's what a seventh grade, eighth grade bully does. And he was elected president of the United States," Popovich said. "We would have scolded our kids. We would have had discussions until we were blue in the face trying to get them to understand these things. He is in charge of our country. That's disgusting."

Popovich is not the only NBA coach who has voiced displeasure over Trump's election. Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy have previously expressed their objections.

The Spurs coach summarized his anxiety over a Trump presidency by likening the U.S. to the fall of the Roman Empire in the late fourth century — its demise ending a 500-year run as the world's greatest superpower. Historians have attributed many factors that led to the crumbling of the once-mighty empire. But many agree it occurred with the overthrow of Romulus — the last of the Roman emperors in the west — by the Germanic leader Odoacer (the first Barbarian to rule Rome) that effectively ended the order the empire had brought to western Europe for 1,000 years.

"And so my final conclusion is, my big fear is, we are Rome," Popovich said.

You can listen to his remarks above or read the full transcript of his comments below:

"I’m still trying to formulate thoughts. It’s too early, I’m still sick to my stomach. Not basically because the Republicans won or anything but the disgusting tenure and tone and all the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic.

"And I live in that country where half the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part for me. It’s got nothing to do with the environment, Obamacare, and all the other stuff. We live in a country that ignored all of those values that we would hold our kids accountable for. They’d be grounded for years if they acted and said the things that have been said by Donald Trump in that campaign. I look at the evangelicals and wonder: Those values don’t mean anything to them?

"All those values to me are more important than anybody's skill in business or anything else because it tells who we are and how we want to live and what kind of people we are. And that’s why I have great respect for people like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, John Kasich, who I disagree with on a lot of political things but they had enough fiber and respect for humanity and tolerance for all groups to say what they said about the man.
"And that’s what worries me. I get it, of course we want to be successful. Everybody wants to be successful. It’s our country, we don’t want it to go down the drain. But any reasonable person would come to that conclusion, but it does not take away the fact that he used that fear mongering and all the comments from day one.

"The race-baiting, with trying to make Barack Obama, our first black president, illegitimate. It leaves me wondering where I’ve been living, with whom I’m living. And the fact that people can just gloss that over and start talking about the transition team and we’re all going to be kumbaya now and try to make the country good without talking about any of those things.

"And now we see that he’s already backing off about immigration, about Obamacare and other things. So was it a big fake? Which makes you feel it’s even more disgusting and cynical, that somebody would use that to get the base that fired up to get elected. And what gets lost in the process is African-Americans and Hispanics and women and the gay population. Not to mention the eighth-grade developmental stage exhibited by him when he made fun of the handicapped person.

"I mean, come on, that’s what a seventh/eighth-grade bully does. And he was elected President of the United States. We would have scolded our kids, we would have had discussions and talked until we were blue in the face trying to get them to understand these things. And he is in charge of this country. That’s disgusting.

"We didn’t make this stuff up. He’s angry at the media because they reported what he said and how he acted. That’s ironic to me. It just makes no sense. That’s my real fear and that’s what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly. That the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that’s necessary to understand other group’s situations.

"I’m a rich white guy and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I can’t imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African-American, a Hispanic or a handicapped person — how disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups who voted for him it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignore all of that.

"And so my final conclusion is, my big fear is, we are Rome."

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