On a day that saw millions around the world march in support of women’s rights and against President Donald Trump, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was in Cleveland preparing his team to play a basketball game. Speaking with reporter pregame, Popovich spent five minutes praising marchers and criticizing Trump and his flunkies, much like he did right after the election.
The march today was great. 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 our president comes in with the lowest [approval] rating of anybody whoever came into office. And there’s a majority of people out there, since Hillary won the popular vote, that don’t buy his act.
Popovich, who majored in Soviet Studies while attending the United States Air Force Academy, served in the Air Force for five years, and famously considered a career in intelligence before turning fully to basketball, seemed especially angered by Trump’s bizarre meeting with CIA employees:
With the CIA today, instead of honoring the 117 [stars representing agency employees killed] behind him where he was speaking, he talked about the size of the crowd. 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.
You can read a full transcript of his remarks below.