‘Trump enjoyed it’: Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich blasts president, rioters after attack at US Capitol

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich blasted President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying he believed “with all my heart that Trump enjoyed” the attacks Wednesday by armed rioters and Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

“He loved those people hitting the Capitol because that’s what he cares about. He’s incapable of caring, and it’s sad because he’s a deranged, really flawed individual, but he’s also dangerous,” Popovich said. “That’s why I don’t think it’s so far-fetched for people to start talking about the 25th Amendment.”

Popovich also criticized Vice President Mike Pence and called on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.

“He’s been an obsequious man for four years. He’s not going to do it. I think he tried to take credit because he didn’t try to overturn everything in the Congress last night. Well, he can’t. He doesn’t have the power to, but people acted like he did some kind of good thing.

“Their job there by the Constitution is to count the ballots. That’s it. That’s all they do. So he didn’t do anything to help any situation whatsoever if he really wanted to save himself. And, like Lindsey Graham tried to do, which was really hilarious after the way he’s conducted himself for 40 years, he could go ahead and start this 25th Amendment procedure, and then he’d be a hero. Then he could have his self-respect back,” Popovich said.

The Spurs head coach also ripped into Missouri Republican Sen. John Hawley and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Hawley is a joke. This entitled, elite educated person is really smart, just like Ted Cruz is smart, but they throw fuel onto Trump’s fire. They are worse than Trump because they’re not sick. They’re not deeply flawed. Mr. Trump is not a well man.

“These people are sane, but their self-interest, their greed, their lust for power outweighs their love of country or their sense of duty to the Constitution or to public service, and one would have thought with those incidents yesterday, they might do a makeover like Senator (Kelly) Loeffler, even though it was hilarious also, but they doubled down and still went and did it as if we’re all stupid.

“Sometimes smart people think everybody else is stupid, and they don’t think that we can see that they did this for their own personal reasons so they can keep the base, but it’s going to backfire on them,” Popovich said.

Similar to Philadelphia Sixers head coach Doc Rivers the day before, Popovich also noted the stark contrasts between the police presence at the Capitol compared to the protests over the summer after the killing of George Floyd.

“They’re armed to the teeth and ready to go, and they’re going to get after those people because those are the people that do not support Trump. People support Trump -- then it’s a free pass. They just happen to be white, and that’s what white privilege does for you. That’s white privilege to the Nth degree. No fear whatsoever,” Popovich said.