Trump BLASTED as a 'pathetic whiner' by NBA coach, Air Force veteran

The Hall-of-Fame San Antonio Spurs coach took aim at the Republican White House nominee on Saturday by describing Trump as 'pathetic,' 'small' and a 'whiner' because of his refusal to accept his defeat in the 2020 Presidential election. 'We all know that,' the outspoken Popovich told reporters at Saturday's win over the visiting Houston Rockets. Asked about the upcoming election by one of the French reporters following Spurs sensation Victor Wembanyama, Popovich instead focused his fury at Trump's unsubstantiated claims that Joe Biden supposedly cheated his way to victory in 2020. To Popovich, Trump presents an immediate danger to democracy and a long-term threat as a poor example to American youth. 'He is sick, he's a damaged man,' Popovich, a 75-year-old Air Force veteran, said of Trump. 'He grew up the biggest wannabe there ever was in New York, we all know that, he wanted to be in the inner circle, but they laughed at him his whole life. 'He was never accepted, he was treated like a fool, like a clown, and now he is able to give the finger to the world because of his position now, and that's what he's doing. He's getting back at everybody because he's so small that he's gotta go after everybody.' 'The biggest whiner that ever walked the face of the earth,' Popovich said. 'He's like the poorest example of a fifth-grade bully I've ever seen. I mean, would you want your kids to act like he does?' And that brought Popovich to another question about Trump's supporters. 'And so you wonder, all the people who support him, would they want him to teach their kids?' the five-time NBA champion continued. 'So I got to tell my grandchildren that I guess if they want to be like Trump, I'm going to say: 'Hey, now today you're going to win. There's no way you can lose. And if you do lose, it was rigged against you. So don't buy it. Don't buy it. You got to figure out who to blame. Blame those referees because they were against you. Blame your teammates. They didn't play well. They should have maybe given you the ball more, but you don't have to accept that and just keep saying it and just keep saying it.'' 'And to the little kids, what's really good about it, you keep saying it over and over and all of a sudden your life will be a little bit easier because you'll become delusional because you'll actually believe some of the lies you've been telling yourself,' he added. 'And then you don't have to worry about shame and guilt because when you're delusional, there's no shame, there's no guilt, and life becomes so wonderful.' Popovich recalled a 2015 incident in which Trump appeared to parody a New York Times reporter's muscular disorder 'When he stood up and went like this and made fun of the physically challenged person during the election, what grown man, emotionally damaged like he is, would do that, would make fun of a physically handicapped [person]?' Popovich said. 'We put our kids in detention in their rooms if they made fun of somebody like that, yet we're going to vote for him for president?' A veteran of 13 years with the US Air Force, Popovich's service time included a stint in Turkey as a signals intelligence officer monitoring Soviet missile launches. He later found his way into coaching as an assistant at the Air Force Academy before working with Kansas coach Larry Brown in Lawrence and with the Spurs. It was in San Antonio where he would make a name for himself, rising to general manager and hiring himself as head coach before winning five NBA titles with Hall of Famer Tim Duncan. He had never spoken much about politics or race before Trump ascended to the White House in 2016. Since then, he has consistently accused Trump of being a racist in deeply conservative Texas. Trump, meanwhile, has accused Popovich and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr of 'pandering' to China by failing to criticize the Beijing regime. 'They talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don't want to say anything bad,' Trump said in 2019. 'I thought it was pretty sad, actually.' Although Popovich stopped short of offering an emphatic endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, he encourage everyone to vote against Trump. 'The ones that stay home and don't vote are the ones that worry me,' Popovich said. 'We need everybody to vote, and I hope that they won't stay home, that they'll understand that this guy is a scam artist. He's great at it. I'll give him credit for that. He's the best ever, but he makes you want to puke.'