By a show of hands, who likes Donald Trump?
I sure as hell didn’t raise mine and I’m 1,000 percent sure that San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn’t raise his either.
Trump, a man whose logic and leadership capabilities are easily dwarfed by the size of his hands, has spent the last several days months years providing a master class on how not to lead our ailing country through unprecedented crisis after unprecedented crisis. And after protests have ripped apart America in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers—providing Trump with the perfect opportunity to be divisive and deranged per usual—Pop is fed the fuck up with Trump’s shit.
Sooooooo he called up his boy Dave Zirin, a sportswriter at The Nation, and let the chopper spray.
On White America’s role in these protests:
“The thing that strikes me is that we all see this police violence and racism, and we’ve seen it all before, but nothing changes. That’s why these protests have been so explosive. But without leadership and an understanding of what the problem is, there will never be change. And white Americans have avoided reckoning with this problem forever, because it’s been our privilege to be able to avoid it. That also has to change.”
On Trump’s failures as a leader:
“It’s unbelievable. If Trump had a brain, even if it was 99 percent cynical, he would come out and say something to unify people. But he doesn’t care about bringing people together. Even now. That’s how deranged he is. It’s all about him. It’s all about what benefits him personally. It’s never about the greater good. And that’s all he’s ever been.”
On the leadership that America needs:
“It’s so clear what needs to be done. We need a president to come out and say simply that ‘black lives matter.’ Just say those three words. But he won’t and he can’t. He can’t because it’s more important to him to mollify the small group of followers who validate his insanity. But it’s more than just Trump. The system has to change. I’ll do whatever I can do to help, because that’s what leaders do. But he can’t do anything to put us on a positive path, because he’s not a leader.
On Senator Mitch McConnell wreaking havoc on America and Republicans not having the courage to check Trump:
“It’s like what Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz used to say when they had the courage to say it: He’s unfit. But they have chosen instead to be invisible and obsequious in the face of this carnage. In the end, what we have is a fool in place of a president, while the person who really runs the country, Senator Mitch McConnell, destroys the United States for generations to come. McConnell has destroyed and degraded our judicial system. He has tried to destroy heath care. He’s destroyed the environment. He’s the master and Trump’s the stooge, and what’s funny is that Trump doesn’t even know it. Trump’s always wanted to be part of the in-group, but McConnell is an in-group of one and Trump plays the fool.”
On Trump trumping instead of providing actual guidance and composure:
“He’s not just divisive. He’s a destroyer. To be in his presence makes you die. He will eat you alive for his own purposes. I’m appalled that we have a leader who can’t say ‘black lives matter.’ That’s why he hides in the White House basement. He is a coward. He creates a situation and runs away like a grade-schooler. Actually, I think it’s best to ignore him. There is nothing he can do to make this better because of who he is: a deranged idiot.”
On protests throughout the country needing to be better organized:
“They are very necessary, but they need to be organized better. It’s frustrating. When Dr. King did a protest, you knew when to show, when to come back the next day. But if you’re just organizing protests and everyone is coming and going in every direction, it doesn’t work that way. If it was nonviolent, they knew to be nonviolent, but this is muddled. More leadership would be very welcome so these incredible mass demonstrations can’t be used by people for other means. We can limit the bad, but only if things are organized better.”
With sports on pause at the moment, this sounds like a fantastic opportunity for the UFC or some boxing promoter to put the money up and let Pop and Trump throw hands.
“There,” Pop told Zirin after he finished airing out the entire clip. “Do you think that’s enough to get me in trouble?”
Somebody cut the check!