His man Beto lost an election Tuesday, but the volatile head coach of the San Antonio Spurs says we now have checks and balances "over government gone amuck." Gregg Popovich, who has harshly criticized President Donald Trump in the past, also calls U.S. Senator Ted Cruz "very scary."
Coach Popovich spoke to a few reporters at a team practice Wednesday and said, according to an Associated Press tweet:
"I feel a little bit better about the state of the world. At least we have a theoretical check and balance over government gone amok.”
In an outburst months ago, Popovich had called President Trump a "soulless coward" and a “pathological liar… unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office." Those hateful remarks roused progressives to attempt to draft Popovich and another NBA coach/critic of Trump, Golden State's Steve Kerr, for a run for the White House in 2020.
Change.org mounted a petition drive to prop up Popovich Kerr 2020. It's "a grassroots movement of NBA fans and American citizens that are demanding more mature, thoughtful, and inspiring leadership in Washington, DC.," the site boasted.
Popovich thought so highly of Cruz's Democrat opponent Beto O'Rourke that he waited until three days before the election to endorse him. San Antonio Channel 12 KSAT News' R.J. Marquez wrote: "Popovich heavily endorsed O’Rourke days before the election and donned a 'BETO' cap at a recent Spurs practice."
Rolling Stone's Peter Wade reported that at the Spurs' practice last Saturday the "beloved" Popovich, "an outspoken progressive," praised the Democrat candidate for Senate:
“Just go vote for Beto. He’s a special guy. Especially in the times we’re in now, and you get so tired of all the lies and divisiveness and fear-mongering and race-baiting. It just diminishes all of us. It makes us feel strange. And when I think of Beto, or I listen to what he says, I feel like what I thought America was supposed to be. He’s classy. He’s thoughtful. He’s intelligent. He’s civil.”
Wade said that Popovich also praised O’Rourke for visiting every county in Texas and noted a political ad had taken a swipe at Sen. Cruz for visiting every county in Iowa during his 2016 campaign for president. Wade's story included more Popovich praise for Beto:
“He’s been everywhere, because he cares about all the people, and he doesn’t deal with PACs and corporations and all that kind of thing. He just does the work,” Popovich said, noting that O’Rourke has not taken any PAC money for his campaign."
Somebody's lying here, and it's either Beto or Open Secrets.org, which reports that PACs chipped in to O'Rourke's $69 million campaign war chest with $77,441.
Whether or not Beto is truthful, Popovich considers him a real profile in courage.:
“We’re all looking for leaders. Leaders are courageous. Leaders conduct themselves based on their standards, their principles. They have courage of their convictions. They don’t genuflect. They don’t kiss up for their own personal gain. He’s out for the people. He wants everything to be fair. He wants justice. He wants our democratic institutions to be respected so that we’re proud of being Americans.”
Wade characterized Cruz’s campaign tactics as divisive, and Popovich called them “very scary. That’s about self. That’s not about the rest of us. Beto is the exact opposite of that. That’s why I think he’s great.”
