Team USA Coach Gregg Popovich is tired of inaction on gun control. The winningest coach in NBA history tried to light a fire under Congress after the US suffered two mass shootings in the span of 24 hours, including one in his adopted home state of Texas.
“The situation we’re all living in now, everybody looks for a little bit of distraction in some way, shape or form,” Popovich said following a Team USA practice. “But it would be a lot better if the people in power got off their asses and got something done.” Popovich's words come after two mass shootings claimed the lives of 34 people. Popovich has been outspoken for the majority of his time in the league and has repeatedly criticized the administration of Donald Trump. His full quote is in line with that, sharing that the United States has a wealth of problems in need of fixing.
"There's nothing going on, so you know, take a break," he said, poking at the legislature for being in recess. "They'll come back and fix the gun situation, the environment, the inequality of pay, they'll fix all that when they come back, I'm sure."
Popvich has been candid about his disdain for the Trump-era in recent years. While it's hard to remember in the wake of the president's unending parade of crudeness and cruelty, Trump faced criticism last year for failing to contact the families of troops who were killed in Niger. Trump's deflection and lies when the story hit the press lead Popvich to call him a coward.
"This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others," he said. "This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner–and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers–is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day."
His opinion of the powers-that-be in the US government clearly hasn't changed much since then.
