FOR THE WIN

Gregg Popovich on why Donald Trump 'scares the hell' out of him

Alysha Tsuji
USA TODAY
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich watches from the sidelines against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half at AT & T Center.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has passionately spoken out about President Donald Trump and his administration many times.

On Saturday, the day millions of women marched around the world in protest in the wake of Trump's inauguration, Popovich had many more thoughts to share before the Spurs took on the Cavaliers.

The San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald transcribed Popovich's four-minute response to a question about his thoughts on the Women's Marches. Here are a couple sections that stood out:

Popovich on Trump talking about the size of the crowd at his inauguration while at the CIA headquarters:

"The CIA today, instead of honoring the 117 people behind him where he was speaking, he talked about the size of the crowd. That's worrisome. That's worrisome. I'd just feel better if someone was in that position that showed the maturity and psychological and emotional level of someone that was his age. It's dangerous and it doesn't do us any good."

Popovich calling out White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and saying why the reaction to the things Trump has said "scares the hell" out of him:

"And what really bothers me are the people around him, the Sean Spicers, the Kellyanne Conways the Reince Priebuses, who know who he is and actually have the cynical approach and disingenuous attitude to really defend him and make him look like he didn't say what he said. When he's mad at the media for them reporting what he said, it just boggles my mind. When Kellyanne Conway said the other day he wasn't really making fun of the handicapped person. It's incredible. It really makes you wonder how far would someone go to actually cover for somebody that much. I think the comment was,' You have to look in his heart. You don't know what's in his heart. He wouldn't do that.' But he did it.

"And all the things he said during that time, if our children would have said it, we would have grounded them for six months. Without a doubt. But we ignore all that, because … because why? That says something about all of us. And that's what's dangerous. That's what scares the hell out of me to this day and makes me uneasy."

When talking specifically about the Women's Marches, Popovich said, "The message is important," since "there's a majority of people out there, since Hillary won the popular vote, that don't buy his (Trump's) act." And the Spurs head coach added: "It tells me I really do live in a country where a lot of people care."

If you have four minutes to spare, it really is worth either watching the video above or reading the full transcription.