Gregg Popovich Rips Manchin, Sinema and Republicans for Blocking Voting Rights Bill: ‘Selfish and Dangerous to Our Country’
As much as San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has displayed a willingness to call out superstar NBA players on the court, he’s even more willing to share his displeasure with the American government.
Prior to the Spurs game against the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday night, Popovich was asked about Juneteenth becoming a national holiday.
“A lot of people didn’t want Martin Luther King Day either,” Popovich said. “I might be too cynical, or maybe I’m just realistic. But it sort of felt like a lot of politicians acquiesced to Juneteenth and then blatantly or between the lines said, ‘now shut up.’”
The iconic NBA head coach used the question about Juneteenth to speak about voting rights issues within the country, targeting Republicans, as well as Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
“The Republican Senate will just not participate, they just will not,” Popovich ranted. “So, whatever can be done needs to be done. And Sinema and Manchin they get it, but they don’t get it. They know what’s going on. They understand. But there are more important things to them, and it’s damn selfish and dangerous to our country.”
Last week, Manchin and Sinema controversially aligned with Republicans to block a voting rights bill and changes to the filibuster that have been supported by Democrats and President Joe Biden.
“It’s just ironic to me,” Popovich added. “Every time we take steps forward, you get the backlash. The fact that the voting rights issue is in the situation it’s in is just mind-boggling to me in one sense, because we’ve already gone through this back in the ’60s, and we know what the Supreme Court did earlier in gutting it.
“But it’s like we don’t get it. It’s like, maybe there wouldn’t be a democracy if it wasn’t for Black people.”
The 72-year-old Popovich has been increasingly outspoken on social and political issues recently. He strongly opposed Donald Trump during his presidency and last year, Popovich ranted against Christopher Columbus and Americans who still celebrate the holiday in the explorer’s honor.
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