Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr suggested Friday that the Trump administration has launched an “assault” on America’s institutions and core values.
During a sit-down interview with USA Today, the outspoken head coach cited a “fantastic” article by former acting attorney general Sally Yates, who recently called on Americans to vigilantly uphold the country’s founding principles and to hold leaders accountable for telling “lies.”
Without explicitly naming President Trump, Mr. Kerr said “there’s absolutely an assault on our institutions and on our core values as a country.”
“[Ms. Yates] tweeted the preamble to the Constitution, which really sums up our country. And all those things are kind of under attack right now,” he said.
Mr. Kerr, who spent much of his childhood in Lebanon and whose father was murdered by the Islamic Jihad militia in Beirut in 1984, said it’s up to the American people to hold its leaders accountable and preserve the country’s greatness.
“It’s up to the citizens to, ’We The People,’ right? It’s not ’We the President and Congress.’ It’s ’We The People, in order to form a more perfect union …’ So, who’s The People? You and I are the People. … We all are. Steph [Curry] and Draymond [Green] and KD [Kevin Durant],” he said. “So it’s important for all of us to call b———-, and there’s a lot of b———- right now, and propaganda, and misinformation. You can’t let that happen. The truth has to always win out, and our institutions and ideals have to win out, so it’s important that we speak out.”
“There’s an assault on the free press right now,” Mr. Kerr said later in the interview.
He added that the people who continue to support the president “believe in the divisiveness” he’s trying to create.
“I don’t know if we should give Trump credit, or if it’s his nature to divide,” he said. “But there has to be this divisiveness in order for this idea to take hold, where you can accomplish all these things. There’s a big section of the population that truly believes he’s the patriotic one, he’s trying to uphold America’s ideals because the ideals have been blurred, right? And I think it’s not all Trump, right? It’s the last 20 years of 9/11 and terrorism. So you’ve got policy stuff like immigration that comes into play, and a lot of sort of patriotism, or misguided patriotism, that factors into all this stuff. So it’s tricky. But the only way any of this stuff works is if the people are behind it, and a lot of people are behind Trump, which is kind of scary.”
Mr. Kerr, a gun-control advocate who has been sharply critical of Mr. Trump since his surprising election victory in 2016, said in September that the Warriors would not be making a customary visit to the White House to be recognized for their 2017 NBA championship, USA Today reported. The president reacted by rescinding the invitation.
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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