Steve Kerr Jokes About Midterm Results With Donald Trump Remark

After the 2024 presidential election, Steve Kerr told reporters, "the American people have spoken," before pivoting to a sarcastic line about Trump's refusal to accept his 2020 loss. Two years later, the Warriors coach was at it again.

The day after the 2026 midterms, he ended a routine media session with a joke about a promise from President Trump that went unfulfilled.

“What no questions on the election? I’m surprised,” Kerr said during his media availability on Wednesday. “I’m disappointed, because I was looking forward to that $5,000 check that we were all gonna get,” he added, per the California Post’s Evan Webeck. He then said he had already spent it, and that he would now “have to figure something out.”

The joke referred to a specific pledge. In the days before the election, Trump ran an ad promising Americans a $5,000 check if Republicans kept control of Congress.

He first announced the proposal in September at the GOP's midterm convention in Dallas, and repeated it in his last speech before Election Day, saying the payment would go to every adult citizen if Republicans held the House and Senate. The pledge was conditional, and the condition was not met.

It was projected that Democrats would take full control of Congress in January after winning both chambers on Tuesday night. Republicans had entered Election Day with a 53-47 Senate majority and a 219-214 House majority. Even before the results were in, Fox News host Jesse Watters said on air, "I don't think we're going to get our $5,000 checks."

Kerr's line therefore echoed a joke that was already circulating across the political spectrum.

Kerr is a longtime Trump critic. He has spoken out repeatedly on issues from gun safety to elections. In 2024, he endorsed Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention, saying he knew speaking out about politics “comes with risks.”

The reaction is rarely one-sided. After his comments following the 2024 election, some critics responded with fury on social media, and one person wrote that Kerr “should be ashamed of himself.”

Supporters see an NBA coach who uses a platform to say what he believes, while critics argue that sports figures should stay out of politics. That divide shaped the discussion of Wednesday's remark as well.

The joke was also light by Kerr’s standards. He did not name Trump in the quote, did not discuss specific policies and did not endorse a party. It touched on a campaign promise and the fact that reporters did not ask him about the election.

For the Warriors, it was a small moment in a long season. Kerr's availability moved on to basketball, and the team has bigger issues, from the Kristaps Porzingis contract situation to Stephen Curry's workload.

The political comment will likely fade quickly, but it adds to the larger picture of a coach who treats election night the same way he treats a game. He has an opinion, and he is willing to joke about it.