Former President Barack Obama responded to the uproar over his Cheesecake Factory joke about President Donald Trump’s White House decorations. He criticized Republicans for focusing on the quip rather than the economy during a campaign rally in Georgia.
Barack Obama reacts as Donald Trump defends Cheesecake Factory joke
Obama told the crowd that Republicans “mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke, not to inflation, but to that joke.” He then gave his verdict: “This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people.” According to Obama, the GOP would “rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory” than offer real solutions.
For those unaware, the feud started when Obama, campaigning in Cleveland, Ohio, mocked Trump’s reported $900 million renovation, saying the White House now looks “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, it’s just gold everywhere.” Donald Trump answered on his campaign trail, praising the restaurant chain as a “very successful company” while branding Obama “a lousy president.” Trump argued: “For you to say it was a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president.”
Obama brushed off the counterattack in Georgia, admitting he’d “heard the president was not happy.” He leaned into his family history with the brand: “I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory?” He then redirected attention to grocery and restaurant prices, noting many families “can barely afford to go out to eat.”
Obama also needled the administration for ignoring his inflation criticism and expressed surprise that Trump “wasn’t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.” He mocked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for staging a response outside a Cheesecake Factory in Washington, and revived the old tan suit saga for laughs.
All in all, the Cheesecake Factory clash lands in the final stretch of a tight election cycle, with both Barack Obama and Donald Trump barnstorming battleground states for their parties’ candidates.
