Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday made light of the Trump administration’s response to a joke he made about The Cheesecake Factory this weekend, saying that the White House wants to deflect from economic issues by instead focusing on media squabbles.
Obama’s joke — that President Donald Trump’s White House renovations resembled former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein opening a Cheesecake Factory — drew quick outrage this week from conservative lawmakers and President Trump, who defended The Cheesecake Factory as a “very successful company.”
But Obama mocked the president’s move to “mobilize” a response to the joke while campaigning in Georgia on Wednesday for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms, arguing that the administration was more focused on vanity projects than everyday economic issues.
“The president wasn’t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison,” he said. “That part didn’t bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comparisons. He took great umbrage.”
Trending
Trump addressed the quip several times this week, including while speaking to reporters and during a campaign rally in Mississippi. The White House pushed similar messaging after Obama’s speech, hosting an hours-long YouTube livestream titled “Lo-fi Beats to Dismantle DEI To” that featured an AI-generated cartoon of Trump waving in front of a Cheesecake Factory.
The White House also staged a press conference at a Cheesecake Factory in Washington on Monday, during which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented on the quality of the food and took his own shots at Obama.
“This is the man who is in charge of the economy, the person who’s supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable,” Obama told the Georgia crowd, referencing Bessent’s comments. “He was out there in front of The Cheesecake Factory explaining how he ordered the delicious French cheeseburger instead of the egg rolls … These are not serious people. They don’t have solutions to actual problems. So they’d rather have the media and you talking about The Cheesecake Factory.”
Author
