How a Cheesecake Factory jab spurred a midterm spat

A Cheesecake Factory jab from former President Obama quickly spiraled into a midterm spat between the GOP and Democrats as the competitive election cycle nears its end.

Obama quipped during a recent campaign stop in Cleveland that President Trump has the White House “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, it’s just gold everywhere.”

His remarks referred to Trump’s reported $900 million renovations to the White House, including pricey updates to the Rose Garden and constructing a new granite helipad , according to The Washington Post. Hussein’s Iraqi palaces were also famously adorned with gold fixtures and decor.

“We have to explain to Obama that the White House is a symbol of America, and it has to be maintained properly,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland en route to Mississippi on Monday.

“It has to be painted, and the exterior plaster can’t be falling off the walls, and the decorations and the ornaments on the windows that are magnificent can’t be on one side of the window and falling off on the other side,” he continued.

“It’s not about money. It’s about seeing. Guys like Obama don’t see it. He doesn’t see dirt, he doesn’t see filth, he doesn’t see broken ornaments on a building,” Trump fired back at the former president. “For you to say it was a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president.”

The White House’s account on social platform X also joined in, posting a doctored Cheesecake Factory menu touting Trump administration policies, including items labeled “The Border Security Special” and “The American Energy Feast.”

“Since we’re talking about The Cheesecake Factory,” it wrote. “The only thing bigger than the menu is the list of President Trump’s accomplishments.”

The exchanges quickly drew attention from both sides as Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum said Obama’s joke could have consequences in the midterm election as it “goes exactly to why Democrats lost the middle class, why they lost blue-collar voters.”

“Because it’s kind of a guns and religion clinging kind of comment, and it turns a lot of people in this country off,” she stated during an appearance on Fox News .

Conservative podcaster Clay Travis similarly claimed Obama was “out of touch” for making the comparison.

“Pod Save America” host Jon Favreau hit back , writing, “Do you honestly think that Americans who believe the Cheesecake Factory is a high-end place to eat reserved for special occasions also think that the restaurant’s design is so beautiful that the president should copy it for the White House?”

Amid the squabble, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) were separately spotted eating at the restaurant chain Monday.

The Cheesecake Factory did not respond immediately to The Hill’s request for comment.