Obama on Trump White House: ‘Like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory’

President Obama delivered a harsh assessment Saturday of President Trump’s many Washington renovation projects while rallying supporters for Ohio Democratic midterm candidates former Sen. Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton.

“He seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV,” Obama said of Trump’s over $900 million worth of White House construction efforts. “What’s with the gold? … He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

Obama went on to say he believes Trump is more focused on renovating the White House than on the issues voters care about.

But the former president’s attacks did not stop with the White House. Obama went on to blast Trump’s policies and cabinet officials while also taking shots at Republican candidates in his Cleveland speech — full of quips and punchlines.

The Democrat singled out Trump’s original 2016 message to “drain the swamp,” a call to shake up the Washington establishment, jokingly drawing comparisons between the adage and his attempted renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

After the White House unveiled the newly renovated pool in June, onlookers began to spot a growth of green algae in the water and the peeling of newly installed “American flag blue” base paint. After months of renovations and a heated legal battle surrounding vandalism allegations, Trump said Friday the pool is 85 percent done with the refilling process.

“Remember that whole thing about drain the swamp? The only thing that got drained was the Reflecting Pool in the National Mall after some no-bid contract got it all messed up,” Obama said.

The former president also threw out an insult at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a frequent target of Democrats over his handling of the Iran war and his “warriors” not “weirdos” rhetoric. Hegseth has called the military “low-T” and mandated testosterone screenings for male service members under 30.

“You’ve got the defense secretary … he’s very focused on important matters like the jawlines and testosterone levels of our troops,” Obama said. “How much time do you think this defense secretary spends looking at himself in the mirror in the morning?”

And, as cost of living remains a major concern for voters, Obama moved on to criticize Trump’s tariff agenda — specifically his trade war with Canada.

“The big trade war he’s started now is with that well-known evil empire, Canada,” Obama said. “I mean these are the people who gave us maple syrup and Martin Short.”

Obama was the last Democrat running for president to win Ohio, and the party has not fared well in the Buckeye State since. The last time a Democrat other than Brown won a Senate race in Ohio was 1992, a fact which would remain true even if he returns to the Senate come November. The state has not elected a Democratic governor since 2006.

A Bowling Green State University poll released last week found Obama was the only public official to have a positive favorability rating among Ohio voters.

The former president touched on the scandals surrounding some of Ohio’s races — directly addressed Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s controversial attack ad featuring his opponent Acton’s estranged mother, his opponent. Trump and Vice President Vance were among those who defended the commercial despite widespread bipartisan backlash.

“There’s a decency that we should expect out of our public officials. And I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody could run an ad like that,” Obama said of the ad. “No office is worth stooping that low.”

The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on Obama’s remarks.