Obama Says Trump's White House Looks Like Saddam Hussein Opened a Cheesecake Factory

The former president's riff on gold decor, a paved Rose Garden and a ballroom left critics rushing to defend the chain restaurant.

Barack Obama went to Cleveland on Saturday to help two Ohio Democrats. The line people are still repeating is about a chain restaurant.

"He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," the former president told the rally at Cleveland Public Auditorium, Fox News reported. The Hill and Newsweek also carried the line.

The joke closed out a list. Trump "should be on HGTV," Obama said. Then he ran through a ballroom he said was bigger than the White House, a paved-over Rose Garden, a helipad on the South Lawn and gold everywhere. His point, Newsweek reported, was that a president this wrapped up in home improvement probably hasn't spent much time on the cost of living or gas prices.

He was campaigning for Amy Acton, the Democrat running for governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, and for Sherrod Brown, who's challenging Republican Sen. Jon Husted. The Nov. 3 midterms were 10 days off. He also turned Trump's old drain-the-swamp promise around: the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, Obama said, is all that ended up drained, after a no-bid contract botched the work, according to The Daily Beast.

The projects he listed are real. The East Wing had been torn down by December 2025 to make way for a new wing, with a ballroom above ground and a military facility below, Newsweek reported. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued. On Aug. 31 the Supreme Court let construction keep going while the case continues. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's three liberals in dissent and called the project "likely unlawful."

Fox News pushed back on the joke itself. According to Fox, the Rose Garden's center lawn became a limestone patio for events in 2025, and the roses still line its edges. A granite helipad opened with a Sept. 21 ribbon-cutting. Fox also said the ballroom is meant to end the White House's reliance on temporary tents for big events.

Fox also brought up Obama's own building project, his presidential center in Chicago. Once pegged at $350 million, the center now carries a projected price above $1 billion, by Fox's count. Trump answered on Monday. "And for you to say it's a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president," he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Newsweek reported.

Online, the fight moved to the restaurant. Some critics called the joke elitist, Newsweek reported. "For a lot of working-class people in Michigan, Cheesecake Factory is a really nice meal that they have to save up to afford," conservative commentator Ryan James Girdusky wrote on X. Obama's next stop Saturday was Detroit, where he rallied for Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, The Daily Beast reported.

Writer Jonathan Snowden took the chain's side and Obama's at once. He wrote on X that he's "a redneck heathen" who loves the place. But it's "styled like a 1970s casino," he wrote, and it mostly sits inside the fanciest mall in blue cities. "Can we not lie about everything?" he asked.

Source: foxnews.com, retrieved October 25, 2026. Other sources: newsweek.com, thedailybeast.com.