Bessent dines at Cheesecake Factory and criticizes Obama for Trump joke

Let them eat cheesecake?

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday became the latest right-wing critic to accuse former President Barack Obama of elitism for mockingly comparing President Donald Trump’s ostentatious White House renovations to Cheesecake Factory.

But Bessent, a former hedge fund manager whose net worth has been estimated at around $600 million, walked his talk: He dined at the restaurant chain and praised its cooking before giving his opinion to the Democratic ex-president.

“This is the man who built the museum that looks like Darth Vader’s tomb,” Bessent told a Fox Business reporter who asked him about Obama’s remark as he left the restaurant near the White House. Bessent was apparently referring to the Obama Presidential Center, a monolithic structure that opened in June.

“I had a good meal, I always have a good meal, and I would just tell the Martha’s Vineyard group to give it a try,” Bessent said. Obama vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard as president, and he and his wife Michelle now own an estate on the exclusive island.

Bessent said he ordered “the thing I always have: the French Dip Cheeseburger.”

It’s a “grilled cheeseburger served on a toasted brioche bun with grilled onions, sriracha mayonnaise and juice for dipping,” one of the “glamburgers” on the Cheesecake Factory’s famous sprawling menu. The burger, which comes with fries or a green salad, currently costs $22.95 at the downtown Washington restaurant.

“I recommend the cheeseburger spring rolls,” Bessent added in a follow-up post on X addressed to Obama.

Bessent’s biting comment follows those of other Trump allies who say Obama mocked working-class Americans when he ripped Trump over his vast plans to build and decorate the White House.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV!” Obama said of Trump during a speech Saturday at a rally in Ohio for gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and Senate candidate Sherrod Brown.

“There’s gold everywhere. What’s up with the gold?” Obama continued. “He makes the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.”

The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter at the remarks by Obama, who had previously mocked Trump’s gold-rich renovation of the White House.

Since returning to office, Trump has spent a lot of time discussing his renovations, particularly in the Oval Office, which now features piles of gold leaf among many additional decorations. He also built a helipad at the White House, the White House Ballroom, still under construction, and a whole host of other projects.

On Monday afternoon, Trump defended his White House overhaul at length while asserting that Obama had failed to make necessary repairs.

“We need to explain to Obama that the White House is a symbol of America and it needs to be maintained properly,” Trump said as he headed to Mississippi for a campaign rally. “Guys like Obama don’t see it. You don’t see the dirt. He doesn’t see the dirt. He doesn’t see the broken ornaments on a building.”

“It has to be clean,” Trump continued. “The columns can’t be broken. The bricks can’t fall out from under the plaster. And for you to say it’s a cheesecake factory, it just shows why you’ve been a bad president.”

Detractors insisted that Obama’s use of the Cheesecake Factory as an example of cheap and gaudy decoration amounted to nothing less than class warfare.

“Classic Obama snobbery,” wrote Republican commentator Matt Whitlock on X. “Cheesecake Factory is a great option for people who can’t afford a private chef at their Martha’s Vineyard estate.”

Republican pundit Scott Jennings called Obama “undefeated in his condescension toward ordinary people,” while asserting that the former president “was never in a cheesecake factory.”

This reaction quickly sparked its own reaction.

“This is actually a condescending view of working class people,” Derek Guy, a popular men’s fashion influencer, wrote on X.

“I grew up in a working-class immigrant family and we ate at Red Lobster and the Cheesecake Factory for “fancy nights out.” But even we understood that the White House didn’t have to look like the inside of a red lobster,” Guy wrote. “Working-class people are not culturally illiterate simply because their experiences are shaped by their limited means.”

The food fight comes just days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, where most polls and analyst forecasts indicate Democrats are poised to make significant gains in Congress.

The election cycle was defined by Americans’ widespread dissatisfaction with high costs, which sent Trump’s approval ratings to new lows and imperiled Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

The Cheesecake Factory is expected to report its third-quarter results on Tuesday.