If you’ve watched anything from “Jesse Watters Primetime” to “The Daily Show” this week, you’re already aware of the most important topic in America today: decorating the Cheesecake Factory.
Earlier this week, former President Obama joked at a rally in Cleveland that President Trump renovated the White House to look like “Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.”
Trump lost it. If we’ve learned anything about the president in recent years, it’s that he loves gold as much as he hates Obama. Put them together in an instant, and the leader of the free world can’t help but panic. In fact, he freaked out so much that he sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — a guy worth at least $500 million — to eat a French cheeseburger at the chain just to prove how awesome it was.
Absolutely, positively coincidentally, Fox News happened to be outside when Bessent came out from his everyday meal, just to let us know that “I had a good meal, I always have a good meal.” Okay, Scott.
But if you think this is all just a silly back-and-forth with an unserious administration, think again. Obama has a mastery of political strategy, and this wasn’t just a joke. It was rabies bait, designed for engagement.
Why Saddam Hussein?
The deeper point of Obama’s remarks seemed entirely obscured by the media coverage focused on the Cheesecake part. But why Saddam Hussein?
Trump didn’t seem to mind being compared to the brutal dictator responsible for killing and disappearing thousands to maintain power. In fact, in all the rebuttals from Trump and his acolytes, the reference to Hussein has not been mentioned once.
But don’t think that Obama chose this reference out of negligence or simply out of humor.
Hussein ruled Iraq largely through a cult of personality. Like Trump, he loved spectacular monuments to his power, including a “Victory Arch” in Baghdad (Trump also wants to build an arch); fantastical and bizarre artwork depicting muscular men and dragons (similar perhaps to Trump’s love of AI-generated images of himself); and of course, gold! There was marble, granite, gilding and gold everywhere in Hussein’s homes, even the famous gold-plated toiletries that American and British soldiers found when they entered his palaces.
This ostentatious excess was not only in bad taste. It was a show of power. Even as Hussein amassed his wealth and consolidated his cult of personality, his people were broke. Now, I am in no way saying that Americans in 2026 will suffer like the Iraqis under Hussein. But there is a Marie Antoinette-esque similarity between Hussein’s narcissistic tendencies and Trump’s obsession with everything that glitters — from the water of the reflecting pool to the walls of the Oval Office — even as the economy collapses.
Obama clearly understands this: Maybe you don’t want to cut millions on food stamps while you’re setting up a new ballroom. Obama, after all, could have said that the White House made it look like Liberace had opened a Cheesecake Factory, but he didn’t. Instead, he chose to insert Hussein, a man whose ego-driven rule came at the expense of his own people.
Which brings me to the absolute brilliance of the joke. Of course it was funny. Yes, this was quickly picked up as a viral clip.
But more than anything, it happened to Trump in a way that was entirely predictable, given his unbridled ego, and in a way that Obama almost certainly knew would be the case. In a way that ties him to a dictator who cared more about gilt than people, but in a way so clever, Trump himself took the bait and ran with it.
Trump couldn’t help himself
Hearing his tastes criticized, all his beautiful shiny gold mocked – by Obama of all people – was rage bait that Trump couldn’t ignore. Trump couldn’t help but respond, and even more so, he couldn’t help but demand that others defend him and his garish aesthetic.
And the ever-willing members of his cult of personality in the government and right-wing media quickly complied with an attack that Obama surely knew would be the only possible retaliation: that he was an elitist for mocking the decor of an average, popular family restaurant (Obama quickly retorted that the Factory was “his jam” and he, like many parents of teenagers, myself included, had eaten there many times.)
Dozens and dozens of Trump minions repeated the same phrase for days: How dare Obama make fun of such a beloved American restaurant? How disconnected it is. What a tan, Martha’s Vineyard suit of him. Trump has spoken about it at several rallies. The official White House social media account reported on this. It was all over the right-wing ecosphere for days.
Never mind the economy, the war in Iran or the inflation that makes a meal at the Cheesecake Factory seem more and more like a caviar and champagne evening.
Or even Trump’s insane comment about inviting his supporters to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club that makes the Las Vegas Strip look chic, to spend the money he promised them if the Republicans win the election: “You’ll be my guest at Mar-a-Lago,” he promised at a rally in Ohio. “The problem is, for $5,000, the most you can buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. … I’m not even sure you can buy that. No, don’t go there. It’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”
And Obama’s elitist? This is a crazy audience disconnect, but back to my point.
Suddenly, in the middle of a crucial election, all Republicans hear about is the Cheesecake Factory, and it’s wonderful that their president is covering everything in gold while they wonder if they’ll be able to pay the gas bill this month.
To be sure, Republicans don’t have many positives to focus on when delivering their final message to voters. But I imagine even the reddest voters don’t want to hear about the Cheesecake Factory, or the amount of marble Trump installed at the entrance to the White House. It seems tone deaf.
Obama’s deliberate provocation completely derailed the Republican message for multiple critical news cycles, all because Trump couldn’t stand to have his tastes criticized by a guy who became a bogeyman in his own brain.
Trump had to defend his excesses, he couldn’t resist – and by failing to control his own ego, once again, he exposed the truth that his supporters are increasingly unable to ignore: the only thing that matters to Trump is Trump. Not the economy. Not the war, and certainly not the concerns of voters in the final days of the elections.
Obama’s statement was not just a joke. It was political gold, a clever piece of trolling that casually took control of the narrative with one well-aimed swipe.
What else should you read:
The essentials: How Meta struck a deal to keep Mark Zuckerberg in California despite looming billionaires tax
The Californian point of view: As businesses leave California, is the state’s estimated $4.25 trillion economy really in trouble?
The LA Times Special: In Trumpworld, election fraud dogs aren’t as bad as immigrants
Stay golden,
Anita Chabria
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