Obama Defends The Cheesecake Factory While Campaigning Against Trump In Cleveland Rally

Cheesecakegate sparks backlash

Barack Obama defended his record on The Cheesecake Factory while campaigning for Democrats, saying at a rally in Cleveland that President Donald Trump's White House renovations were "looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory."

+1Cheesecake Factory jab7 of 8 outlets reported it · not in USA Today▾

Obama later told a Wednesday crowd, "I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to The Cheesecake Factory?"

Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, ate at a Cheesecake Factory on Monday and said he "would tell the Martha's Vineyard set to give it a try."

Donald Trump responded by calling Obama a "lousy president" for comparing the White House to the restaurant, and the White House framed Obama as elitist and out of touch with average Americans.

Trump attacks Obama4 of 7 outlets reported it · not in EL PAÍS and 2 more▾

The Cheesecake Factory did not publicly address the controversy, while the company reported a third-quarter earnings beat and said its stock price was up over 100% this year as of market close Wednesday.

Reporting for this sectionBusiness Insider

Georgia rally and rebuttal

Obama returned to Georgia on Wednesday and said, "They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke, not to inflation, but to that joke," as he campaigned for Senator Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms. Obama said Trump was "very annoyed" by the Cheesecake Factory comparison, and he added, "The White House even called the secretary of the treasury," during the rally. The Hill reported that Obama quipped, "This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people," and he argued Republicans were focusing on the joke rather than the economy.

Whole-of-government response6 of 7 outlets reported it · not in USA Today▾

Ossoff told the crowd that if they were involved in the controversy, "next year you’ll be raising your hand to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," and the crowd chanted "Lock him up!" Bottoms contrasted her candidacy with Republican opponent Rick Jackson and described them as "two out-of-touch billionaires who want to keep getting rich on the backs of taxpayers."

Reporting for this sectionThe HillThe Guardian

Campaign stakes and next moves

The controversy continued into the final week of the midterm election campaign, with The Guardian saying Obama came to Georgia to support Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms as part of a cross-country tour before next week’s election. The Guardian said 3,500 to 4,000 people filled the Discovery Center of Clayton county for the Wednesday stop, just south of Atlanta. Decision Desk HQ gave Ossoff an 89 percent chance of beating his GOP opponent, US Representative Mike Collins, to win a second term in the Senate, while Bottoms was described as statistically tied in polls with Jackson.

Rev Raphael Warnock warned of "spiritual wickedness in high places" and said there was brokenness because "only a broken nation could manage to elect Donald Trump twice." Trump, campaigning in Ohio at the same time as the Georgia rally, justified his White House renovations by citing "cracked and broken stone" and other disrepair, and he said, "We cannot have a White House with cracked and broken stone, defective joints, paint in disrepair, dirt everywhere, and stone in disrepair."

Reporting for this sectionThe Guardian