Vice President JD Vance pushed back Thursday on Barack Obama’s recent jab comparing the White House’s redecoration to a Cheesecake Factory run by Saddam Hussein, accusing the former president of revealing his own elitism in the process.
Speaking at a Fox News town hall in Texas hosted by Jesse Watters, Vance said he didn’t quite understand the insult. “I didn’t fully get it. I kind of like the Cheesecake Factory,” he said.
Vance argued the remark was typical of Obama. “I think it’s like a good example of how Obama, without even trying to be, just can’t help himself from being super elitist,” he said.
He went further, invoking a long-remembered Obama line from years past. “Remember, this is the guy who said that people who wanted good jobs were ‘clinging to their guns and their religion,’ as if God and the Second Amendment were something to be ashamed of,” Vance said.
Vance said that in trying to mock President Trump, Obama instead “drove home how divorced the Democrats are from actual Americans.”
Obama made the original comment Saturday while campaigning for Democrats in Ohio, where he accused Trump of focusing more on home improvements than on helping Americans. “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations,” Obama said. “He should be on HGTV.” He then added the now-viral line: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Watters pointed out that Obama appeared to soften his tone at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, where he said that as “the father of two daughters,” the Cheesecake Factory was “my jam for about a decade.”
Vance seized on the shift. “See, that’s exactly the point, though… he realized, ‘Oh, a lot of the people we want to vote for us actually like the Cheesecake Factory,'” he said.
The vice president added that the chain is “the weirdest restaurant to hate on,” joking, “The menu is like 75 pages long, so there’s something for everybody.”
“I just don’t understand. Like, there are restaurants I can imagine beating up on – not the Cheesecake Factory. Leave us alone, Barack!”
Watters suggested the network hold its next town hall inside an actual Cheesecake Factory.
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