Trump defends White House makeover after Obama sneers at it in Mississippi rally clash
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President Donald Trump forcefully rejected former President Barack Obama’s sneering comparison of the White House to a Cheesecake Factory, defending the restoration work and calling attention to Obama’s hostility toward successful American businesses.
President Donald Trump responded firmly to former President Barack Obama’s comment that the White House décor looked like a Cheesecake Factory while addressing supporters at a rally in Mississippi on Monday. Trump said Obama’s comparison was wrong and implied that the former president had an anti-business attitude toward success and quality.
"He said, 'This isn’t a Cheesecake Factory.' Can you believe it? Which is a very successful company. He doesn’t like successful companies," Trump told the crowd.
Trump went on to highlight the renovation of the White House, describing the work as having been done by “the finest artisans in the world” and saying the building had been in “horrible shape” before he stepped in to improve it.
"I’ve taken care of the White House. I fixed it with the finest artisans in the world. We reskinned it. It was in horrible shape," Trump said.
Obama had previously remarked at an Ohio rally that the White House had been altered with gold accents, a new ballroom, a helicopter pad on the South Lawn, and a paved Rose Garden, finishing with the quip that it looked like “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Commentators on social media noted the exchange, and a Treasury Department official was reported to have dined at a Cheesecake Factory in Washington, D.C., later that day.