Obama defends Cheesecake Factory joke as Republicans launch noisy anti-policy backlash
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Barack Obama said his frequent Cheesecake Factory visits were a family staple, brushing off Republican outrage as a transparent distraction from real policy failures.
Barack Obama pushed back against criticism from President Donald Trump and members of the administration after making a joke about the Cheesecake Factory at an October 24 rally in Ohio. Speaking at an October 28 event in Atlanta for Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, Obama said, "I am the father of two daughters; do you think I could have survived their childhood without the Cheesecake Factory? That was my jam for about a decade."
He mocked the Republican reaction as a "whole-of-government response," referencing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s lunch at the restaurant without naming the official. Obama said the fixation on the joke was a deliberate diversion, adding, "They don't have solutions to actual problems, so they'd rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory."
During the same rally, Obama renewed his criticism of the Trump administration’s policies, tying higher consumer prices to tariffs and questioning the choice to go to war with Iran. Sen. Ossoff, introduced by Obama, promised to investigate the administration, calling it "a spectacle of grift."
The event drew enthusiastic support from the crowd, which chanted slogans against the president.