Former President Barack Obama has stepped up to campaign for Democratic candidates ahead of the November 3rd midterm elections. At first, I thought he hadn’t been on the campaign trail since 2024, but I double-checked – he campaigned for current Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger last year, and he did some other off-year campaign stops. Obama knows that his presence is powerful and he prefers to act as the Dems’ closer, to drive home the party’s message in the final weeks of a campaign cycle. He did just that in Michigan, where there’s a huge governor’s race and a senate race. At a stop in Detroit, Obama riffed on Donald Trump and Trump’s aesthetic, and it was seriously funny as hell. Obama said: “He seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV…what’s with the gold? … He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory” — Obama https://t.co/3fH8IQP1MG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 24, 2026
This clip just brightened my whole weekend – a reminder of what used to be, when we had a president who was cool, smart and tasteful. Like, I know “tasteful” isn’t a quantitative metric for politics, but you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. And Obama is 100% correct: Trump’s aesthetic IS Saddam-Hussein-designs-a-Cheesecake-Factory. That’s exactly it. For those of you too young to remember, Saddam Hussein famously loved gold-plated everything too, he loved to decorate cheap, poorly-constructed palaces with gold leaf and gold columns.
Obviously, MAGA Republicans are now trying to turn Obama’s comment into their next culture war: Trump understands heartland values because he defends PDFiles, mocks abuse victims, says racist sh-t about Somalis, and he truly embraces the Saddam Hussein/Cheesecake Factory aesthetic. I’ll spell it out for those MAGA snowflakes: the joke is not Obama punching down on the Cheesecake Factory, it’s Obama saying Trump’s style is gaudy, tasteless and Saddam Hussein-esque.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Detroit, MI Former United States President Barack Obama, speaks at a Democratic candidates rally at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan. Winning US Senate and US House races in the swing state of Michigan is central to Democratic hopes to wrest power in both chambers of the US Congress from the Republicans. Pictured: Barack Obama BACKGRID USA 24 OCTOBER 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Detroit, MI Former United States President Barack Obama, speaks at a Democratic candidates rally at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan. Winning US Senate and US House races in the swing state of Michigan is central to Democratic hopes to wrest power in both chambers of the US Congress from the Republicans. Pictured: Barack Obama BACKGRID USA 24 OCTOBER 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Detroit, MI Former United States President Barack Obama, speaks at a Democratic candidates rally at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan. Winning US Senate and US House races in the swing state of Michigan is central to Democratic hopes to wrest power in both chambers of the US Congress from the Republicans. Pictured: Barack Obama BACKGRID USA 24 OCTOBER 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I’m sure that Obama has actually eaten at a Cheesecake Factory, and Trump hasn’t.