@cnn: Former President Barack Obama is not a fan of the gilded decor changes President Donald Trump has made to the White House since his return to the power. "There's gold everywhere," Obama told Democrats at a rally in Cleveland on Saturday ahead of the midterm elections. "What's up with the gold? Everything — more gold!" Then came the punchline: "He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory." The crowd laughed and the clip quickly blanketed the internet. A small culture war skirmish quickly went through its motions online – was the quip elitist? – and Trump on Monday defended both his love for renovation projects and his design style. "For you to say it's a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president," Trump told reporters. One of the key architects of the Cheesecake Factory aesthetic said he doesn't find the comparison funny either. "I think it's a little bit sad that the pettiness of politics would create that sound bite, knowing all our challenges going on in the country today," Rick McCormack, the restaurant chain's former longtime vice president of design, said in an interview. 📸: Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images; Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images; Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Sail Loeb/AFP/Getty Images/File; Ken Cedeno/Reuters

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Thursday 29 October 2026 01:05:23 GMT