WHO’S LAUGHING NOW

Obama’s Ultimate Cheesecake Factory Revenge Revealed

The Trump team’s efforts to humiliate Barack Obama appear to have had little effect.

Donald Trump’s last-ditch bid to one-up Barack Obama and win over fans of the Cheesecake Factory on the eve of elections has backfired spectacularly.

After the 80-year-old president and his allies touted the former president’s joke about the restaurant chain as proof of elitist Democrats looking down on middle-class Americans, Democrats had the last laugh on election night, winning more than 70 percent of districts with the popular restaurant chain.

For all the effort Republicans put into using the restaurant to appeal to voters, they were unable to unseat a single Democrat in a district with one of its restaurants by Thursday night. Democrats won at least 124 of those 171 House districts, according to The Bulwark’s analysis of race calls from the NBC News Decision Desk as of the end of Thursday.

The feud started at a packed campaign rally in Ohio, when Obama, 65, took a swipe at the president’s White House renovations. “What’s with all the gold? He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory,” he joked.

Trump defended the renovations at a rally two days later and called the chain “a very successful company.” The White House posted a mock menu online. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went to one of the restaurants and afterward suggested that “the Martha’s Vineyard set” give it a try.

Vice President J.D. Vance went after Obama at a Fox News town hall. “Obama, without even trying to be, just can’t help himself from being super elitist,” he said.

Republican strategist Matt Whitlock said on X: “Classic Obama snobbery. Cheesecake Factory is a great option for people who can’t afford a private chef at their Martha’s Vineyard estate.”

By Wednesday, Obama mocked the Trump administration for its overwhelming response to his joke.

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“They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke,” the former president said. He later added, “This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people. They don’t have solutions to actual problems, so they’d rather have the media, and you, talking about the Cheesecake Factory.”

Under the maps used in the 2024 elections, the Cheesecake Factory’s 215 locations across the 50 states fell within 175 congressional districts. Democrats held 108 of those seats, or about 62 percent. The maps used in 2026 put the same restaurants in 171 districts, and Democrats had won enough of them by Thursday night to represent 159 locations in the next Congress.

Republicans had won 42 districts with a combined 50 restaurants. As of 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, NBC News had yet to call five races covering the remaining six locations, The Bulwark reported.

Obama reacted on X after a blue wave swept across the United States.

Democrats flipped seven Senate seats, breaking through in Republican strongholds including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas. The president’s war with Iran and sweeping tariffs have fueled voter anger over the cost of living, leaving his candidates unable to hold supposedly safe territory.

“Tonight, the American people sent a clear message,” the former president wrote. “They want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face.”

“While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Isabel van BrugenFreelance Writer

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