Vice President JD Vance pushed back Thursday against former President Barack Obama, who compared the current White House’s appearance to a Cheesecake Factory run by Saddam Hussein.
“I didn’t fully get it. I kind of like the Cheesecake Factory,” Vance said during a Texas town hall hosted by Fox News’ Jesse Watters.
Vance argued that Obama’s joke revealed what he described as the former president’s instinctive elitism.
“Remember, this is the guy who said that people who wanted good jobs were ‘clinging to their guns and their religion,’ as if God and the Second Amendment were something to be ashamed of,” Vance said.
In criticizing President Trump, Vance said, Obama “drove home how divorced the Democrats are from actual Americans.”
Obama made the remark about the White House decor Saturday while campaigning for Democrats in Ohio. He accused Trump of devoting too much attention to renovations instead of helping Americans.
“I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations,” Obama said. “He should be on HGTV.”
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“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Watters pointed out that Obama appeared to soften his criticism during a rally in Atlanta on Wednesday. Speaking as “the father of two daughters,” Obama said the Cheesecake Factory had been “my jam for about a decade.”
“See, that’s exactly the point, though … he realized, ‘Oh, a lot of the people we want to vote for us actually like the Cheesecake Factory,’” Vance said.
The vice president called the restaurant “the weirdest” target for criticism.
“The menu is like 75 pages long, so there’s something for everybody,” he joked.
“I just don’t understand. Like, there are restaurants I can imagine beating up on—not the Cheesecake Factory,” Vance said. “Leave us alone, Barack!”
Watters joked that Fox News’ next town hall would take place inside a Cheesecake Factory.