Obama's skewering of Trump at the midterms

Obama's Cheesecake Factory joke

At a rally in Ohio, former President Barack Obama joked that Trump had the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, mocking his home-renovation obsession.

“He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

The stakes in Ohio

Democrats hope to win both the Ohio governorship and a U.S. Senate seat five days after the rally, just two years after losing the state to Trump by more than eleven points.

Trump's gold medallions

Obama returned with a sharper critique, saying Trump spent time supergluing gold medallions to the mantel in the Oval Office, citing revelations from Regime Change, a book by Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

“He is literally doing arts and crafts while we are fighting a war and trying to deal with out-of-control prices.”

What Trump didn't dispute

In a nearly five-hundred-word response, Obama noted that Trump's administration did not dispute his claims about rising prices, tariffs, or corruption. They only objected to the Cheesecake Factory joke.

“They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices.”

The whole-of-government response

Trump's administration mobilized to defend the Cheesecake Factory, even calling the Treasury Secretary to hold a press conference there, rather than addressing inflation or economic policy.

“They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke, not to inflation but to that joke!”

The Treasury Secretary's appearance

The Treasury Secretary, a former hedge-fund manager worth half a billion dollars, appeared at the Cheesecake Factory to explain how he ordered the delicious French-dip cheeseburger instead of the egg rolls.

Obama's contrast with his own record

Obama said he never called his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to go to Arby's, contrasting his focus on the financial crisis with Trump's priorities during economic hardship.

“I inherited this major financial crisis. I never called my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, and said, 'Man, you've got to go to Arby's, order roast beef.'”

Not serious people

Obama concluded that Trump and his allies are not serious people because they lack solutions to actual problems and prefer media attention on the Cheesecake Factory instead.

“This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people.”

The power of Obama's speech

More than ten billion dollars has been spent on campaign advertising in this election cycle, but Obama's speech was arguably more incisive, cutting, and funny than any TV spot, pulling together Trump's unpopular war, rising…

Trump's rally in Ohio

As Obama spoke in suburban Atlanta, Trump held a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he discussed the backside of Republican Senate candidate Jon Husted and defended his White House renovations.

“looking at his ass, and it was strong as hell”

Trump's defense of renovations

Trump spent five minutes explaining why he had to fix the half-broken and terrible-looking executive mansion, saying Obama does not understand cleanliness or broken stone and sidewalk.

“Obama doesn't understand cleanliness, doesn't understand broken, cracked stone and sidewalk.”

Trump's cognitive test claims

Trump claimed he was the only President to pass cognitive tests, describing them as very hard and explaining that question one asks which of a lion, bear, snake, and camel is the snake.

“I'm the only President to pass without exception, I passed three cognitive tests.”

Trump's math problem

Trump described a complex math problem from the cognitive test: take the number sixty-four, multiply it times seven, divide by three, add one thousand nineteen, subtract seventy-four, multiply by nine.

“Mr. President, take the number sixty-four, multiply it times seven, divide by three, add 1,019, subtract seventy-four, multiply by nine.”

Trump's uncle and genetics

Trump discussed his late uncle, physicist John Trump, who was named the number one professor in the history of M.I.T. and had athletic genetics as well as smart genetics.

Trump avoids the economy

After nearly an hour of speaking, Trump had not addressed voter discontent with high prices.

“We are making a fortune in this country.”

The wave building against Trump

David Plouffe, the strategist who helped Obama win in two thousand eight, said that when a big wave is building in American politics, voters shut out politicians who swim against it, and that is what…

“When you're in a landslide scenario against you, your political money and political ads have no capability to compete with reality.”

Democratic predictions

In prediction markets, there is currently a sixty-eight percent chance of Democrats winning the Senate and a ninety-two percent chance of Democrats winning the House, with talk already breaking out about Democratic infighting over running…

What happens when the bubble bursts

In five days, voters in Iowa, North Carolina, and Ohio will decide if the wave has materialized. The question remains what will happen to Trump and those in his reality-defying bubble when it bursts.