Former President Barack Obama mocked President Donald Trump and his administration at a Georgia campaign rally Wednesday, arguing that the White House is focused on political distractions while Americans continue struggling with high prices.

Obama appeared at the Oct. 28 rally in support of Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta.

Obama revisited a joke he made over the weekend comparing the White House to a Cheesecake Factory, saying Trump appeared more bothered by the restaurant reference than by his broader criticism of the administration.

“I heard the president was not happy when I joked over the weekend that he’s got the White House looking to let Saddam Hussein open the Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said.

Obama joked that, as the father of two daughters, he was no stranger to the restaurant chain.

“I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said. “That was my jam for about a decade.”

He quickly turned the joke toward the economy, saying rising prices have made dining out increasingly difficult for many families.

Cheesecake Factory Comment

Obama said the administration’s response to his earlier speech focused on the Cheesecake Factory comment rather than his accusations about inflation, tariffs and corruption.

“They mobilize a whole government response to that joke, not to inflation, but to that joke,” Obama said.

Obama said the administration even enlisted the treasury secretary, whom he described as a former hedge fund manager worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to appear outside a Cheesecake Factory and discuss what he ordered.

Obama contrasted that response with his own presidency, joking that he never asked then-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to visit Arby’s during the financial crisis he inherited.

“I never called my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, said, man, you got to go to Arby’s,” Obama said.

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Creating Distractions

Obama used the exchange to argue that the Trump administration is more interested in creating distractions than addressing problems affecting American households.

“This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people,” Obama said. “They don’t have solutions to actual problems. So they’d rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory.”

Obama accused the administration of relying on “attacks, fabrications, phony outrage” to divert attention from rising household costs.

He pointed to utility bills, rent, child care and health insurance as expenses that remain difficult for many Americans to afford.

“Just keep throwing distractions out there,” Obama said. “And hope that you won’t notice that your bills are higher and your life is tougher.”

Obama told the Atlanta crowd that voters should instead support candidates who he said are focused on those economic concerns.

“You know we need serious people who are listening to your concerns, who see you and care about you and have real plans to make your life better,” Obama said. “People like Jon Ossoff, people like Keisha Lance Bottoms.”