Former President Barack Obama has struck a nerve with President Donald Trump.

Trump took time from campaign issues to defend his fixation on remodeling the White House in his second term Monday after Obama jabbed that “he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

Trump spoke for several minutes about the remark on his way to a campaign swing in Mississippi, then delivered an extensive aside there on the White House ballroom, helipad and other projects. He was in the solidly Republican state, which has been shifting toward Democrats, as part of his swing through ruby red America to shore up candidates before the midterms.

Trump, whose approval ratings are at record lows, at times insisted he had spent “very little time” on redesigning the White House, parts of which he has demolished to make way for the new ballroom. But he also defended his focus on the renovations and eventually conceded that “I have fun doing it.”

“It actually relaxes me,” Trump said in Corinth, asserting he was actually “fixing up the White House.” He added, to cheers from the supportive crowd, “Isn’t that a nice thing to do?”

Even allies and aides inside the White House have conceded that with the war in Iran grinding on, gas prices at uncomfortable highs and Americans chafing at the rising cost of living, Trump is finding reprieve by focusing on ornate renovation projects in the nation’s capital, chief among them his effort to remake the White House in his image.

Obama delivered the Cheesecake Factory attack line Saturday at a rally in Ohio, casting Trump as out of touch while needling at the president’s extravagant sense of style. Saddam Hussein, the authoritarian leader of Iraq who was ousted by the 2003 U.S. invasion, was known for his love of gold.

The former president’s remarks sparked Trump’s most devoted critics and supporters. Trump administration officials and other Republicans responded with indignation, and sought to turn the attack upon Obama. They asserted the former president was the elitist for taking a swing at the Cheesecake Factory. Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, had lunch at a Cheesecake Factory in Washington on Monday, quipping “I would tell the Martha’s Vineyard set to give it a try.”

No one appeared more insulted than Trump. In a six-minute gaggle with reporters on his way to Mississippi, the president devoted more than half his speaking time to Obama’s remarks. He spent comparatively little time repeating his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.

“For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” Trump said, before calling Obama “a stupid person.”

Once onstage, Trump devoted another six minutes to defending his makeover of the White House, and other parts of the nation’s capital.

“Nobody loved it like I do,” Trump said of the White House, speaking fondly of beautiful marble and painted columns, and of painstakingly replacing windows and tiles that were in disrepair.

He continued, “We made it all beautiful.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Chris Cameron/Doug Mills
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