Obama laughs off Trump insult | James O'Brien reacts

I think if you don't live in the United States of America, and Kirstie doesn't, you may not quite appreciate the quality of Barack Obama's joke about Saddam Hussein opening a cheesecake factory. It's about what he's done to the White House. He's made the White House look very tacky. The cheesecake factory in America isn't tacky. It's more what you would call kitsch. It's about spending a lot of money on nice soft lighting and up lighters and soft glows and ambience. But it's not. It's not classy. It's not like the White House should be. It's not a place that you look at and think of the history of the American Constitution and the Gettysburg Address and the incredible moments in the past. You don't look at it and think of Hamilton or of John Adams or of Abraham Lincoln. No one ever goes to the Cheesecake Factory And is overcome by... The history and the importance of the place, right? So what Donald Trump is in the process of doing to the White House, he's kind of turning it into an upper, a high-end fast food joint. Because he doesn't have any taste. You know, he'll put marble in places where you don't really need marble and he'll paint things gold. He is tacky. Cheesecake Factory is not tacky, but the White House should not resemble the Cheesecake Factory. If you're making the White House look like the Cheesecake Factory, that's tacky. So Obama delivered this joke, and, I mean, it really, really landed. I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV. Guys building a ballroom that's bigger than the White House. It's paved over the rose garden, put a helicopter pad on the south lawn, and there's gold everywhere. What's up with the gold? Everything, more gold. He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. Now, if you are getting under someone's skin. Don't let them know, or rather, if someone is getting under your skin, do not let them know. Do not, for example, dedicate the second paragraph of the only column you've got left in the Daily Mail because they've taken away your other one from the bloke that a month ago you were pretending that you never listened to. Never let them know how effective their needling has become because it makes you look even more pathetic than you did already. Not mentioning any names. Dick Littlejohn. So here is Donald Trump making it crystal clear to Barack Obama that he is not remotely bothered or embarrassed or humiliated by that brilliant description of him making the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake. For anyone else getting hungry for cheesecake? Anyone else fancy a slice of cheesecake? We need to get Sian back, don't we? She's the one with the cake. That's what reminded me of this, by the way. Here's Donald Trump. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Making it crystal clear that he's not rattled at all. We have to explain that to Obama because he doesn't understand it because he's not a smart guy. Let me tell you, in my opinion, he's not smart at all because the way he ran the country, only a stupid person would run the country like that. But we have to explain to Obama that the White House is a symbol of America. And it has to be maintained properly. It has to be painted. And the exterior plaster can't be falling off the walls. And the decorations and ornaments around the windows that are magnificent can't be on one side of the window and fall it off on the other side. So we took molds of the one side and we put it on the other side. And we did a beautiful job. Very little money spent. It's not about money. It's about seeing. Guys like Obama don't see it. You don't see dirt. He doesn't see filth. He doesn't see broken ornaments on a building. The White House, to President Obama, is a symbol of America. It has to be clean. The columns can't be broken. The bricks can't be falling off from under the plaster. And for you to say it's a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you're a lousy president. So definitely not rattled. And of course, this is how you respond if you are the rattler in chief. That was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day. They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices. They did not argue with that. They did not deny terrorists were contributing to higher costs for families. They didn't say anything about that. I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption. They didn't say anything about that. The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset. About the Cheesecake Factory comments. He took great umbrage. He said, I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House. And they mobilized. This was, I mean, it's all crazy, but this was the really crazy part. They mobilized a whole of government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke. The White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. This is the man who is in charge of the economy, the person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable, the guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation and reduce interest rates. They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory. No, y'all didn't see this. This really happened. And, and, and the treasury secretary. He happens to be a former hedge fund manager worth half a billion dollars and he was out there in front of the Cheesecake Factory explaining how he ordered the delicious French dip cheeseburger instead of the egg roll. I mean there are two things you need to take away from that. The first is that I mean, the racism is you listen to that. Right. And you just think, God, how could anybody ever prefer Donald Trump to Barack Obama ever? I mean, on what possible planet would you want to hang out with that guy? And the answer is racism. It is just race. It's all he ever offered. How can you forgive him for mocking a disabled journalist? Well, I like the racism. How can you forgive him for mocking the family of a gold star ...military veteran. Oh, well, I like the racism. How can you forgive him for boasting about sexually assaulting women? Oh, I really like the racism. How can you forgive him for being Jeffrey Epstein's best friend for years? Oh, I really like the racism. How can you forgive him for crippling the economy? I really like the racism. How can you forgive him for invading Iran? And, uh... Ratcheting your own fuel price. I really, really like the racism. It doesn't matter whether you're writing a column for the Daily Mail or whether you're casting a vote in the midterms. Literally, that's all he ever offered. And what I'm reminded of by that clip, of course, that's how it all began. By claiming that he wasn't genuinely American, by telling racist lies about Barack Obama's passport. So we often look at the point at which you surrendered your soul, you surrendered your decency at the door if you offered your support to Donald Trump, and we talk about all of those things that I've just listed. You get to January the 6th, and some people temporarily withdrew their support, but, hey, lo and behold, they gave it back again. Nobody decent should have supported Donald Trump from the moment that he started telling racist lies about Barack Obama's passport. Nobody. That's all he ever offered. And there is Obama just being so human and so natural and so funny that you just know the only possible reason why you would choose one man over... Why would you choose a white imbecile over a black genius? Racism. And just in case you thought he was exaggerating about that press conference featuring the multi, multi, multimillionaire Scott Bessent, currently in charge of the U.S. economy, ordered, obviously, to give a press conference outside a Cheesecake Factory. And just in case you thought that Rudy Giuliani, another Trump Crony, former mayor of New York City, had set the bar far too high for press conference ridiculousness when he accidentally booked a garden centre instead of the Four Seasons Hotel and had to give a press conference from the parking lot outside. Well, they've done it again. Here is Scott Bessent giving a press conference outside a cheesecake factory in Washington, D.C., just to prove that Donald Chump Was not remotely rattled. No siree, Bob. Not even a tiny bit rattled. Not at all humiliated. Didn't feel remotely ridiculous after Barack Obama completely and utterly rinsed him. Hi, Mr. Secretary. It's an interesting lunch choice today. What did you order from the Cheesecake Factory? Oh, I have what I always have, the French dip cheeseburger. Excellent. And so, recent news, we've got former President Obama comparing White House decorations or construction to the Cheesecake Factory, saying it looks like Saddam Hussein opened the Cheesecake Factory. Any reaction to that? Well, two things. This is the man who built the museum. It looks like Darth Vader's tomb. And I would just tell the, I eat a great meal, always have a great meal, and I would tell the Martha's Vineyard set to give it a try. It's amazing this, because Vance has been doing it as well, pretending to be really stupid in order to appeal to stupid people, whereas Trump doesn't pretend. That's going to be the most interesting pivot in US politics moving forward, unless Trump goes sort of full fascist and refuses to accept the result of the midterms, which is a frightening and very real prospect. But Vance was pretending the other day that he didn't know how to pronounce countries in the Middle East, like Egypt, or Oman, or Iran. I mean, literally pretending, in order to curry favor with stupid people, pretending that he, a Yale graduate, was stupid. Besant doing exactly the same thing there, but you can tell that they're fake. Whereas when Trump appeals to stupid people through the lens of his own stupidity, nobody thinks that he's faking it. Nobody thinks that he's faking it. So there it is.