Washington: US President Donald Trump defended renovations at the White House after former president Barack Obama compared its interiors to those of the restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory, known for its ornate decor.
Trump spent considerable time at an election rally in Mississippi and in interactions with the media touting the renovations he had undertaken at the White House and describing Obama as a “lousy president”.
Obama took a swipe at Trump for his focus on “home renovations” and his penchant for gold, suggesting that the president should appear on HGTV, a television channel dedicated to home improvement and interior design.
“What’s up with the gold? I mean, he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama joked at a rally in Michigan Saturday.
The former president also slammed Trump for his focus on renovations in the national capital instead of lowering costs for Americans, which has emerged as a key issue during the midterm elections.
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited the Cheesecake Factory near the White House here and hit back at Obama for building a presidential library in Chicago that looked like “Darth Vader’s tomb”, the villainous character in the Star Wars franchise.
Addressing a rally in Mississippi Monday, Trump denied spending excessive time on the White House projects, listing repairs to exterior plaster, as well as construction of a heliport and ballroom.
He described the executive mansion’s previous condition in dire terms, including a cracked column, missing ornamentation and broken tile.
“The White House represents our country, and that has to be pristine. And I would try and explain that to a guy like Obama, but he wouldn’t understand,” Trump declared.
Trump slammed Obama’s presidency, particularly the peace deal with Iran and accused his predecessor of giving Tehran USD 1.7 billion in cash without getting a guarantee that the country will never develop nuclear weapons.
“The way he ran the country, only a stupid person would run the country like that,” Trump said. “But we have to explain to Obama that the White House is the symbol of America and it has to be maintained properly.”
“The White House is now in the best shape it’s been since 1792 when it was built. It’s in beautiful shape,” Trump told reporters, adding that for Obama “to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president.”
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