Obama asks why a decor joke drew a "whole-of-government response"
His Atlanta rally speech moves from family dinners at The Cheesecake Factory to food prices, and USA TODAY's recording passed a million views in its first day.
USA TODAY
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Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,350,629 views a day, 66 times a normal first day on this channel (20,543).
Obama on Trump's reaction to Cheesecake Factory joke: He wasn't 'upset' by Saddam Hussein reference
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:00Obama says he heard Trump was unhappy about his Saddam Hussein and Cheesecake Factory joke.
- 0:26He recalls raising two daughters on Chuck E. Cheese, California Pizza Kitchen and The Cheesecake Factory.
- 0:55He turns to rising prices that make eating out hard for many families.
- 1:14He says the White House did not dispute his points on prices, tariffs or corruption.
- 2:20He mocks the Treasury secretary's press event outside a Cheesecake Factory.
- 5:07He urges Atlanta voters to back Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms.
A regular USA TODAY video usually spends its first day gathering around 20,000 views. Barack Obama's latest rally speech had about 1.8 million a little more than a day after it went up, and its comment section filled more than twenty times faster than usual.
The subject is a joke that will not go away. Obama had compared the look of the White House to Saddam Hussein opening a Cheesecake Factory. The administration answered, and as we reported here, that answer reached the sidewalk outside one of the chain's restaurants. Speaking in Georgia on October 28, Obama returns to it with mock indignation: "He was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments."
He first defends the restaurant on personal grounds. "I am the father of two daughters," he says, and the years that followed meant "I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and The Cheesecake Factory."
Then he turns the joke into his argument. Rising prices make eating out hard for many families, he says, and the White House did not dispute his criticism of prices, tariffs or corruption. It went after the restaurant line instead. "They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke!" he says, pointing to the Treasury secretary's press event outside a Cheesecake Factory. He offers it as evidence for his larger claim: "These are not serious people."
The speech closes with a pitch for Sen. Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta's former mayor, who is running for governor. A banner over the footage notes that USA TODAY has not verified the statements in it.
Many commenters describe the speech as a stand-up set. The channel also posted a shorter clip of the restaurant defense, which drew well beyond a usual Short's start.
A Democrat who has represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate since 2021.
More on Wikipedia ›A Democratic politician and attorney who was Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022. She previously served on the Atlanta City Council.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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- Channel
- USA TODAY
- Subscribers
- 7,600,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,957,987
- Channel views, pace per day
- 683,314 (on a normal day: 1,443,730)
- Video published
- October 29, 2026
- Video views so far
- 1,785,932 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 1,779,472
The numbers
A rally recording from a news channel this size rarely starts this quickly, and the comments arrived even faster than the views.
💡 Test your knowledge
Atlanta, where Obama gives this speech, hosted the Summer Olympics in which year?
Atlanta hosted the centennial Summer Olympic Games in 1996.