JD Vance calls Barack Obama super elitist after Cheesecake Factory comment

Vice President JD Vance criticized former President Barack Obama on Thursday, calling him super elitist after Obama made a joke comparing White House decor to the Cheesecake Factory. Speaking at a Texas town hall event hosted by Jesse Watters of Fox News, Vance stated that he did not fully get the comment and noted that he likes the restaurant chain, according to the New York Post. [1][9]

The dispute began when Obama criticized President Donald Trump's White House renovations during a campaign rally in Cleveland, comparing the decor to a Cheesecake Factory run by Saddam Hussein, as FTMQ News reported earlier. Al Jazeera and the Washington Examiner both reported that Obama mocked the administration for mobilizing a whole government response to his initial joke, adding at a rally that the chain was his jam for about a decade. [2][4][5][14][15]

James David Vance serves as the 50th vice president of the United States after previously representing Ohio in the United States Senate. The Cheesecake Factory operates hundreds of full-service restaurants across the country alongside two bakery production facilities located in California and North Carolina. [10][11]

The back-and-forth between Obama and the administration continued at campaign events ahead of the midterm elections, CNN and The Hill reported. The Hill noted that Obama criticized the White House's detailed focus on his restaurant comments, remarking that officials were not serious people. [3][6][7]