Respite Read: “trump Rises To Defend The Cheesecake Factory. The Republic Can Hold”

As a little treat, a worthy verbal handbagging of the Manchurian Cantaloupe (h/t BettyCracker)…
marygeddry.com/p/trump-rise…?

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— Anne Laurie (@annelaurie.bsky.social) October 27, 2026 at 8:22 PM

Shanley Hunt, at her mother Mary Geddry’s SubStack:

… At a campaign appearance in Ohio on Saturday, Obama said the gold-adorned Oval Office looked “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.” He also suggested that Trump’s enthusiasm for renovations belonged on HGTV. By Monday night in Mississippi, Trump was defending the restaurant as “a very successful company” and explaining that Obama “doesn’t like successful companies.”

Obama’s point was clear enough, and he made it explicit: “He’s clearly not focused on lowering prices for you.” The gold was the visual aid in an argument about priorities. He was asking why the president seemed so absorbed in improving his surroundings while Americans needed him working on theirs.

Trump responded by becoming absorbed in defending his surroundings. He’d been accused of confusing the presidency with a renovation show and came back with the director’s commentary. Obama could hardly have arranged a more helpful response if he’d handed him fabric swatches and asked which one best addressed the cost of living…

… A criticism of his priorities became an accusation that Obama resents successful businesses. The question of what the president is doing for Americans disappeared, replaced by a much more comfortable question about whether somebody had been unfair to Donald. The Cheesecake Factory was now serving as his character witness, which is a demanding assignment for a place that already has to maintain that menu…

There’s a larger failure here than being unable to take a joke. Criticism is one way the public tells an elected official that the job isn’t getting done. If the official translates every complaint into disrespect, he can spend the whole day defending himself and mistake that for responding to the country. The person asking for help becomes a heckler, and the president’s wounded feelings become the emergency.

Obama gave that failure a funny, memorable image. Trump then supplied the demonstration: challenged about his focus, he focused on the insult. The meaningful response would’ve been an account of how his administration is improving people’s lives. Instead, we learned that the restaurant is successful and the plaster needed attention. The American people remain entitled to ask when their part of the question will be answered. I’d settle for a parent opening a utility bill without having to sit down.

The Cheesecake Factory can handle its own reputation. And even there, eventually, somebody has to stop explaining how beautiful the dining room is and ask whether the people at the tables have been served.

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