John Semley: Barack Obama made a joke at Donald Trump’s expense. Republicans missed the point - Toronto Star

The days where a joke could undo a campaign are likely over.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s joke at Trump’s expense into a tizzy, writes John Semley. 

When Canada’s first Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened at Yorkdale mall in 2017, I was there with bells on. I didn’t know a lot about the American eatery, beyond the fact that it was mentioned in a Drake song (“Child’s Play”) and that the menu was supposed to be as thick as some old Russian novel.

On this last point, I was not disappointed. BBQ Pork Belly Buns! Spicy Jambalaya Arancini! Crab Rangoon Wontons! Carne Asada Steak! Something called a “Glamburger”®! Here was the whole broad-swath of American culinary imperialism, barely condensed into a faux-leather-bound menu that weighed as much as a human head. In some not-significant way, the Cheesecake Factory was America.

I was, perhaps, ahead-of-the-curve on this line of thought. Now, the Cheesecake Factory is in the middle of one of the stupidest — and that’s saying something! — U.S. political controversies since, oh I don’t know … maybe a month ago.

It began about a week ago, when former president Barack Obama was hitting the campaign trail to boost Democrats in advance of the upcoming midterms. Obama was mocking Trump’s rococo White House renovations, during a rally in the battleground state of Ohio, when he cracked that, “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory.” It was a good line! Practically Dennis Miller-esque. No wonder the Dems have been dubbing Obama their “closer-in-chief.” And predictably, it triggered Republicans and Trump boosters.

As if on cue, Trump sycophants flocked to their local Cheesecake Factory locations, posing for publicity photos. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rolled out to a location, posing for media (with secret service detail visible in the background), and encouraging “the Martha’s Vineyard set to give it a try” (a nod to Obama’s post-Presidential wealth, coming from a guy who his himself worth hundred of millions of dollars). Some MAGA influencers were even caught lying about the Cheesecake Factory being a family-friendly dining location they frequented as kids. Their line of counterattack was simple: the Cheesecake Factory is a Great American Restaurant, and that Obama and other Dems were just showing how woefully out-of-touch they are by making fun of it, and people who stoop to eating there.

But here’s the thing: that wasn’t the joke, at all. The joke was that Trump had embraced the restaurant’s patented overblown interior design. And that he was doing so by way of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, whose lavish palaces were renowned for their own extremely, let’s say, “flamboyant” flourishes. That was it: that Trump’s aesthetic sensibility was basically that of a Middle Eastern dictator crossed with a Glamburger® restaurant. It had nothing to do with whether or not the Cheesecake Factory’s scratch-made vittles taste any good, which I admit they mostly do.

The Republicans’ push to close ranks around a dumb campaign joke is pretty telling. In an election cycle dominated by talk about the Iran War, support for Israel, and the ballooning cost of living, they’d rather pivot to some old-school culture war nonsense about which restaurants are good or bad.

But here’s another thing: I get why the Republicans do that. They do it because it sometimes works. And a lot of Americans — especially on the Trump-boosting right — do appreciate the sort of garish, gold-leaf-gilded designs of the Cheesecake Factory, or the Trump White House. For a lot of people in the U.S., the absolute marker of upward mobility is making enough that you can move into a suburban McMansion with interior design and upholstery flourishes that evoke the house from “The Sopranos.” That’s “making it.” That’s class. (Admittedly, a lot of Canadians also share this godawful design philosophy, if you can even call it that.)

Perhaps Obama’s joke is enough to turn the tide. But I don’t think so. I’m old enough to remember two years ago, when everyone — myself included — thought some nasty crack by the rat-faced standup Tony Hinchcliffe would sink the chances of Trump’s reelection. Suffice to say, it didn’t really shake out that way. Despite the best efforts of politicians to rile Americans up about Glamburger® eatery quips, it seems like a vast swath of voting-age adults can still take a joke.

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Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details