Former President Barack Obama likened President Trump’s White House renovations to a dictator’s dessert chain at a Cleveland rally, ten days before midterms in a state that has backed Trump three times.
Obama returned to the campaign trail Saturday at Cleveland Public Auditorium to boost Democrat Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton, unloading a series of jabs at President Donald Trump’s priorities and style.
Fox News Digital reported the former president zeroed in on White House construction work while urging votes for Brown against Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Acton against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
The appearance came just 10 days before the midterm elections, with Obama once again trying to move Ohio voters who twice helped elect him but have since sided with Trump in three presidential campaigns.
He opened fire on the renovations themselves.
Obama told the crowd:
"I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV."
Then came the line that defined the stop:
"He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory."
Trump’s projects include a permanent ballroom meant to give the White House secure space for large official events instead of temporary tents, Rose Garden updates ordered in March that replaced the central lawn with limestone paving in 2025 while keeping roses around the perimeter, and an upgraded granite helipad featuring the presidential seal.
Official photographs show Marine One landing and departing from the new helipad during a Sept. 21 ribbon-cutting ceremony. A National Park Service environmental assessment notes the need for expanded event space was identified in a White House planning document dating to 2000, long before Trump returned to office.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House for comment on Obama’s remarks. No response appeared in the reporting.
Obama’s own presidential center in Chicago has drawn its own scrutiny. Prior reporting detailed a projected price tag that surpassed $1 billion, nearly triple the original $350 million estimate, with subcontractors alleging they were owed millions and taxpayers tied to hundreds of millions in separate public infrastructure costs.
That contrast sat unmentioned on the Cleveland stage as Obama cast Trump’s updates as vanity.
Obama also attacked Trump over Iran, claiming credit for the 2015 nuclear agreement and labeling later military action unnecessary.
He said:
"Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for and nobody voted for."
And:
"Iran didn't have nuclear weapons because I had put a deal in place that everybody knows kept them from getting nukes."
Trump withdrew the United States from that 2015 agreement in 2018, arguing the temporary nuclear restrictions were insufficient and that the deal failed to adequately address Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for regional militant terror groups. The pact had offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear limits and international inspections. Inspectors reported some Iranian compliance before the U.S. exit; Iran later expanded uranium enrichment beyond the deal’s proposed limits.
Obama offered no fresh operational detail on the “unnecessary war” line beyond the accusation itself.
The Cleveland event was part of a broader push. The Washington Examiner noted Obama was scheduled to speak around 2:15 p.m. at the same auditorium and that the visit marked his first trip to Ohio since 2018.
Democrats are leaning on the former president across key states. He has already been joining Senate hopefuls in Detroit as the party chases control of the chamber.
Similar stops have him working Michigan and Ohio lanes together. Coverage of that dual effort shows Obama returning to lift candidates in both states before voters cast ballots.
Atlanta is on the itinerary too, with an Atlanta booking to back Democratic tickets ahead of Election Day.
Even on immigration flashpoints, Obama has stayed vocal, from slamming border enforcement comments to defending allies under federal scrutiny.
In Cleveland he also criticized Trump on energy costs and immigration enforcement, keeping the focus on turning out the Democratic base in a state that has not followed his presidential map since 2012.
Obama’s HGTV and Cheesecake Factory lines drew the cameras. The underlying projects he mocked address a space need flagged a quarter-century ago and replace temporary tents with permanent, secure facilities. The Rose Garden paving and helipad upgrades are finished work, documented in official photographs.
Meanwhile the former president’s own center project ballooned past the billion-dollar mark after starting at roughly a third that size, leaving subcontractors and taxpayers holding substantial associated costs.
On Iran, Obama restated the case for the 2015 deal he negotiated. Trump’s 2018 withdrawal rested on the limits of temporary restrictions and the deal’s silence on missiles and terror sponsorship, points the Cleveland speech did not engage.
Brown and Acton now carry those lines into the final stretch against Husted and Ramaswamy. Ohio voters will decide whether the punch lines outweigh the governing record on display.
When the jokes target ballrooms and paving stones while a billion-dollar library complex sits in the background, voters can judge which side treats public money and presidential property with seriousness.
