Trump hits back at Obama over Saddam 'Cheesecake Factory' jibe

JOINT BASE ANDREWS: US President Donald Trump hit back at Barack Obama on Monday after the former president jokingly said his successor's White House looked as if it were a Cheesecake Factory restaurant run by Saddam Hussein.

"For you to say it's a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president," Trump said in a three-minute diatribe when asked about Obama's comments over the weekend.

"Guys like Obama, they would pass the front door, they would see the broken masonry... He doesn't notice dirt and filth where the walls haven't been cleaned for years," Trump told reporters as he headed for his latest midterm election rally.

Cheesecake Factory is a popular restaurant chain known for its lengthy list of indulgent dishes and eclectic interior design.

Obama made a series of scathing criticisms of Republican Trump's "chaos and cruelty" as he hit the campaign trail for Democrats in Ohio and Michigan ahead of next week's midterm elections.

But it was Obama's jabs at billionaire Trump's prized renovations at the White House — including building a massive ballroom and adding gold-leaf ornamentation throughout the Oval Office — that really appeared to sting.

"He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," Obama said on Saturday, referring to the Iraqi dictator who was executed in 2006 following the US invasion of Iraq.

Trump has long had a bitter rivalry with Obama.

He launched his own political career by pushing the racist and false "birther" conspiracy theory that the Democrat was lying about being born in the United States.

But Trump's rant over the Cheesecake Factory comments was also a sign of the 80-year-old's increasingly short temper as the midterms loom.

On Sunday night, Trump sent his longest-ever post on his Truth Social network — a 1,300-word screed in which he railed not about Iran or the economy but about US comedian Bill Maher.

Last week, Trump also lashed out at a series of reporters as he faced questions about the midterms, in which Republicans face losing control of Congress, and his dealings with Russia.