Former U.S. President Barack Obama and former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama deliver remarks at a stakeholders event at the Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., June 16, 2026. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool via REUTERS
A pair of conservative pundits tried to defend President Donald Trump’s White House renovations on Monday night, only for their remarks to backfire instantly.
Trump erupted Monday when reporters asked him about former President Barack Obama’s quip that Trump had the White House looking like a Cheesecake Factory opened by the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Trump said Obama had overlooked years of “filth” in the White House and called the joke proof that Obama was a “lousy president.”
Scott Jennings, a longtime GOP communications strategist, defended Trump’s outburst on CNN’s “Countdown to Election Night,” arguing that Obama would be remembered as the president who ruined health care.
Joanna Coles, chief content officer at The Daily Beast, countered that Trump would be remembered as the president who raised prices on Americans. That didn’t sit well with New York Post columnist Lydia Moynihan.
“Because everyone is going on Ozempic,” Moynihan said sarcastically.
Coles fired back.
“No, darling,” Coles said. “I think it’s because prices are high everywhere because of inflation. The cheesecake is getting smaller. It could be Ozempic, but I think it’s getting smaller because Cheesecake Factory can’t afford to give us a decent slice.”
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