Kristoffer Ealy is a political scientist, political analyst, and professor in Southern California. He teaches American Government and political behavior, with a focus on political psychology, voting behavior, and political socialization. Subscribe to his Substack, The Thinking Class with Professor Ealy.
Barack Obama gave Democrats the kind of campaign week that makes Republican strategists consider updating their résumés. He rallied in Cleveland and Detroit, endorsed Angie Nixon and David Jolly in Florida, and demonstrated something Republicans seem to have forgotten: political parties are supposed to win elections. Obama is even throwing his weight behind progressive candidates like Abdul El-Sayed, despite their past disagreements with him. His involvement in Georgia’s Senate and gubernatorial races further underscores how seriously he’s taking these midterms. The former president has been putting in the work.
So what did Republicans do with their week? Well, I kept a list. It got so long I started wondering whether these idiots were competing for some kind of frequent-failure rewards program.
Let’s begin with what might be the stupidest manufactured controversy of the entire election cycle, which is an impressive accomplishment considering the competition. During his Cleveland rally, Obama took a shot at Trump’s obsession with turning the White House into something resembling the presidential suite at a Las Vegas casino where the owner has never heard the phrase less is more. Referring to Trump’s gold-plated decorating preferences, Obama said he had the White House “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
Barack Obama compared Donald Trump to Saddam Hussein, one of the most notorious dictators of the twentieth century. Saddam was a murderous tyrant who filled Iraq with palaces, monuments to himself, and enough gold-colored decoration to make Liberace consider downsizing. Obama essentially suggested that Trump was decorating the people’s house like an Iraqi dictator with unlimited access to a Home Depot credit card.
And somehow, Republicans decided the offensive part was the Cheesecake Factory.
I am not making this up. These people heard their president compared to Saddam Hussein, apparently held an emergency meeting of the Republican National Committee’s Department of Selective Outrage, and concluded, “Well, he’s probably got a point about Saddam. But who the hell does Barack Obama think he is insulting the Cheesecake Factory?”
Imagine being so committed to defending Donald Trump that somebody compares him to one of history’s most infamous dictators and your response is to demand an apology on behalf of a restaurant that serves 250 different dishes and has a dessert menu requiring its own congressional appropriations bill. Nobody rushed to explain why Trump shouldn’t be compared to Saddam Hussein. Nobody defended the architectural dignity of the White House. They went straight to protecting the honor of Chicken Madeira and the Original Cheesecake.
