Obama on Trump's reaction to Cheesecake Factory joke: He wasn't 'upset' by Saddam Hussein reference

[0:00] Now, now, now, look, I heard, I heard the president was not happy when I joked over the weekend that he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. [0:17] And, and, and listen, first of all, let me get this on the record. [0:27] I am the father of two daughters. [0:31] Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory? [0:38] I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. [0:48] That was my jam for about a decade. [0:55] Of course, the real problem is price has gotten so high, a lot of folks can barely afford to go out to eat. [1:04] So you would think that this administration would be spending time worrying about that. [1:09] But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day. [1:18] They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices. [1:25] They did not argue with that. [1:28] They did not deny terrorists were contributing to higher costs for families. [1:34] They didn't say anything about that. [1:37] I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption. [1:45] They didn't say anything about that. [1:47] The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. [1:56] That part didn't bother him. [1:59] But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments. [2:07] He took great umbrage. [2:12] He said, I didn't understand the work of the artisans in the White House. [2:18] And they mobilized this, this is, this was, this, I mean, it's all crazy, but this was the really crazy part. [2:27] They mobilized a whole of government response to that joke. [2:33] Not to inflation, but to that joke. [2:39] The, the White House even called the Secretary of the Treasury. [2:44] This is the man who is in charge of the economy. [2:49] The person who's supposed to be figuring out how to make your life more affordable. [2:55] The guy who's supposed to be figuring out how to lower inflation and, and reduce interest rates. [3:02] They told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory. [3:10] No, y'all didn't see this. [3:15] This really happened. [3:16] And, and the, and, and, and the Treasury Secretary, he happens to be a former hedge fund manager worth half a billion dollars. [3:30] And he was out there in front of the Cheesecake Factory explaining how he ordered the delicious French dip cheeseburger instead of the egg rolls. [3:54] Look, this is not something I ever thought of. [3:59] Like, I inherited this major financial crisis. [4:02] I never called my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, said, man, you got to go to Arby's, order roast beef. [4:12] No cheese, though. [4:13] That may look elitist. [4:19] What do you, to, to everybody out there, including the press, I want, I want you to understand this. [4:26] This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people. [4:31] They don't have solutions to actual problems. [4:35] So they'd rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory. [4:41] That's the game they've been playing for the last two years. [4:46] Just keep throwing distractions out there. [4:49] Attacks, fabrications, phony outrage. [4:53] And hope that you won't notice that your bills are higher and your life is tougher. [5:00] Except that okey-doke will not work this time, Atlanta. [5:06] Because you know your prices are still up. [5:09] Because you pay your utility bills. [5:12] You've seen what those are like. [5:14] You know it's still hard to pay rent and pay for child care and pay for health insurance. [5:20] And you know we need serious people who are listening to your concerns, who see you and care about you, and have real plans to make your life better. [5:31] People like John Ossoff. [5:33] People like Keisha Lance Bottoms.