The White House tried to use former President Barack Obama’s Cheesecake Factory dig to flex on Monday, and it seems like an actual “Saturday Night Live” cold open come to life.
In a post to social media, the White House shared an image of an AI-generated menu modeled off that of the restaurant chain, but replacing actual items with perceived “accomplishments” by President Donald Trump in his second term.
The post is another example of how the jab from Obama, who mocked Trump for making the White House look like “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” appears to have irritated the president and his administration.
It’s also arguably a case of life imitating art, as “SNL” used a giant Cheesecake Factory menu to clown Trump in a cold open that aired in April 2025.
The sketch sees Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) defending his Liberation Day tariffs outside the White House before calling on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (played by Andrew Dismukes) to hand him “the really big piece of cardboard.”
“I love this, here we go,” began Johnson’s Trump as he flipped the cardboard cutout to reveal ... a blown-up menu from The Cheesecake Factory.
“Oh, Howard. This is a Cheesecake Factory menu, Howard. This is for the luncheon after, OK? I’m getting Bang-Bang tacos,” he continued before signaling for Dismukes to hand him a cardboard display listing his tariffs.
Much like the mock White House luncheon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hit a Cheesecake Factory location in Washington, D.C., for what he described as a “great meal” on Monday.
The White House also shared a strange, AI-made video on Tuesday that shows an animated version of Trump waving outside of the restaurant as a list of efforts to “dismantle DEI” scroll on the left side of the screen.
Check out the “SNL” Trump/Cheesecake Factory joke in the clip below.