Barack Obama spent Saturday ridiculing the gold decor inside the White House. Donald Trump spent Monday answering him, first before reporters at Joint Base Andrews and then before a crowd in Corinth, Mississippi.
Obama’s remarks made headlines over the weekend. He said the gold decorations “looked like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
He kept going. “Guy’s building a ballroom that’s bigger than the White House! Paved over the Rose Garden, put a helicopter pad on the South Lawn and there’s gold everywhere!” Obama said.
Trump’s first reply came Monday at Joint Base Andrews. “For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” he said of his predecessor.
“He’s not smart at all because of the way he ran the country. Only a stupid person would run the country like that,” Trump said.
The president continued: “We have to explain that to Obama because he doesn’t understand it because he’s not a smart guy.” He said Obama did not notice “dirt and filth” that had not been cleaned, or walls that had not “been cleaned for years.”
“Guys like Obama don’t see it… He doesn’t see broken ornaments on a building,” Trump added, defending his updates to the White House.
That evening, Trump carried the argument into the Crossroads Arena, a stop on his midterm campaign tour. Trump, 80, spoke about his habits at public events early in the speech.
“What I have been doing in the past is walking off the stage, to the consternation of the people that protect us,” he told the audience.
A heckler then cut in from the crowd. “Shove that ballroom up your fat a**,” the heckler yelled, and Trump stopped speaking for a moment.
“Oh, go home,” Trump replied. “Go home, go home.”
Trump smiled and laughed as the audience erupted. A chant of “USA, USA, USA” followed.
“He gets paid, you know they’re paid protesters, they get paid $250 by, they think its Soros,” Trump said.
The heckler’s jab referred to the ballroom Trump is building at the White House after demolishing the former East Wing.
Trump has said the venue, laden with golden fixtures, will provide a safe and secure space for large events and will ultimately save Americans money.
Turning back to the renovation, Trump told the rally that Obama left the White House “filthy, dirty and broken.” He said he was surprised by the condition Obama allowed it to fall into.
Trump said he told the press to relay a message to Obama, that “the White House is a symbol of America and when it’s filthy, dirty and broken, when the windows are cracked, when the exterior monuments on the outside are good on one side and cracked on the other side, people notice that.”
“This place is in bad shape, it really is. I made up for lost time because I did a job and it’s in better shape than it was built and more beautiful,” he said.
Trump also dismissed the notion that he “spends all his time” on renovations. He said he “literally” handles the work while walking home from the Oval Office.
“I’d walk, I’d look up, I’d say, ‘boy that wall is really bad, let’s go, we gotta’ fix it, fellas.’ And we have really talented people, they have a great touch,” he said.
Monday’s heckler was not the first to disrupt a Trump event in recent weeks.
At least six protesters interrupted a South Carolina rally during its first 20 minutes last week, and Trump called them “all paid” and “a bunch of losers.”
An October 12 rally in Ohio also drew protesters. One wore a shirt reading “Release the Epstein Files.” He was punched and kicked before being dragged from the event.
Trump then mocked the man. “Oh, he’s gotta’ go on a diet. He’s a fat guy, wow. Wow. Gotta’ go on a diet fast. We all do,” he said to laughter.
He followed with a joke he often tells about protesters, that their “mother and father voted for me,” and the crowd applauded loudly.
The exchanges unfolded as the midterm elections entered their home stretch.
