Taking aim at the president’s aesthetic choices, Obama told the crowd: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”. Barack Obama mocked Trump’s renovation projects, including a planned ballroom, changes to the Rose Garden and a helicopter pad on the South Lawn. Barack Obama mocked Donald Trump's White House renovation choices, comparing the aesthetic to Saddam Hussein and calling for voter mobilization in Ohio's midterm elections while.