President Trump and the former president Barack Obama have continued to trade barbs on the campaign trail, with less than a week to go before congressional races that could shift the balance of power in Washington.
uncertain
that → continue → Washington
While Donald Trump has been on a weeks-long campaign blitz that has exposed Republican concerns about losing control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency, Obama had kept a relatively low public profile until the past week.
asserted
Obama → expose → week
However, the former Democratic president has taken a more prominent role in recent days, delivering speeches criticizing Trump, which appear to have got under the skin of the current occupant of the White House.
“These are not serious people,” he said of Donald Trump and the Republican party, speaking at a Wednesday campaign rally in suburban Atlanta.
asserted
he → take → Atlanta
“And we’re all paying the price for their lack of seriousness.”
asserted
we → pay → seriousness
Obama has offered pointed criticism of Republican candidates and Donald Trump in a style that has been unusual for the former president.
asserted
that → offer → president
He continued to do so on Wednesday, again invoking the image of Trump’s gilded renovations of the White House and noting Trump’s strident reaction to his crack last week likening it to Saddam Hussein decorating a Cheesecake Factory.
asserted
Hussein → continue → Factory
“The Saddam Hussein thing didn’t bother him.
asserted
thing → bother → him
But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said.
asserted
Obama → upset → Factory
“I mean, it’s all crazy, but this is the crazy part: they mobilized a whole government response to that joke.
asserted
they → mean → joke
“The White House even called the secretary of the treasury,” the former president continued.
asserted
president → call → treasury
“The guy who is trying to figure out how to lower inflation … they told him he should hold a press conference in front of the Cheesecake Factory.”
asserted
he → try → Factory
Trump, meanwhile, defended his White House decor and said Obama left the property deteriorated.
asserted
Obama → defend → property
“The White House, I think, is the number one symbol of our country, and we can’t have a White House with broken windows, with broken stone that hasn’t been painted in 30 years,” he said at a rally in Ohio.
asserted
he → think → Ohio
Thirty-five of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are being contested next Tuesday.
asserted
five → contest → Representatives
Nonpartisan analysts generally favor Democrats’ chances of capturing a majority in the House, with the contest for the Senate seen as very close.
asserted
contest → favor → Senate
A federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate ballots from people the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, rebuffing a legally thin request from the justice department that appeared designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms.
asserted
that → decline → midterms
Jason Turkish, who is engaged to Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens, appeared at a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan and told reporters he was voting for the Republican, not Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly defeated Stevens in the Democratic primary.
asserted
who → engage → primary
A heckler disrupted Trump’s speech in Ohio by shouting “Trump went on the Jeffrey Epstein plane!”
asserted
Trump → disrupt → plane
The president then congratulated himself for banning his friend of at least 17 years from his beach club.
asserted
president → congratulate → club
“I threw Jeffrey Epstein out of a club like 20 years ago, because I thought he was a whack job,” Trump said.
asserted
Trump → throw → club
How did the Cheesecake Factory end up in a Maga fight over ‘elitism’?
asserted
Factory → end → elitism
Around lunchtime on Tuesday, a Rolls-Royce stopped at the intersection of Beverly Drive and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills, California.
asserted
Royce → stop → Hills
Local people in athleisure walked past Balenciaga, Dior and Prada boutiques, as visitors on Hollywood bus tours ogled nearby Rodeo Drive, where Burberry and Louis Vuitton shops meet at a celebrated street corner.
asserted
shops → walk → corner
Up the street, across from the upmarket Erewhon grocery store – home to $21 smoothies – a few diners sat outside an American landmark: the Cheesecake Factory.
asserted
diners → sit → landmark
The beloved restaurant chain began here in Beverly Hills in 1978; now it has hundreds of locations across the US and Canada.
asserted
it → begin → US
And this week, it’s become the US’s latest surreal culture-war touchstone.
asserted
it → become → ?
It started when Barack Obama, campaigning for Democrats in Ohio, made a joke that hit Donald Trump right in the real estate.
asserted
that → start → estate
Referring to his successor’s remodeling obsession, the former president said: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.
asserted
Hussein → refer → Factory
The joke was about maximalism: Saddam had 100 palaces and loved gold plating, and the Cheesecake Factory, while affordable for many, offers swanky surroundings that a curmudgeon might describe as over the top.
uncertain
curmudgeon → have → top
While the Beverly Hills restaurant has a fairly staid interior, a nearby location at Los Angeles’s Grove mall has a grand staircase, floral paintings on the ceilings and an ornate balcony.
asserted
location → have → ceilings
Obama’s comments got a laugh at the rally – which surely contained many Cheesecake Factory customers – and went viral.
asserted
which → get → customers
It’s likely the former president knew he would touch a nerve, given Trump’s twin fixations on remodeling and on Obama himself.
asserted
he → ’ → Obama
President Trump and the former president Barack Obama have continued to trade barbs on the campaign trail, with less than a week to go before congressional races that could shift the balance of power in Washington.
uncertain
that → continue → Washington
While Donald Trump has been on a weeks-long campaign blitz that has exposed Republican concerns about losing control of Congress for the final two years of his presidency, Obama had kept a relatively low public profile until the past week.
asserted
Obama → expose → week
However, the former Democratic president has taken a more prominent role in recent days, delivering speeches criticizing Trump, which appear to have got under the skin of the current occupant of the White House.
asserted
which → take → House
“These are not serious people,” he said of Donald Trump and the Republican party, speaking at a Wednesday campaign rally in suburban Atlanta.
asserted
he → say → Atlanta
“And we’re all paying the price for their lack of seriousness.”
asserted
we → pay → seriousness
Obama has offered pointed criticism of Republican candidates and Donald Trump in a style that has been unusual for the former president.
asserted
that → offer → president
He continued to do so on Wednesday, again invoking the image of Trump’s gilded renovations of the White House and noting Trump’s strident reaction to his crack last week likening it to Saddam Hussein decorating a Cheesecake Factory.
asserted
Hussein → continue → Factory
“The Saddam Hussein thing didn’t bother him.
asserted
thing → bother → him
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
