Obama has been casting caltrops behind him with each campaign stop, offering pointed criticism of Republican candidates and Donald Trump that has been unusual for the former 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.

“The Saddam Hussein thing didn’t bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said. “I mean, it’s all crazy, but this is the crazy part: they mobilized a whole government response to that joke.

“The White House even called the secretary of the treasury,” the former president continued. “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.”