The Cheesecake Factory is seen on May 02, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty hide caption

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty

They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. If that's true it's been a golden week for the Cheesecake Factory restaurant chain.

The furore began when former President Obama, stumping for Democrats in Ohio this week ahead of the midterms, joked about President Trump's White House refurbishments, saying they looked "like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere."

The late Iraqi dictator was known for building lavish palaces, with gold walls, cabinets of gold-plated rifles, a golden throne and of course plenty of depictions of the man himself.

Trump is also well-known for his love of anything gilded and Obama joked he'd been "supergluing gold medallions to the mantel in the Oval Office," while also paving over the Rose Garden and "building a ballroom that's bigger than the White House."

Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally…