Billionaire President Donald Trump has bizarrely joked about how expensive food is at Mar-a-Lago—even as cost-of-living concerns dominate voters’ minds.
Trump, 80, told a Texas crowd that he is still standing by what is essentially a bribe to midterm voters: $5,000 for each adult citizen if Republicans keep the House and Senate. The only caveat, he said, is that the money must be spent in the United States.
“Go to Florida. Go to any one of our great places. You can even come to Mar-a-Lago. I said it the other night: You’ll be my guest at Mar-a-Lago. The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert,” he said, chuckling. “I’m not even sure you could buy that. No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price-conscious.”
With the midterms a week away, the president has had to play defense in red states like Texas as voters have soured on the economy and his handling of it. Trump called affordability concerns a “hoax” by Democrats late last year—before his war in Iran sent gasoline and oil prices spiking.
The resulting voter discontent has spurred some Republicans to create distance between themselves and Trump, whose closing message is centered around the unpopular pledge to pay off Americans to keep Republicans in power, and pleading with his supporters to “pretend” he is on the ballot.
Trump’s boast about his pricey private club comes as his sycophants desperately try to criticize Barack Obama for cracking a joke about the Cheesecake Factory, comparing Trump’s tacky White House makeover to “Saddam Hussein open[ing] up a Cheesecake Factory.”
Conservatives were predictably bent out of shape by that joke, claiming—as they did throughout his eight years in office—that it signified elitism. Cue their pilgrimages to the chain restaurant.
“This is the man who built the, uh, museum that looks like Darth Vader’s tomb,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, referring to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, after dining at the Washington, D.C. location. “And I would just tell the—I had a great meal, always have a great meal—I would tell the Martha’s Vineyards set to give it a try.”
The same day, former North Carolina Republican Congressman Mark Walker posted a widely mocked photo of himself outside the restaurant on X.
“Clinging to my guns and religion at the Greensboro Cheesecake Factory tonight,” he wrote.
Walker has yet to publicly weigh in on whether he thinks Trump boasting about the prices at Mar-a-Lago is also elitist.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
