With less than a week until a potentially historic midterm election , the political discourse is being dominated not by war or seismic shifts in technology, but by the Cheesecake Factory . The big picture: Culture wars regularly swarm American political discussions, especially when the jibes are personal. Former President Obama's passing joke over the weekend about Cheesecake Factory decor did just that — by criticizing President Trump 's personal taste and style. "He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," Obama said, poking fun at the president's controversial White House renovations . Zoom in: John Murphy, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies political rhetoric, tells Axios that the first time he heard Obama's comment, he "really did think, 'this is going to go somewhere.'" That's both because of the messenger and the butt of the joke: Obama "can get under Trump's skin like no one else in the world can," he says. Obama knows all too well how seemingly trivial moments can blow up; in 2014, he wore a tan suit instead of a black one to discuss foreign policy, and years later his sartorial choices remain a political talking point. The tan suit has its own Wikipedia page , and still nets pop culture references . State of play: Days after Obama's quip, the news cycle and social media are still serving up the joke, and the White House posted "Lo-fi" beats accompanied by a cartoon image of Trump in front of a Cheesecake Factory. Conservative critics used the jab to paint Obama as elitist. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent , a multimillionaire, criticized Obama outside a Cheesecake Factory, saying he "had a great meal, and I would tell the Martha's Vineyard set to give it a try." Murphy notes that framing comes from a classic red v. blue playbook to paint Democrats as "elitist." "It's a conscious strategy, I think, on the part of conservative media to gin up culture-war arguments," he says. Th
Results for “alcaraz beats”
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected to a fourth, nonconsecutive term in the nation's presidential election , according to early results released Sunday evening. Why it matters: Lula's victory deals a setback to Brazil's right-wing populist movement and preserves a major counterweight to President Trump 's influence in Latin America, with tensions over trade and tariffs threatening to persist. Lula, the incumbent candidate, was facing Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro . Flávio was widely seen as the heir to the nation's right-wing populist movement. The latest: Lula thanked the Brazilian people after his election win, but Bolsonaro told reporters he would not accept the results and said they should be annulled, according to translations . The big picture: The election has been shaped by the impact of U.S. tariffs, climate change and the Amazon rainforest, 60% of which is in Brazil. Bolsonaro campaigned on public security and tackling corruption, presenting himself as a continuation of his father's political legacy, while Lula emphasized defending Brazilian sovereignty against U.S. pressure. Yet substantive policy debate was limited, with both candidates focusing instead on corruption allegations levied against the opposing camp, wrote Matthew Taylor, a Brazil politics expert at American University. Zoom in: After the U.S. imposed additional 25% tariffs on some Brazilian goods this summer, Lula accused Bolsonaro of being "Trump's candidate" and the U.S. president of wanting to "colonize" Brazil. Lula has enacted climate policies aimed at reversing environmental deregulation under the previous administration, while Bolsonaro denied climate change and pledged to continue his father's political legacy. Amazon deforestation has fallen 71% since 2022, the year before Lula returned to office, reaching its lowest annual level on record in 2026. Yet Lula's environmental record is complicated by his support for expanded o