Obama photographer taunts Trump on Instagram

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Obama in 2011. (Pete Souza/Instagram)
Obama in 2011. (Pete Souza/Instagram)

For Pete Souza, who served as the chief White House photographer during former President Barack Obama’s eight years in office, every day is throwback Thursday — and, increasingly, an opportunity to slam President Trump.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Souza has been posting vintage images from Obama’s two terms on Instagram while subtly throwing barbs at the new commander in chief.

Last month, amid Trump’s war of words with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto over the president’s vow that Mexico will pay for his proposed wall along the U.S. southern border, Souza posted a photo of then-President Obama sampling tequila with Peña Nieto in 2013.

This one is for Grover. President Obama sampling some tequila with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico in 2013. @heygrover

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 31, 2017 at 6:18pm PST

Last week, after reports surfaced that Trump abruptly ended a tense phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Souza shared an image of a smiling Obama talking with Turnbull and former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos in September.

Talking with then Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand, left, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia last September at the ASEAN gala dinner.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Feb 2, 2017 at 2:21pm PST

Souza then gave a direct shout-out to Bruce Springsteen, who apologized for Trump on behalf of America during a concert in Melbourne.

I've been a fan of Bruce Springsteen since 1978, when a reporter at the Kansas State Collegian, Barney Parker, asked me if I wanted to photograph his concert in Kansas City for a review in the paper. But when we arrived, the venue wouldn't allow me to bring a camera. So we went back to the car and duck taped a camera underneath the leg of my bell-bottom jeans and a lens underneath Barney's jeans and walked back in to the concert. Then I tried to sneak a few pictures until the long encore, when I along with dozens of others pushed my way up the aisle towards the stage and was able to make dozens of photos up close. I thought today was the day to give another shout out to Bruce for his words from abroad. @springsteen

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 31, 2017 at 5:07am PST

During the chaos that followed Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration banning Syrian refugees, Souza responded by sharing an image of Obama and a young refugee.

Talking with a young refugee at a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in 2015.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 29, 2017 at 5:16am PST

He followed that with a picture, taken in the Oval Office the day after the election, of Obama’s meeting with Alex, the 6-year-old boy who wrote a letter to the president about the heartbreaking image of a dust-covered Syrian boy in the ambulance that went viral last year.

Remember Alex, the six-year-old boy who wrote President Obama a letter about the Syrian boy photographed in the ambulance. Alex visited the Oval Office with his family the day after the election. "Dear President Obama, Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan. Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he [can] smell Catherine's lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it. Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to come! Alex 6 years old "

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 30, 2017 at 2:37pm PST

It’s not just Trump who has drawn Souza’s ire. After Trump’s announcement of Neil Gorsuch as his nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Souza posted a photo of Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland, who was blocked by congressional Republicans and never received a vote.

Merrick Garland. Just saying.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jan 31, 2017 at 5:28pm PST

On Monday, after a New York Times report that Trump aides have been forced to “confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the Cabinet room,” Souza posted a photo of a fully lit Cabinet meeting.

Those damn lights

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Feb 6, 2017 at 7:33am PST

His caption: “Those damn lights ;)”

The same day, Souza shared an image of Obama meeting with three female advisers at the White House — a reference, perhaps, to Trump’s mostly male West Wing. Critics have noted that many of Trump’s photo ops are all-male affairs.

Meeting with top advisors. This is a full-frame picture. I guess you'd say I was trying to make a point.

A photo posted by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Feb 6, 2017 at 9:29am PST

Souza isn’t the only Obama alum using social media to take on Trump. An aggressive army of formerly buttoned-up Obama staffers have taken to Twitter to rail against Trump’s policies.

Related: Obama’s White House alumni fight Trump tweet for tweet

Souza’s trolling of Trump has gone beyond photo sharing too.

On Twitter, the former White House photog has been tweeting and retweeting links to articles critical of the Trump administration.

And on Wednesday, Souza retweeted a Trump message and compared his presidency to Netflix’s “House of Cards.”

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