Over Barack Obama’s eight years as president, official White House photographer Pete Souza took approximately 2 million photos of the commander-in-chief. Now, he’s sharing some of those images on his new personal Instagram—with photos that seem to take a shot at Obama’s successor, Donald Trump.
The photographer, who served in the same capacity for Ronald Reagan, launched the @petesouza account on January 21, the first full day of the Trump presidency, and already has over 800,000 followers.
The internet has picked up on a pattern in Souza’s posts, which seem to compare Trump’s controversial policies with those of Obama.
On January 27, Trump signed a controversial executive order targeted at refugees and seven Muslim-majority countries. Two days later, Obama was on Souza’s Instagram bonding with a young Muslim refugee in Kuala Lumpur.
When the New York Times alleged that Trump staffers were having difficulty locating White House light switches, Souza posted a shot of an especially well-light meeting with the caption “Those damn lights ;)”.
Another photo, of Obama throwing back tequila with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, seems to critique Trump’s allegedly strained relationship with the neighboring leader.
Peña Nieto cancelled a planned meeting with Trump over the latter’s continued insistence that Mexico pay for a border wall between the two countries. In a later phone conversation, the former reality tv star told his Mexican counterpoint “You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,” according to a leaked transcript of the call. “I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”
On his new platform, Souza has also taken a stand for gender parity, cropping a photo of Obama and three female advisors to highlight the contrast between his shoes and their high heels.
“I guess you’d say I was trying to make a point,” Souza wrote. Trump’s high-level appointees to date have predominantly been white men.
Souza was also pointed in response to Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on February 1, posting a photo of Obama with Merrick Garland. Republicans refused to consider Garland as a potential justice for much of 2016.
“Just saying,” wrote Souza in his Instagram caption.
Even Trump’s taste in interior design has come under fire: after the former reality star selected gold curtains for the Oval Office—no surprise given his well-documented opulence—Souza shared a photo of Obama in the room with the old window dressings. It was captioned, “I like these drapes better than the new ones. Don’t you think?”