Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Former White House photographer Pete Souza has quietly endured the indignity of the Donald Trump era by roasting the shit out of him on Instagram with photos he took while working for President Barack Obama. Sometimes his images illustrate how clearly Trump lies about his predecessors; other times the image will show Obama with the dignity we generally expect our presidents to carry into the office as a means of contrasting the way Trump fills it with venal self-aggrandizement and an almost apocalyptic desire to feel respected.




Yesterday Trump claimed that Obama “and other presidents” did not call the families of soldiers who died in combat, a patent lie that he was called on immediately by reporters and forced to sort of tepidly walk back in real-time, as if realizing it was both a step too far and something he had no real fucking clue about in the first place. The comments inspired immediate repudiation from Obama administration employees, reporters, and American hero Gregg Popovich.

And also, anyway, here is a fucking photograph of Obama doing it.


The full text of Trump’s appalling accusation followed by his traditional, utterly unverifiable claims of just “having heard” that information is a textbook example of the state of our 45th president’s rapidly deteriorating mind. Per The Washington Post:

I will at some point during the period of time call the parents and the families because I have done that traditionally. I felt very, very badly about that; I always feel bad. The toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. It’s a very difficult thing. Now, it gets to a point where you make four or five of them in one day, it’s a very, very tough day. For me that’s by far the toughest. So, the traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it. They have made the ultimate sacrifice. So generally I would say that I like to call. I’m going to be calling them—I want a little time to pass—I’m going to be calling them. I have, as you know, since I’ve been president I have. But in addition I actually wrote letters individually to the soldiers we’re talking about and they’re going to be going out either today or tomorrow.


Truly, these are the thought patterns of a man with a beautiful, well-functioning brain.