That was it. The next president would be inaugurated two days later, and Souza’s official Instagram account and its 2,113 photos were handed over to the National Archives and Records Administration, saved for history and frozen in time.

But then Souza started posting again.

So proud of this family and how they have represented our country the past eight years. A great honor to have documented their lives for history. A post shared by Pete Souza (archived) (@petesouza44) on Jan 18, 2017 at 7:37pm PST

This time, he published photos from a personal account with the user name petesouza. The first image he shared, on Inauguration Day, was an overhead view of the president exiting the east door of the Oval Office for the last time. A few more images followed—another view of Obama leaving the Oval Office, a shot of him waving from the steps of a helicopter after the inauguration, and a photo showing Obama looking out of the window of the aircraft at the White House below. “Farewell,” the final caption read.

Souza said in the caption of one of these photos that he planned to take “a little break” from Instagram. That little break, if he ever took one, didn’t last. To the delight of Obama devotees, Souza began sharing photos of Obama that seemed to take little digs at the new president. On January 21, amid reports that Donald Trump redecorated the Oval Office with buttery gold drapes, Souza shared an image of the office as Obama had decorated it. “I like these drapes better than the new ones,” Souza wrote. “Don’t you think?”

“I like the president more than the current one, too,” one commenter replied.

Souza’s Instagram feed has continued this way—with occasional breaks for other subject matter. (“I realize people want their daily Obama fix,” he said in a caption to a non-Obama photo in January.) On January 24, as the new White House press secretary attempted to defend President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, Souza shared an image of a TV screen broadcasting a press conference from when Obama was still president. On January 25, amid questions about when Melania Trump and Trump’s 11-year-old son would move into the White House, Souza shared an image of Obama carrying his daughter, Sasha, in a White House elevator.



For Souza’s fans—and Obama’s—the Instragram account has been a source of solace during the chaotic beginning to Trump’s presidency. The responses to Souza’s recent photos of are full of comments like this:

“Missing him terribly.”

“Thank you for continuing to share. It’s comforting to see!”

“I miss him sooo much!”

“No Drama Obama I wish you were still my POTUS”

“Beautiful, saudade.”

“I miss our president.”

There’s some criticism for Obama in the comments, too, but the overwhelming tone is one of homesickness for the recent past. One person who commented on one of Souza’s photos called his recent feed “almost a form of therapy” during a Trump presidency, saying, “I look at them to calm down and things feel a little more peaceful for a bit.”