Pete Souza needs to chill with his Trump trolling
There's no denying Pete Souza once ruled Instagram, but over the course of Trump's time in office things have changed.
When President Trump first began to baffle America by firing staffers left and right, spewing his confusing rhetoric, and committing to upsetting policies, Souza -- who served as President Obama's White House photographer -- fell into a very smooth Instagram rhythm. He would occasionally share relevant Obama throwback photos perfectly timed to Trump's actions in a way that threw just the right amount of shade.
It was a simple yet effective method of sharing his views, and it worked marvelously. His posts were a light in the darkest of times. People (including myself) loved 'em! But somewhere along the line Souza started taking things a bit too far.
On Tuesday morning following the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Souza shared a throwback photo that showed the head of an Easter Bunny costume sitting on a couch in the White House. A group of children were seen talking to each other in the corner, seemingly unfazed by the fact that a decapitated Easter Bunny costume was just there, chilling.
"Apparently the Easter Bunny got fired yesterday and no one even noticed," Souza captioned the photo. Funny, right? At this point, no, actually.
If Souza had posted this back in his good old days of shading Trump it would have been great. He's taking a clear and clever shot at Trump's inability to keep staffers around, but because the post followed THREE other Easter-themed shots at Trump it was kind of a bore.
Come on, dude. Chill.
The thing that was so great about Souza shade at first, is that it was mostly reserved for acknowledging emotional memories of the past administration or to highlight Trump doing something that differed meaningfully from the way Obama approached things.
When Obama first left the White House on Trump's inauguration day, we needed Souza. When Trumpcare was shot down a second time it was nice to remember that we once had a president who understood the complexities of healthcare. After Trump refused to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hand, seeing Obama embrace her was comforting. And when President Trump announced the U.S. would officially be pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Souza's decision to share a photo of Obama's singed Paris Agreement acceptance letter with the caption, "He tried. But we failed our children," was particularly poignant.
Perhaps peak Souza shade was when he shared a series of powerful photographs of the Obama family enjoying nature in response to Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Each of the eight photographs were captioned with lyrics from the popular traditional American song, "This Land Is Your Land," and though there were multiple posts in one day, the severity of the situation called for it.
But four throwback posts on Easter? Overkill, dude. We don't need to see multiple cheap shots at Trump every day, the world is already very angry.
It's starting to feel forced — like the below photograph of people laughing at an Obama joke, which Souza captioned, "Unlike today, it was a comment that we would all consider humorous." It just doesn't pack that same poignant punch, and it only fills people with an additional and unnecessary sense of dread.
And seeing him take potshots at physical appearance, like unnecessarily referencing Trump's bald spot, is just kind of sad.
Pete Souza has a powerful platform and has shown he's capable of using it for productive purposes, but lately things have really gotten out of hand. (I've had push notifications turned on for him since November 2016, so trust me. I know.)
In the time it took to write this article alone, Souza Instagrammed three times to bash comments Trump made at the Easter Egg Roll. It's all just too much.
So please, Pete. Keep the Obama photos coming, and even indulge in the the occasional bit of Trump shade -- just try being a little more judicious with it.
Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
