In yet another example of the media elite and former Obama-era officials using their platforms to take potshots at President Donald Trump, former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza has reignited his long-running social media campaign against the president. This time, the apparent offense? The location of President Barack Obama’s official White House portrait.
On Tuesday, Souza took to Instagram to criticize Trump for what he called a “pretty petty” decision to relocate Obama’s portrait. According to Souza, rather than following the established tradition of placing recent presidential portraits in the Grand Foyer or Cross Hall—areas open to public White House tours—Trump allegedly moved Obama’s painting to a less accessible location “at the top of the Grand Staircase.” This area, Souza notes, is part of the private residence and not visible to the general public or even much of the White House staff.
Souza, who served as official photographer under both President Ronald Reagan and President Barack Obama, accused Trump of breaking with tradition in an intentionally disrespectful move. In his Instagram post, Souza asked provocatively: “Petty or racist?” before musing whether Obama simply “lives rent free in the current occupant’s head.”
This kind of inflammatory rhetoric is not new from Souza, who has repurposed his Instagram account into a partisan commentary feed since Trump’s inauguration the first time in 2017. Souza has repeatedly used it to post nostalgic images of Obama while using them as a foil to critique Trump—frequently without directly naming him.
It’s worth noting that Souza is no political moderate hiding behind a camera. He has authored multiple books filled with idealized portraits of President Obama and has become something of a media darling among left-leaning outlets. Though he also served under Reagan, it’s clear where his political loyalties lie today.
To understand the full context of his complaint, it helps to look at how past administrations have handled presidential portraits. Traditionally, when a new president takes office, the portraits of the most recent former presidents are hung prominently in public areas of the White House. During the Obama years, for example, the portraits of President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton were displayed in the Grand Foyer. Older portraits, such as those of Reagan, Carter, and Kennedy, lined the Cross Hall, while others like Eisenhower and Truman were visible along the Grand Staircase.
Souza claims that under Trump, this arrangement was disrupted, specifically for President Obama’s portrait. Citing unnamed sources and a CNN report, he alleges that the painting was tucked away in a location where it cannot be viewed on public tours or by most staff. This supposed slight has now become yet another rallying cry for those looking to paint Trump as vindictive or worse.
Let’s not pretend this is about protocol. It’s about narrative. The left, including figures like Souza, are quick to seize on any opportunity—real or perceived—to push the idea that Trump is not only petty but uniquely disrespectful to Obama, a president they continue to lionize. And yet, it’s hard to ignore the irony of Souza’s obsession with Trump’s every move. One might even say President Trump is living rent-free in his head.
Lost in the noise is the reality that presidential portraits are often a matter of timing, renovation, and preference. President Trump, like every commander-in-chief before him, had every right to curate the decor of the residence and public areas of the White House. Whether Souza likes it or not, Trump was elected to lead, not to follow liberal traditions that conveniently serve the left’s narrative.
What’s truly “petty” here isn’t the placement of a portrait—but the continuous media-driven obsession with finding scandal in every corner of the Trump presidency, even when it’s just a picture on a wall.
