Obama photographer responds to Trump's Boy Scout speech with pointed Instagram post

Barack and Michelle Obama with Girl Scouts at the White House.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 25 July 2017

Pete Souza earned his badge in trolling on Monday night after he posted on his Instagram account a photo and caption squarely aimed at President Trump and the speech he gave at the Boy Scout Jamboree, touting his victory last November.

I can assure you, POTUS was not telling this Cub Scout and the Boy Scouts who followed about his electoral college victory.A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Jul 24, 2017 at 5:10pm PDT

Souza was the chief official White House photographer for Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, and has spent much of 2017 watching what Trump does, then posting a picture to his Instagram showing Obama doing the same thing, but, in Souza's opinion, better. On Monday night, after Trump got the crowd to boo Obama for not speaking in person at the Jamboree while he was president (he sent a video address in 2010), Souza quickly posted a picture of Obama meeting an adorable Cub Scout. "I can assure you, POTUS was not telling this Cub Scout and the Boy Scouts who followed about his electoral college victory," Souza captioned the photo.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.