Former White House photographer Pete Souza urged US leaders to show a little civility on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump snubbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s handshake at his State of the Union address a day earlier.
“How hard is this?” Souza wrote on Instagram, alongside an image of then-President Barack Obama shaking hands with then-Speaker John Boehner ahead of the 2011 State of the Union address.
Pelosi and Trump exchanged slights at Tuesday’s speech. After the president ignored her extended hand, Pelosi responded with a clipped introduction: “Members of Congress, the president of the United States.”
A speaker generally introduces a president about to address Congress by saying, “I have the high privilege and the distinct honour of presenting the president of the United States,” as Boehner did for each Obama address from 2011 to 2015, and as his successor, Paul Ryan, did for the final three addresses of the Obama presidency. The courtesy was extended even though Obama was a Democrat and Boehner and Ryan were both Republicans.
At the conclusion of Trump’s speech, Pelosi was seen tearing her copy of his speech in half.
Souza, a vocal critic of the current administration, often contrasts moments of the Trump presidency with images he took during Obama’s time in office.