Shade, A Tale of Two Presidents, by Pete Souza, 2018
Scanned 12/9/18
Pete Souza was the White House photographer for Obama and Reagan. He contrasts his photos of Obama with tweets of Donald Trump and “throws shade” at Trump, which means “a subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone–sometimes verbal, and sometimes not.”
Here’s the first tweet he quotes from @realDonaldTrump: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.” August 6, 2012, 3:23 p.m.
The rest of the book is a tweet of Donald Trump with a contrasting picture of Obama.
Pete writes in the introduction:
“Why I Throw Shade”
“Inauguration Day 2017 was an emotional day. I had spent eight years visually documenting President Barack Obama’s time in office as his Chief Official White House Photographer, and I was exhausted…
What made the day surreal was the person President Obama was handing the keys over to. It wasn’t his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as we all had thought. It was a carnival barker who had ascended to the presidency by sheer bravado, bullshit, and outright lies. We now know the Russians had affected the election also and changed the course of history…
…And both Presidents Reagan and Obama took the job seriously and respected the office of the presidency. That didn’t appear to be true for the new guy…Unfortunately, he’s become much worse than any of us feared. The White House now emanates a constant barrage of lies and hateful comments. The president acts like he does not respect democracy or the rule of law. His presidency has become a reality game show, driven by his primal need to achieve the best ratings and wins–for himself. He does not respect women, minorities, or immigrants; he often doesn’t appear to respect even his wife. To him, a critical news story is “FAKE NEWS.” To him, all our intelligence agencies are corrupt. He shuns preparation for meetings with foreign heads of state. He tells his supporters how he alone can fix the economy, yet his policies will hurt them and help line his pockets, as well as those of rich people like him. And then there’s his ongoing attempt to cripple millions of Americans by taking away their health insurance….
…I hope you laugh, and maybe even cry, as you read this book. During the past 18 months, outrage has bubbled up inside me. I have become more and more appalled at the person that we, with help from Russia, elected to represent our nation. With this book, I’m standing up and shouting out. I can’t be subtle any longer.”
And his last words in the book:
“What Comes Next?
Throwing shade is one thing, but it’s time for us to take the next step.
It’s not enough to voice disbelief at what’s taking place. Let’s use our energy to do something about it.
Vote, for one.
Help others get to the polls.
March in the streets for issues that are important to you.
Write or call your Congressperson about how you feel.
It all matters.
It may take a while.
But let’s bring respect back to the Oval Office.
Let’s bring respect back to our country.
As Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, our task is that
Government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.”
Thank you, Pete Souza, for telling it like it is. The tweets contrasted with the photos do a good job, but it would have been even more effective to show pictures of Trump’s ugly, undignified, idiotic personage contrasted with Obama’s dignity and respect.
Trump is a disgusting, disgraceful, odious, petty, juvenile, spiteful, malicious, despicable pawn. God will have something to say to him when he dies, which can’t be soon enough. Stop, Trump, just stop.