On Presidents Day, Pete Souza, a former White House photographer, posted a picture of the four living American presidents who didn't attempt to subvert the country's democratic system.
Souza, who served as the official photographer for the Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan administrations, posted a shot of the current Presidents' Club members on Monday on Instagram.
"This club is incredibly elite. With the exception of those who abused their positions of power to try to rig an election, it contains all former presidents of the United States who are still alive today.
An photograph of previous presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter was accompanied by the text. Donald Trump, the only other ex-president still alive, was now visible.It is customary for previous presidents to set aside their differences in politics and even come together to promote shared causes after leaving office, and for current presidents to speak with and exchange notes with their predecessors about a position that so few can really comprehend.
This convention, like many others, was apparently abandoned by Trump, who both during and after his presidency showed little interest in joining the alliance.
Obama, Bush, and Clinton delivered a combined video address after President Joseph Biden's inauguration in 2021, endorsing orderly presidential transition as essential to American democracy. The letter plainly rebuffed Trump's attempts to undermine the democratic process after losing the 2020 election, but not mentioning him by name.
Upon taking office, Biden has continued the tradition of seeking the advice and experience of those who came before him. Speaking with the prior presidents, he said to CNN in 2021, provided a solid foundation for a position that would otherwise feel burdensome.
Souza frequently mocks Trump by posting images and accounts he captured during the Obama administration. In both the 2020 documentary "The Way I See It" and his 2018 book "Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents," he contrasted the stark differences between the two regimes.
FILE – In this Jan. 7, 2009 file picture, then-President George W. Bush, center, poses in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington with President-elect Barack Obama and former presidents George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, right. The concert, which will raise money for relief efforts following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria's devastation in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, will be attended by all five of the living former presidents of the United States on Saturday, October 21, 2017, in a college town in Texas. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo (Image courtesy of Associated Press)
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