Donald Trump’s take on ‘lonely penguin’ meme talks of taking over Greenland

The White House Saturday posted an AI-generated image on X showing Trump walking across an icy landscape alongside a penguin holding the United States flag. The two appear to be heading toward mountains in the distance that display the flag of Greenland.

The image draws on an online trend featuring the widely shared “Nihilist Penguin”, also known as the “Lonely Penguin” or “Wandering Penguin” meme.

Embrace the penguin. pic.twitter.com/kKlzwd3Rx7

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 23, 2026

The White House captioned the post, “Embrace the penguin”.

Interestingly, the original footage that inspired the meme does not come from Greenland. The mene originates from Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, which was filmed in Antarctica. The scene shows a lone Adélie penguin separating from its colony and wandering away toward the Antarctic interior—behavior that later became symbolic online.

This is not the first time Trump has used an AI-generated image to propogate his agenda. A few days ago, Trump took to Truth Social, posting a picture where he is seen holding the US flag along with JD Vance and Marco Rubio that indicates that Greenland will become US territory sometime in 2026.

Donald J. Trump Truth Social Post 01:00 AM EST 01.20.26

President Trump posts a photo holding the U.S. flag along with JD Vance and Marco Rubio that indicates that Greenland will become U.S. territory sometime in 2026. pic.twitter.com/ogKImcFd3W

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 20, 2026

In another Truth Social post, Trump can be seen sitting with the leaders of European Union, which is a digitally modified picture of their actual meeting from August 2025. The AI-generated image shows an expanded map of the United States that included Greenland, Canada, and Venezuela.

While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump for the first time ruled out using force to take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. He first floated this idea after taking office last year. Since then, Trump has only acted on stregthning his rhetoric.

Trump gets trolled

After the White House posted the AI-generated picture of Trump alongside the “lonely penguin”, many users came forward to troll the post.

One user replied to the post saying, “here are no penguins at the North Pole.” Another user said, “Cat check: Penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Another user went on to modify the image, replacing the penguin with a polar bear alongside Trump.

So the picture ist correct: pic.twitter.com/uupjwDxggm

— Tobias Huch (@TobiasHuch) January 23, 2026

Another user posted a video showing a white Bear chasing Trump as he runs across Greenland.