The White House recently reiterated that Trump’s Arctic dream is far from over. However, instead of using an official statement to share the President’s numerous plans to acquire Greenland, the executive mansion chose to jump on an online trend.
The post from The White House’s official account, shared both on Instagram and X, with the caption “Embrace the Penguin,” featured an AI-generated image of Trump inserted into the viral “Nihilist Penguin” meme.
In the photo, Donald Trump can be seen walking towards icy hills alongside a penguin, leaving behind a trail of large footprints on the snow. While the penguin is shown to be holding the flag of the United States of America, the mountain displays the flag of Greenland.
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The original meme was sourced from a clip featured in Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World. The video showed a lone penguin wandering deeper into Antarctica, leaving its family behind.
The footage gained popularity on social media over the years, with netizens turning it into a full-blown meme to convey feelings of existential crisis and express the idea of heading into oblivion.
However, unlike the meme shared by the White House, the penguin in the original clip or meme is not heading towards Greenland. Reports suggest that penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere, with some species inhabiting the islands and coastal areas of Antarctica.
Therefore, the notion that penguins reside in the Arctic, or anywhere in Greenland is incorrect. Internet users were quick to point out the mistake in the White House’s meme, taking to social media to troll the President as well as his administration.
“Whitehouse social media intern skipped 6th grade biology,” one user wrote on Instagram. “Penguins don’t live in Greenland. They live in the south arctic. The most America post ever,” another added.
A third user said, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” while a fourth commented, “Penguins do not live in the North Pole.”
X users also had a field day shredding Trump and the White House over the meme. Pippa Crerar from The Guardian wrote, “You don’t get penguins in the Arctic,” to which one commentator replied, “And they certainly don’t have man-size footprints or stride. It’s just so embarrassing that they put this out.”
One user said, “Nice try. We don’t have penguins here in Greenland,” while another added, “Who’s gonna tell him there are no penguins in Greenland.”
“Hold on, there are no penguins in Greenland, are there?” one user asked, while another poked fun at Trump’s immigration crackdown policy, saying, “Trump’s importing illegals to Greenland already! Criminal!”
You don’t get penguins in the Arctic 🙄 https://t.co/sGQyYMoEHB
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) January 23, 2026
This is not the first time Trump attempted to showcase his desire to acquire Greenland through an AI-generated image.
A few days ago, he took to Truth Social to share a picture of himself, standing beside an American flag, alongside Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, signing a document declaring Greenland as a US territory. The image also featured a marker that read, “Greenland – US territory est. 2026.”
The President has been vocal about his Greenland acquisition plans ever since taking office for his second-term. The idea strengthened in recent weeks, especially in the wake of the US military action on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump even threatened a 10% tariff on eight European countries, namely Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, over the weekend, specifically because the nations opposed or did not agree with his effort to acquire Greenland.
