Donald Trump walking with the Nihilist Penguin. (Photo: X/@WhiteHouse)
US President Donald Trump has once again revived the Greenland controversy, this time not through an official statement but via a viral meme. On January 24, Trump shared an AI-generated image on X depicting a lone penguin holding the United States flag.
The image, drawing on the popular “Nihilist Penguin” trend, was widely interpreted as a symbolic nod to his long-standing interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark. By adopting the meme’s solitary and defiant imagery, Trump appeared to indirectly reiterate his position on Greenland, reigniting debate through digital symbolism rather than formal diplomacy.
The viral video of a penguin, also known as the “Nihilist Penguin”, walking alone toward a mountain originated from the 20-year-old 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World by renowned German filmmaker Werner Herzog. In the video, a penguin, separated from its colony, is seen walking alone toward the Antarctic interior, with mountains visible in the distance. According to Herzog, this behaviour symbolised a one-way trek into Antarctica that would ultimately lead to death.
The internet has since used the clip to depict various emotions and philosophical ideas in meme form. The penguin is commonly associated with the following themes:
Existential despair or nihilism: The meme reflects a sense of opting out of life’s struggles or the relentless “rat race.”
Isolation and rebellion: It symbolises a character embracing solitude and defiance, choosing an unusual, or even self-destructive, path that runs counter to natural instincts.
The “death drive”: Online audiences often project deeper philosophical meanings onto the image, reading the penguin as a metaphor for an innate pull toward an end state, set in tension with the fundamental instinct to survive.
US President Donald Trump this time used the meme to depict his desire. Hopping onto the trend, the White House posted an AI-generated image on X featuring a penguin walking alongside Donald Trump against an icy mountain backdrop.
The penguin is shown holding the US flag, while a mountain standing in the distance displays the flag of Greenland, accompanied by the caption: “Embrace the Penguin.”
It is important to note that while Donald Trump’s post shows a penguin walking toward Greenland while holding the US flag, the original clip does not depict this. Instead, it shows the penguin heading deeper into Antarctica, moving away from its colony and walking alone.
A few days earlier, Trump had shared another AI-generated post on Truth Social. The image featured Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing beside an American flag and a sign declaring Greenland as a US territory. Trump was depicted holding the US flag next to a marker that read, “Greenland, US territory, est. 2026.”
Both posts reflect Donald Trump’s long-standing desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark. Soon after the Nihilist Penguin post was shared by the White House, social media users began trolling the President, with some pointing out factual inaccuracies and calling the post “embarrassing.”
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