Overview
- The official X account posted an AI-generated image on Jan. 23 showing President Trump walking with a penguin toward a Greenlandic flag with the caption, “Embrace the penguin.”
- Users quickly noted penguins are native to the Southern Hemisphere and not found in Greenland or the Arctic, driving millions of views and widespread mockery.
- After the backlash, the White House re-shared the post and wrote, “The penguin does not concern himself with the opinions of those who cannot comprehend.”
- The image draws on the long-running “Nihilist Penguin” meme and follows earlier AI or altered visuals from Trump and the administration that depicted Greenland as U.S. territory or showed expanded maps.
- The online episode comes as Trump says a Greenland “framework” is being developed following Davos, having ruled out military force and paused tariff threats, while Denmark and Greenland stress that sovereignty is not negotiable.