The White House’s Facebook page posted an image of Donald Trump walking with a penguin on Friday and social media responded exactly as expected: by having the time of their life.
The AI-generated visual showed the US President strolling across an icy landscape alongside a penguin clutching the American flag, with Greenland’s flag planted firmly on the mountains behind them.
The caption, “Embrace The Penguin”, arrived with the quiet confidence of a post that clearly expected applause.
Instead, it delivered comedy.
The image borrows from the long-running “Nihilist Penguin” meme, which comes from Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World.
In the original clip, a lone Adélie penguin walks away from its colony and heads deeper into Antarctica, an act that later became internet shorthand for pointless determination.
It is worth noting that the penguin is not heading to Greenland or anywhere near it. That small geographic detail turned out to be the internet’s favourite part.
“I don’t think Greenland has penguins,” one Facebook user commented, politely introducing the White House to basic biology.
Another wrote, “This is what happens when you give the White House social media admin rights to Stephen Miller.”
Miller is the deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor.
The confusion only escalated. “So we are going after Antarctica?” one user asked, apparently trying to keep up with US foreign policy via memes. “Now you are deporting the penguins to Greenland?” another wondered.
“Did Greenland claim Antarctica and now we want it?” came a follow-up, because why not. Some users went further off-script. “Bet it's an underage penguin,” one wrote, alongside a gif of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein talking.
Others remembered older headlines. “Didn't you try tariffs on an island only inhabited by penguins,” one comment read.
And then there was the environmental angle. “Are they planning to introduce penguins into Greenland's ecosystem?” a user asked, sounding concerned for Arctic wildlife everywhere.