Doubling down on his stated desire to “take over Greenland”, US President Donald Trump has once again drawn attention—this time through the penguin meme, after the White House shared an AI-generated image referencing a popular internet trend.

White House shares AI image referencing the penguin meme

On Saturday, the White House posted an AI-generated image on X showing Trump walking across an icy landscape alongside a penguin holding the United States flag. The pair appear to be moving toward distant mountains marked with the Greenland flag. The image directly taps into the penguin meme, which has circulated widely online in recent years.

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

Origins of the penguin meme traced to Antarctica

While the image suggests a Greenland setting, the penguin meme did not originate there. The meme is based on footage from Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, filmed in Antarctica. The original scene shows a lone Adélie penguin breaking away from its colony and wandering toward the Antarctic interior, a moment that later became symbolic online.

From documentary scene to internet symbol

Over time, the wandering penguin scene evolved into the penguin meme, also known as the “Nihilist Penguin”, “Lonely Penguin”, or “Wandering Penguin”. The image has since been reused across the internet to convey isolation or absurd determination, themes echoed in the White House’s recent post.

The White House’s AI-generated image featuring Trump and a penguin draws directly from the penguin meme, an internet symbol rooted in Antarctic documentary footage that has since taken on a life of its own online.