Understanding the Penguin
Look at the White House this morning.
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) January 25, 2026
Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/hAM2wlugNL
Evita Duffy-Alfonso
What does a penguin have to do with the Crusades, Joan of Arc, President Donald Trump, Alexander the Great, masculinity, Aragorn, Luke Skywalker, and the fight for Western Civilization itself? As of this week — quite a lot.
On Friday, the White House posted an AI-generated photo of President Trump walking alongside a penguin holding an American flag, the pair marching toward mountains adorned with the Greenlandic flag. The caption read: "Embrace the penguin."
Predictably, internet-illiterate leftists leapt to the conclusion that Trump thinks penguins live in Greenland (the only penguins native to the Northern Hemisphere live on the Galápagos Islands). But Trump’s penguin post wasn’t ignorant; it was a deliberate nod to a viral right-wing meme. And because the left can’t meme, they missed the reference entirely.
For days, TikTok and Instagram have been flooded with a clip of a solitary penguin trudging toward distant mountains. The footage comes from Werner Herzog’s 2007 Antarctic documentary "Encounters at the End of the World." In the film, Herzog shows a lone penguin peeling away from the safety of its colony and heading inland — toward certain death, according to Herzog.
But the online right saw something else. Users (mostly male) saw the penguin as a powerful rebuke of secular modernity. They interpreted the penguin not as lost, but as a free thinker. To them, he was rejecting the colony. In today’s terms, that means rejecting secular postmodern orthodoxy and marching toward a greater purpose.
TikTokers paired the penguin footage with an organ remix of the right-wing anthem "L’Amour Toujours (I’ll Fly With You)" and overlaid images of Western heroes: Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Aragorn, Jesus Christ, King Baldwin IV and Luke Skywalker. Countless similar penguin edits have garnered millions of views online.
Although this is all long after his time, celebrated fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien understood the power behind the penguin. In Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," Frodo Baggins leaves the comforts of the Shire on a grueling, back-breaking quest. He faces hunger, fear, harsh weather, betrayal, and danger. Tolkien shows us, through storytelling, that all ordinary people are called to extraordinary courage by leaving comfort behind and facing suffering and sacrifice.
As Christians, we are beckoned to the hobbits' adventure — to fight evil all our lives. The modern world suppresses that calling, teaching people that thinking with this type of purpose is somehow wrong. The modern world smears Christians, particularly White Christian men, as racist, misogynistic, oppressive and regressive. But the innate human desire to leave the Shire or the colony and seek a higher calling can never be killed.
That’s why it’s no mystery that young men on social media are resonating with the penguin. As one user put it: "The penguin spoke to something in all of us men. A desire for more. To push our limits. To see what we’re truly made of."
The penguin lore actually predates the memes that sprang up last week. The penguin first became an emblem of masculinity thanks to a previous viral video featuring a drag queen interrogating an elementary-school-age boy about men wearing makeup. The child asserted that boys cannot wear makeup. When the drag queen asked the boy, "Who said?" the boy pointed at a paper penguin on the wall and exclaimed, "The penguin over there!"
His answer was improvised, but the symbolism stuck. "The penguin over there" became a tongue-in-cheek internet defense of manhood and sex differences against the LGBT cult.
This brings us back to the administration. For Trump, the penguin is an apt symbol for the president's decade-long fight against the radical left. His road to political power has been one marred by literal persecution — including an FBI raid on his home, impeachment witch hunts, and lawfare against him and all his supporters. It is therefore befitting that he would embrace the penguin on his journey against the regime, or "colony."
Everything Trump does is opposed by the global power brokers. Even the president’s push to obtain Greenland has been fanatically opposed by hysterical European elites (who couldn’t care less about the invasion of the Third World into their own countries).
Other Trump administration leaders and their departments joined in on the penguin meme. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a "MAHA" video of himself walking with the penguin alongside the caption, "The mainstream made us sick. Choose the healthier path."
For RFK Jr., the penguin captures his rebellion against Big Pharma and Big Food — the revolt against the upside-down food pyramid and the corporate gospel of seed oils and processed sludge.
Then the Department of Homeland Security added its own compelling take. In response to the question of why the penguin is walking toward the mountains, DHS wrote, "Americans have always known why."
STEEL, NOT SNOWFLAKES: REAL GRIT MEANS MASTERING YOUR EMOTIONS
DHS is right. America was built by penguins — and by that I mean rebels, pilgrims, frontier men and women, conquistadors, and cowboys. We are a nation founded by risk-takers who left the colony for the mountains. We are descended from men who suffered and died to carve civilization out of wilderness. It’s our inheritance.
But beneath the idea of rugged individualism lies a deeper religious current. Some users have interpreted the mountains to symbolize Jesus Christ Himself.
To be a Christian is to follow Jesus, "the way and the truth and the life," which usually means taking a path opposite of the world. In other words, to be Christian is to leave the penguin colony. It means to walk into suffering. It means to climb Mount Doom. It means to reject modernity’s cheap dopamine for the deeper contentment of a redeemed soul.
One leftist on X sneered that Trump’s penguin post "has all the maturity of the brain rot Reels my kids watch." Sure, there’s plenty of brain rot online, but the penguin is an exception.
It’s easy to get "blackpilled" these days. It’s easy to spend our days doom-scrolling and believing the fight is pointless. It's easy to think life is meaningless, civilization is collapsing and there’s nothing left to save. But that’s the lie of our age — the lie that nothing matters and the good cannot win.
This is why the penguin hits a nerve. He refuses to give up, stay in the colony, or let despair consume him.
If you "get" the penguin, you’re already ahead. You know life isn’t supposed to be comfortable — but it’s also not supposed to be miserable.
Take comfort in that.
If you understand the penguin, you understand the truth: We are meant to fight on this earth—with hope, not bitterness. You can even find hope just in knowing that Christ is always working in beautiful, mysterious ways — including through a penguin meme.
US Customs & Border Protection, 22 January 2026
There are no sanctuaries that protect from immigration laws, if you are here illegally, you will be deported. Simplify the process and make things easier by using the CBP Home App to voluntarily self deport.
— CBP (@CBP) January 22, 2026
Learn more about the CBP Home App here: https://t.co/R98KskRwhY pic.twitter.com/17HWsfGcK3
Organized
… drops. Organization: They move like a unit, not a mob.Fox News just said the quiet part out loud today.
— Desiree (@DesireeAmerica4) January 25, 2026
The people on the streets of Minneapolis tonight aren't "concerned citizens." They are a Paid Operation.
The reporter confirms it:
Comms: They have radios and a command structure.
Logistics: They have supply lines and food… pic.twitter.com/Rr4RySJzVk
We know this playbook. The Democrats do this every time.
They bus them in. They fund the supplies. They give the orders.
This is the NGO Industrial Complex at work.
Minnesota Best Practices Guide
🚨🚨 Here is the entire TRAINING MANUAL for domestic terrorist patrols chasing ICE agents in Minneapolis.
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) January 25, 2026
Keep in mind, this is the watered down opsec version.
MUST READ ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rUMAJPOxUG
… of agents, possibly aiding fugitives.Based on reviewing the manual's content, here are 10 aspects that could potentially violate laws (e.g., obstruction, stalking, or aiding evasion), depending on context—consult a lawyer for specifics:
— Grok (@grok) January 25, 2026
1. Tailing ICE vehicles, risking stalking charges.
2. Blowing whistles to warn…
3. Gathering crowds to film, potentially obstructing operations.
4. Identifying "abductors" (agents), invading privacy.
5. Advising physical presence to deter raids, risking interference.
6. Using encrypted chats for real-time tracking, if coordinating crimes.
7. Preparing for chemical exposure, implying planned confrontations.
8. Documenting agent details, possible doxxing.
9. Evading police questions, could be seen as non-cooperation.
10. Organizing patrols without permits, resembling vigilantism.
How Do They Have This Access
… vehicles.According to Cam Higby's reporting on these "Signal ICE monitoring groups" in Minneapolis these people have access to the national license plate data base in real time.
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) January 25, 2026
They also seem to have access to have access to rental car databases and know who's rented what model & make… pic.twitter.com/h0qIItezWK
Seems like that may be something the DOJ should be looking into. How do they have this access? Are there law enforcement officers in there helping them? If so, who and with what agency? Did someone hack their supposed secure system? Do they have someone working at the local airport giving them the rental data (very likely based on the demographics of who works there...)? Something else?
James O'Keefe, 24 January 2026
… made it out alive. Hundreds surrounded us. They were throwing ice bottles, ripping off my bulletproof vest. They even followed us all the way back to our hotel. As all of this was happening, we received death threats via text.🚨 BREAKING: MINNEAPOLIS MOB THREATENS TO KILL O’KEEFE — ICE BOTTLES THROWN, FOLLOWED, AND OMG TEAM UNDER ATTACK.
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) January 24, 2026
My team and I are in downtown Minneapolis right now. We still have undercover reporters inside the mob. I was at the scene of the shooting this morning and barely… pic.twitter.com/n8p229vuJ3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2026Pray for our team out in the field. We are reaching a boiling point in this country.
URGENT UPDATE: I’ve never experienced anything quite like today in my life. I’ve interacted with the Cartel and have witnessed some crazy things in the desert in ‘24. But what strikes me is how organized these agitators in Minneapolis are. They have spotters everywhere in the city and suburbs, on street corners, even 30 minutes away from downtown. They have people at hotels that work with them and signal to them which made it making it difficult for us to lose our tail once my cover was blown. Usually I lose a tail. Not this time. We switched locations THREE times. I recorded and posted this while leaving Wayzata, while they were STILL surveilling. We all agreed we must make the threats public ASAP, even if we had people still in the field with the hidden cams.
Earlier around noon, while Cam Higby released his report on the Signal threads, I was inside what appeared to be a fully autonomous Zone. No police presence. The police were told to leave. I identified myself as Press and they said they will kill Press and will not let me leave. My skin was fully covered because it was so cold. But because they couldn’t verify who I was, they screamed and started throwing ice bottles at us. One hit, @SKRUCHTENMMA , a marine who was with me. They patted him down like THEY were the authorities, attempting to confiscate any weapons. They were set to destroy our vehicle before we even got to it. I will have a full video report shortly.
But the bigger picture here is more important. I am angry. But not at the agitators. I find myself already angry at the people who don’t understand what we’re dealing with and will do nothing about it. When I got to the suburbs I felt like I was in a simulation.
I believe the American people need to wake up. This moment is a warning about where we’re headed. Fear pushes people to care only about their money and their families—I get it. But when fear turns inward, when self-preservation and greed replace moral courage, evil goes unchallenged. And history shows that what we ignore today will come for all of us tomorrow.
Ironically and incredibly, I see that these Communists do not fear death in the same way most good people seem to. The only thing the Communists fear is exposure itself. And that’s good news because it may be our only option.
I’m dead serious about investigating the prosecutors themselves if they don’t hold these Minnesota fraudsters and violent mobsters accountable for what they’re doing.
Massive Financial Fraud
Donald J Trump
They really do https://t.co/X686F23zER
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2026
Tim Walz does NOT believe in law and order.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 25, 2026
No amount of propaganda from his allies in the liberal media will convince the American people otherwise.
Under the incompetent leadership of Tim Walz, Minnesota oversaw massive fraud schemes that resulted in tens of billions of… https://t.co/yA3nhduVVk