For the past few months, some of the most influential figures in MAGA politics have been locked in bitter infighting. But with a new year comes new priorities, and the warring factions are reuniting around a new cause: a new era of American “manifest destiny.”
Major players, from influencers to politicians, have been arguing over the Trump administration’s plans on issues like H-1B visas, Jeffrey Epstein document dumps, AI regulation, Israel’s war with Hamas, and even white nationalist Nick Fuentes. But in recent weeks, these feuds have faded into background noise as the US raided Venezuela, arresting president Nicolás Maduro, and, more recently, as President Donald Trump publicly toys with invading Greenland and destroying NATO as we know it.
If Trump needed a unifying platform, he found it. Everyone from right-wing creators and pundits with millions of followers to elected officials have circled the wagons.
Influencers Benny Johnson and the Twitch streamer Asmongold have recently both offered support for an American takeover of Greenland, Kyle Tharp, who writes the Chaotic Era newsletter, noted Tuesday. “After everything America has done for Europe over the last 120 years, handing over Greenland is a tame ask, and a no-brainer if the continent wishes to continue their national security welfare dependency,” Johnson posted to X over the weekend. (Johnson also spent last week in California vowing to unveil purported fraud in the state.)
“How can you get more ‘America First’ than Manifest Destiny 2.0?” Steve Bannon, who hosts the show War Room, told NBC News earlier this month, responding to questions about the Trump administration’s abduction of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro.
The concept of “manifest destiny” took root in the early 19th century and encompassed the belief that the US was divinely preordained to expand its rule across the western half of the country. Now, posters on platforms like X are applying the term to the Trump administration’s efforts to take over Greenland, sharing images of the American flag overlaid on adjacent countries, like Greenland and Mexico. On Tuesday, Trump posted an image to Truth Social of him in the Oval Office surrounded by world leaders that included a similar map that appeared to show the US taking over Canada as well.
“It’s up to us to keep pushing for the orderly governance of the world via American imperialism,” said right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich on pundit Tucker Carlson’s podcast this week.
The administration’s biggest political swings are often predated by massive messaging efforts by creators online. Take Trump’s surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into Minneapolis: A viral video from right-wing creator Nick Shirley claiming to have allegedly uncovered $100 million in childcare fraud appeared to be used as justification by the White House to send thousands of ICE officers into Minnesota.
Many of the creators supporting Trump’s stance on Greenland have long operated as anti-interventionists, especially as it relates to US funding for Ukraine. That hasn’t stopped them from joining in on calls to take over Greenland.
This coalescence of support around an expansionist agenda is in total opposition to much of the messaging that came out of Trump’s most recent campaign and the first year of his second administration, as he continued positioning himself as the “peace president.” That branding is quickly dissolving as the administration’s rhetoric around Greenland heats up.
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