Trump throws fuel on international feuds with Truth Social post bathing multiple countries in the American flag

WorldPolitics
8 Sep 2026 • 4:22 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Trump throws fuel on international feuds with Truth Social post bathing multiple countries in the American flag

President Donald Trump posted an image on Truth Social on Monday showing a map where the United States covered all of continental North America and Greenland, the latest in a string of provocative posts with imperial undertones as the U.S. continues its trade war with Canada.

The image provoked a backlash from critics.

“He’s f*king insane,” the group Republicans Against Trump wrote on X.

“I propose all news sources just put a small box in the corner labeled ‘crazy things Trump did yesterday’ and we put his Truth postings and hair changes and the like in that box so they don't distract from the everyday stories about how he is undermining America, democracy, and the world,” foreign policy scholar Kurt Taylor Gaubatz wrote on Bluesky after the presidents posting spree.

Conservative backers of the president celebrated the post, which followed a weekend of messages that included the Republican suggesting the Strait of Hormuz was new U.S. territory and New Mexico would be renamed to New America.

President Trump posted an image of a map of the U.S. spanning all of North America, the latest in a string of provocative messages about renaming or expanding the U.S. footprint across the world (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)

“LMFAO!” commentator Eric Daugherty wrote on X, adding that Trump was going “full North American empire mode” and “Democrats will be filing Articles of Impeachment over this, worrying that he's going to launch mass invasions.”

The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

The president has posted similar images before, in an apparent attempt to troll critics and rivals, but his White House has also taken moves to reshape the map, at least from a U.S. perspective.

Last week, amid the U.S. trade war with Canada, the president renamed Lake Ontario on U.S. maps to Lake America. Last year, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Beyond the social media provocations and the changes to U.S. place names, the Trump administration has pursued a far more maximal, imperialist foreign policy than the first Trump administration or the campaign promises of Donald Trump would have suggested, given his repeated criticisms of foreign entanglements.

The president has also floated renaming New Mexico and has in fact renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America in recent days (White House)

The U.S. has pursued a war with Iran, deposed the leader of Venezuela and taken over its oil industry, attacked alleged drug boats throughout the Caribbean, threatened to invade Greenland, a NATO ally, and levied strong economic pressure on Cuba with an eye towards toppling its communist regime.

The stance has led to blowback and concern from traditional U.S. allies.

Canada has responded in kind to U.S. trade war measures and has spoken of how the present, U.S.-dominated international order is coming to an end and is “not coming back,” suggesting the need for new alliances.

In the face of U.S. aggression, Denmark reportedly drew up military plans to defend Greenland.

The president’s increasingly unconstrained style may be threatening his party’s chances in the 2026 midterms, according to recent polling.

Research by The Financial Times/Focaldata found that 46 percent of people felt Trump’s record in the White House was making it “harder” for conservatives to win in November, including 30 percent of Republican voters.

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