White House post nods to racist, far-right subculture, extremism expert says

The Trump administration has been called out, yet again, for using explicitly white supremacist verbiage in its increasingly aggressive social media strategy.

The White House posted a cartoon to X on Wednesday of two Greenlandic mush teams with three huskies each, pointing towards the choice of the white pillars and the South Lawn or a tempestuous scene by the Great Wall of China and Red Square in Russia.

Paired with the image, the official White House account posted a single question: “Which way, Greenland man?”

At first glance, it might seem to be innocuous and referencing the ongoing demands of Donald Trump that Greenland – an official Danish territory – become part of the United States.

But according to Heidi Beirich, a co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism who closely monitors American neo-Nazis, this was a clear cut example of a nod towards racist, far-right literature.

“This is a key concept in neo-Nazi and white supremacist subculture,” said Beirich. “Western man is code for white man, and one of the most popular racist books in these subcultures is Which Way Western Man, which has been featured in a [Department of Homeland Security] post celebrating manifest destiny.”

The 1978 book is essential reading among the American far right and was written by the late white nationalist William Gayley Simpson, a member of the National Alliance – a foundational neo-Nazi organization established by William Luther Pierce, whose writing inspired several acts of terrorism, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

“It’s absolutely shocking to see such images being deployed by this administration,” said Beirich. “The idea appeals to racists and white supremacists who think only white people should be in positions of power.”

Recently, DHS recruitment posters have been likened to Third Reich propaganda, while Elon Musk – a onetime government worker during his reign as the head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” – has outright race-baited Somali Americans, who are the main target of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Twin Cities.

“I’m not sure if this is trolling or distraction, but there certainly have been more of them,” said Beirich, referring to the onslaught of Maga posting. “More worrisome, especially when it comes to DHS recruitment messages, is that they perhaps are trying to attract far-right extremists to join ICE.”

Democratic lawmakers have raised legitimate concerns about whether or not the DHS has already potentially hired convicted January 6 rioters and members of the Proud Boys, an internationally proscribed terrorist group, into the ranks of ICE.

There is mixed opinion on Terrorgram, the far-right underbelly of the Telegram app, on whether or not the average neo-Nazi agrees with Trump’s ambitions to invade Greenland and other neighbors.

“Greenland says it would rather stay with Denmark,” wrote one neo-Nazi tastemaker on Telegram, in a post viewed close to 2,000 times on the app. “Zion Don’s response is to imply they’re going to take it anyway and the people who live there have no say. The world will not tolerate this kind of behavior very long.”