Letters | What an image of Trump and a penguin reveals about the White House
Readers discuss an elementary error by the US administration, a high-profile free solo climb, and phone addiction
The recent image released by the White House, of US President Donald Trump walking alongside a penguin in Greenland, would have triggered a distinct sense of deja vu among Hong Kong readers.
We have seen this script before. In 2009, Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan – now our deputy secretary for justice – described the Arctic as a place of “few people and many penguins”. We laughed then because, as every student learns, penguins inhabit the southern hemisphere, not the north.
Seeing the same elementary error by the US administration in 2026 is far less amusing. It serves as a worrying metaphor for the chaotic governance currently on display.
Even more alarming is the abandonment of diplomatic protocol. By publishing a private message from French President Emmanuel Macron, who was attempting to discuss serious matters, Trump has turned statecraft into social media humiliation.