On September 7, U.S. President Trump posted an AI-generated map on his social platform Truth Social, showing the American flag covering large areas, including the mainland, without any accompanying text.

According to media reports, the map overlays the Stars and Stripes pattern on approximately 33 countries and regions, including Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, as well as Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Belize, and several Caribbean nations such as Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and Barbados. It also includes U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This is not an isolated incident: Trump has previously stated that Canada could become the "51st state" of the U.S. and has pushed for the purchase of Greenland; he has signed an executive order to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" to "American Gulf," and proposed renaming Lake Ontario to "American Lake" and New Mexico to "New America."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly rejected this notion, stating, "As you know in real estate, some places are not for sale," to which Trump responded, "Never say never"; Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that Mexico is "a free, independent, sovereign country" and "will never become a colony or protectorate of any foreign country"; Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the U.S. of imposing "collective punishment" on the Cuban people through sanctions and blockades.

U.S. political science professor Craig Agranoff characterized this move as a "political performance" and a "typical provocation" rather than a formal policy declaration, but he warned that if such statements go unchallenged, they may be interpreted as tacit approval, which is one reason why Canada, Mexico, and Cuba responded quickly.

Comments on social media have summarized Trump's recent series of territorial statements and renaming actions as "Donroe Doctrine," borrowing from the 19th-century "Monroe Doctrine"—which declared that European colonial powers should not interfere in the Western Hemisphere but did not directly claim annexation—implying that this map pushes the discourse of "sphere of influence" further toward "direct territorial claims."

Source: Public Information