The Trump administration is bragging about America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere with a provocative image of a baseball bat-wielding Donald Trump stomping over global allies.
Emboldened by the extraordinary capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, the administration now appears to be threatening its neighbors with an illustration copied from a century-old political cartoon symbolizing American expansion.
The image, pushed out by Trump’s rapid response team and MAGA acolytes such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, features the president in his trademark dark suit and red tie, with one foot planted on South America and the other stretched over Canada and Alaska in North America.
In his left hand is a baseball bat emblazoned with the words “Donroe Doctrine”: a reference to the two-century-old policy of U.S. leadership in the Western Hemisphere, known as the Monroe Doctrine, which Trump has now rebranded in his own name.
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. By a real lot. They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine’,” he said on Saturday as he announced the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and take over its oil reserves.
“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
White House aide Stephen Miller doubled down during a wild rant on CNN on Monday, declaring that “the future of the free world” relied on America “being able to assert ourselves and our interests without apology.”
“The United States is using its military to secure our interests, unapologetically, in our hemisphere. We’re a superpower, and under President Trump we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower,” he said.
The cartoon is the latest chest-beating image that the administration and its MAGA allies have posted since Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by U.S forces over the weekend.
Both appeared in a New York court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to federal drugs and weapons charges.
But it comes as Trump hints at targeting other countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Iran, and Cuba, and asserts America’s global dominance.
On Monday, the Department of State, led by Marco Rubio, posted an image of Trump with the words: “This is OUR hemisphere.”
Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, also stoked outrage over the weekend by posting an image of Greenland painted in the colors of the U.S. flag.
The provocative post had a single word above it—“SOON”—hinting at Trump’s longstanding bid to take control of the territory, which NATO ally Denmark controls.
But MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas said a post showing the president with a Donroe Doctrine bat “while he’s stomping on the Western Hemisphere” was “far more concerning” than Miller’s post about Greenland.
One social media user described it as “a cartoon manifesto of domination, reposted like a campaign slogan.”
Another observer wrote: “If any other world leader posted an image of themselves crushing neighboring regions, U.S. officials would call it authoritarian propaganda.”
But Trump is already setting his sights further afield, issuing ominous threats on Sunday to half a dozen different nations and territories around the world.
Among them was Colombia, who Trump said was run by “sick man” President Gustavo Petro, “who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
“He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” he added. Asked whether that meant we could see U.S. military operations in Colombia, Trump replied: “That sounds good to me.”
Trump also raised the prospects of an attack on Iran, whose regime is currently facing a wave of protests, and even posed on Air Force One holding a “Make Iran Great Again” cap.
“If they start killing people like they have in the past, they are going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump said.
He also warned Mexico to “get their act together” to tackle drug cartels, “because [drugs] are pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something.”
And he said the U.S. would be prepared to strike Venezuela again, “if they don’t behave.” But while Maduro is gone, Trump and Rubio have given seemingly contradictory messages about how the U.S plans to run the country.
“We’re in charge,” said Trump, adding that American oil companies would soon “be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”
The baseball-wielding image of Trump resembles a political cartoon by American cartoonist Louis Dalrymple about U.S. expansionism.
The original image shows Uncle Sam straddling the Americas while wielding a big stick inscribed with the words “Monroe Doctrine 1824–1905”. The stick was viewed as a metaphor for military force.
The “Donroe Doctrine” was first flagged in a national security strategy released last year, which claimed the right to dominate Latin America, refocused on competing with China, and deprioritized engagement with other parts of the globe.
But in the wake of Maduro’s capture, the administration doubled down on the foreign policy.
“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live, and we’re not going to allow the western hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors and rivals of the United States,” Rubio said on Sunday.
