Manifest Destiny Is Born Again Among Young Conservatives On Social Media
Canada? Ours. Greenland? Ours. Mexico? Ours. The World? Ours. Or at least that's what one conservative trend on a rapidly growing media platform is suggesting.
Francis Kapper·Sep 20, 2026·6 min read
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Canada? Ours. Greenland? Ours. Mexico? Ours. The World? Ours. Or at least that’s what one conservative trend on a rapidly growing media platform is suggesting.
Instagram Reels is rapidly becoming a focal point for politics in both conservative and liberal circles, pushing ideas further than X ever did, with visual pomp and circumstance. Hundreds of posts with thousands of likes have begun circulating on the platform calling the United States an “empire,” even comparing America’s power to that of the Roman Empire.
“Perhaps, still invade Canada. Think about it. Why not? We have the manpower. We have the arms. It’s our Manifest Destiny,” one video on the platform claims.
The idea of the U.S. military preparing to fight Canada is not entirely new. During the interwar period, American planners developed War Plan Red, a contingency plan approved in 1930 for a hypothetical war with the British Empire that envisioned U.S. forces invading Canada, seizing key ports and transportation hubs and preventing Britain from using Canadian territory as a base for attacks on the United States, according to the National Archives
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The memes are landing at a peculiar moment in American foreign policy, when jokes about annexation, conquest and an American empire have increasingly borrowed from actual events.
Trump has repeatedly argued that Canada should become the 51st state, telling Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office in May 2025 that he still believed in the idea before responding “never say never” when Carney insisted his country was not for sale, Reuters reported.
Relations remain strained more than a year later, with Ottawa looking to deepen economic and defense ties with Europe amid an escalating trade dispute with Washington.
Although many posts among conservatives on social media are critical of President Donald Trump’s decision-making in the Iran War, some take a humorous angle while quoting Trump’s bombastic rhetoric about American military might.
“Iran knows that. And they’ve been put on notice: if you fuck around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before,” Trump said during a Oct. 9, 2020 interview with Rush Limbaugh on The Rush Limbaugh Show.
The most dramatic backdrop is Iran, where the United States has been fighting since Trump ordered Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28. The conflict has stretched into a seventh month, with Iran striking American forces and disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz while U.S. forces have continued hitting Iranian targets.
Trump took the imperial comparisons a step further Sept. 13 when he floated keeping an American presence in Iran and benefiting from its oil after the war, explicitly comparing the possibility to Washington’s arrangement in Venezuela,Reuters reported.
“The American Empire, For Americans,” One video on the platform says while playing the audio from Trump’s statement.
Greenland has moved even closer to the language of territorial acquisition. Trump reiterated at the NATO summit in July that the strategically located Arctic island should be under U.S. control rather than Denmark’s, while Greenlandic and Danish leaders have repeatedly rejected the idea, according to Reuters.
Denmark has since sent conscripts to Greenland and poured additional resources into Arctic defense, while U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials continue negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute, Reuters reported.
“Rome never fell. It just changed flags,” another post states while showcasing multiple videos of U.S. military flyovers at sporting events, along with other patriotic imagery such as the Grand Canyon, SpaceX launches and the Empire State Building.
In Venezuela, American power moved well beyond rhetoric.
U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve on Jan. 3, after which Trump said the United States was “going to run the country” until Washington could oversee a “safe, proper, and judicious transition,” according to the White House and a video of Trump’s remarks published by the Department of War.
The trope comparing the United States to the Roman Empire has not been short-lived on the platform.
“Red, White and Eternal. The New Rome,” a description on one of the posts states. “Rome was not merely a city. It was an order. Law before chaos. Duty before comfort. Citizenship tied to responsibility. Power justified by structure … The United States inherited that mantle in a different age. Not through marble and legions, but through constitution, industry, and reach. In less than 250 years, America achieved what Rome took centuries to build … The New Rome does not wear a crown. It carries responsibility.”
“I wish the Romans could see this,” one post says while displaying a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flyover at a football game, echoing the motifs seen in the gladitorial arenas of ancient Rome. “Where Caesar claimed power, America gave it to the people. Where empires rose and fell, the United States still stands, blessed by the grace of Christ.”
The idea of “manifest destiny,” the concept that it is the United States’ God-given right to conquer all of North America, is a recurring theme amongst these videos, or reels as they are commonly called.
If there is only one takeaway from this trend, it is that young conservatives are rapidly growing to be even more patriotic and authoritarian. Moreover, they are not afraid to showcase their ideas on social media.
“America is an empire,” conservative influencer Tony Vanderhoef argues on video. “An empire is a dominant power that enforces global order. It secures trade routes. It sets financial rules. It projects military power. And it shapes who governs where. For better or for worse… That’s the United States … The real question isn’t whether America is an empire. The real question is: Can it sustain one?”
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