It's unclear why Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the United States would be sending “a great hospital boat” to Greenland for a nonexistent humanitarian mission, where Greenlanders enjoy free health care, including prescription medications. But why let pesky facts get in the way of a good boat story?
In contrast, Americans here at home are all too commonly saddled with medical debt. Greenland, the island Trump has sought to acquire, is a Danish territory. To make Trump's offer even more bizarre, Trump accompanied his post with an illustration of the U.S.N.S. Mercy, which is firmly in drydock at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, where it has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since July 2025, according to gCaptain.
"Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there," Trump bizarrely wrote. "It’s on the way!!! President DJT"
Denmark's defense minister on Sunday gave a polite but firm "Lol, no thanks" to Trump's completely unsolicited offer to dispatch a "great hospital boat" to Greenland — the Arctic territory that Trump has been eyeing like a kid staring at someone else's tasty lunch, The New York Times reports.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen broke the awkward news that his government hadn't actually been informed of this heroic mission, and casually pointed out that Greenland doesn't exactly have a healthcare emergency requiring American intervention. Who saw that coming?
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in what can only be described as a gracefully shade-filled Instagram post, remarked how lovely it is to live somewhere with free, equal healthcare for all, adding that Greenland enjoys the same. She didn't mention Trump or the US by name. She didn't have to.
Donald should focus on affordable health care for Americans.
Updated:
The Danish Defense Joint Arctic Command assisted the US Navy in evacuating an injured sailor from the USS Seawolf (SSN-21), a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, while it was operating near Greenland. Malcontent News reports, "The submarine surfaced approximately 7 nautical miles from Nuuk, Greenland's capital, after a crew member required urgent medical attention. Danish Defense officials noted that the sailor was transferred to local health authorities and taken to a hospital in Nuuk. The Pentagon confirmed the incident was purely medical in nature and unrelated to any military or combat operations."
The outlet reports that the sailor was transferred to the Greenlandic health authorities and is in hospital in Nuuk.
So, Trump's statement still doesn't make sense, in my humble but always right opinion.
