Donald Trump Mocked: Critics Brand Greenland Hospital Ship Post As Evidence Of 'Dementia'

President Donald Trump posted that a 'great hospital boat' was 'on the way' to Greenland, a place that did not ask for one and, by its own leaders' account, does not need one. Within hours, the story snapped into focus when it emerged that Danish forces had just evacuated a sick U.S. submariner to a hospital in Nuuk, Greenland's capital.

Trump said on Truth Social he was working with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry to send a hospital ship to Greenland and added, 'It's on the way!!!' Greenland's prime minister replied with a public 'no thanks.' Denmark's defense minister said Greenland's healthcare needs are being met in Greenland or Denmark.

Donald Trump and the 'Hospital Boat' That Greenland Rejected

Trump's post read like an order already executed. It also read like an insult, implying Greenlanders were 'not being taken care of there,' a claim Greenland's own government plainly rejects. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Greenland has a public healthcare system that provides free treatment, calling it 'a conscious decision.'

Denmark's defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, was even more direct in comments reported by Deutsche Welle, saying 'there is no necessity for a distinct healthcare initiative in Greenland' and that care is provided either locally or in Denmark for specialized treatment. Reuters reported that neither the White House nor Landry's office responded to questions about the post, including whether Denmark or Greenland requested a ship and who, exactly, was meant to be treated.

That lack of detail is the tell. When governments launch real humanitarian deployments, they usually announce the need, the request, the timeline, and the coordination. Here, the announcement arrived first, and the justification was left dangling behind it.​

Donald Trump, Greenland, and the Submariner Evacuation

The most plausible explanation came not from Washington, but from the clock. Denmark's Joint Arctic Command said a Danish Seahawk helicopter evacuated a crew member from a U.S. submarine about 7 nautical miles off Nuuk and transferred the person to a hospital in the city. That is a serious, specific event, and it happened right as Trump's Greenland posting lit up screens.

Critics online seized on the connection and went further, some of them offensively further. One Danish economist, Lars Christensen, wrote on X that Trump's post 'demonstrates with absolute clarity that the man is suffering from dementia and cannot grasp the most basic connections,' arguing it was 'almost certainly' prompted by the Danish evacuation. Another commentator, Arnaud Bertrand, called the post 'frankly unreal' and framed it as 'cynicism and gaslighting.'

Because there is a practical snag that refuses to budge. The U.S. Navy's hospital ship USNS Mercy departed San Diego in September 2025 for a one-year scheduled maintenance period at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, according to an official Military Sealift Command release on DVIDS. Maritime reporting cited by Raw Story says the ship is in dry dock in Alabama for scheduled maintenance, undercutting the idea that it is suddenly steaming toward the Arctic.

Reuters also noted Trump's Greenland fixation sits inside a longer campaign to acquire the territory, which is part of why even a supposedly 'humanitarian' offer lands like pressure, not generosity. Greenland and Denmark have now answered. Trump may keep posting anyway.