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  "path": "/post/206954/donald-trump-hospital-boat-greenland-pentagon",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-24T13:57:29.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Foreign Policy",
    "Military",
    "American military",
    "Health Care",
    "universal health care",
    "Greenland",
    "Denmark",
    "_The Wall Street Journal_",
    "CNN",
    "struggled",
    "Facebook page",
    "relentless quest",
    "claimed"
  ],
  "textContent": "Seemingly nobody in the federal government actually received instructions to send a hospital boat to Greenland.\n\nThe Pentagon has heard no official word about sending any such sort of humanitarian aid to the Arctic island, _The Wall Street Journal_ reported late Monday.\n\nDonald Trump announced on Saturday that the White House would be sending a “great hospital boat” to Greenland, though exactly who would be responsible for the project—and why Greenland, which has nationalized health care, would need it—was not clear.\n\nTrump included an AI-generated image of the USNS _Mercy,_ despite the fact that the ship is based on the West Coast. The hospital ship situated on the East Coast is the USNS _Comfort._ Both are currently in the shop, with the USNS _Mercy_ in the middle of a yearlong maintenance period and the USNS _Comfort_ undergoing repairs that are expected to be completed in April.\n\nRegardless, the Pentagon had not received instructions to send either Navy ship, reported the _Journal_.\n\nIn the days since Trump’s notice, not one agency or office potentially responsible for the unwanted project has recognized that the boat is a real thing that’s actually happening.\n\nPinning responsibility has been more like a game of hot potato: On Monday, the Pentagon referred questions to U.S. Northern Command, which redirected questions to the U.S. Navy, which in turn sent questions to the White House, CNN reported. The White House has so far failed to elaborate, with spokespeople pointing back to Trump’s social media post.\n\nGreenland has expressed zero interest in Washington’s unsolicited aid package. The island currently has six hospitals that serve its 56,000 residents. Remote parts of the Danish-controlled territory have struggled with accessing specialized medical equipment—though that would hardly be addressed by a centralized boat at the coast.\n\nFurthermore, the issue was tackled earlier this month, when the island’s capital city, Nuuk, settled on a new arrangement with Copenhagen that would allow Greenlanders to access specialized health care in Denmark.\n\n“That will be ‘no thanks’ from us,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Greenlandic prime minister, wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. “President Trump’s idea to send a US hospital ship here to Greenland has been duly noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens.”\n\nTrump’s offer appears to be just another component to his relentless quest to annex the mineral-rich territory. Trump has claimed that America “needs” Greenland “for defense.” But what exactly the White House stands to gain from controlling Greenland isn’t clear, especially in light of the fact that myriad existing treaties already give the U.S. unfettered access to Greenland as a military base. Danish and Greenlandic officials have repeatedly insisted that Greenland is not for sale.",
  "title": "Surprise! Trump Hasn’t Actually Sent “Hospital Boat” to Greenland"
}