President Donald Trump’s eyebrow-raising promise to dispatch U.S. Navy hospital ships to Greenland didn’t come from a Pentagon briefing or a State Department strategy session—but a casual conversation from a bricklayer that snowballed its way to the Oval Office.
Jørgen Boassen, a 52-year-old Greenlandic construction worker and outspoken Trump supporter, told The Wall Street Journal he was the unlikely spark behind the president’s sudden weekend declaration that America would send floating medical facilities to the Arctic island.
Trump, 79, had announced on Saturday in a Truth Social post that ships were “on the way!!!” to help residents “who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”
Boassen, who previously helped organize Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to Greenland, said he raised concerns about the island’s healthcare system during a Mardi Gras–themed cultural exchange trip in Louisiana. There, he met with Gov. Jeff Landry, whom Trump has tapped as an envoy tied to Greenland outreach efforts.
Boassen told the Wall Street Journal that Landry asked what the United States could do to help Greenland. The answer he got was blunt.
Boassen complained that Greenland’s government-run healthcare system is “deteriorating,” claiming patients are often diagnosed too late or forced to travel long distances for treatment. It’s an issue that, for him, is deeply personal—he said his mother died of sepsis after being misdiagnosed at a rural clinic and sent home with painkillers.
That conversation stuck with Landry.
He later relayed Boassen’s concerns directly to Trump during a White House dinner, telling the president that Greenlanders “absolutely need” medical assistance. Trump’s reported response? “Well, let’s get it.”
Within hours, the president was publicly pledging to send Navy hospital ships—despite no indication that such a move had been formally planned or requested by Greenland’s government.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Landry for comment.
Even Boassen seemed surprised by how quickly the idea escalated.
“I didn’t ask for a U.S. hospital ship,” he told the Journal, adding that while “any help is appreciated,” the scale of Trump’s proposal went far beyond what he had in mind.
Greenland’s leaders, for their part, were not impressed. The frosty reception to the president’s aide’s offer comes after Trump’s failed acquisition of the self-governing territory.
Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen swiftly rejected the offer, blasting Trump’s social media announcement as another in a string of “random outbursts.” In a pointed response, he made clear the answer was a firm “no thank you.”
Nielsen also took a swipe at the U.S. healthcare system, contrasting it with Greenland’s publicly funded model. While acknowledging challenges, he emphasized that free access to care is a “deliberate choice”—not a failure in need of American intervention.
Health Minister Anna Wangenheim went even further in an interview with the Journal, calling Trump’s proposal “another act of psychological warfare.”
She didn’t deny that Greenland faces logistical hurdles—patients in remote areas often must travel by plane to the capital, Nuuk, for specialized care—but she framed those challenges as part of an ongoing issue that the government has been making strides in improving. The island, she noted, is already working with Denmark to strengthen its healthcare system, including securing roughly $30 million in additional annual funding.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Wangenheim for comment.
In that context, Trump’s offer wasn’t just unnecessary—it was, in her words, “disrespectful” to Greenland.
Still, Landry appears to be standing by the concerns that set the whole episode in motion. He told the Journal that conversations with Greenland residents—including Boassen—revealed deep dissatisfaction, claiming some feel the universal system “sucks.”
Despite Trump’s urgent tone, no U.S. hospital ships have actually been ordered to be deployed to Greenland. The Navy’s primary medical vessels, the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy, remain stateside in Mobile, Alabama, undergoing maintenance.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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