Topics: News, US News, World News, Donald Trump
The Prime Minister of Greenland has spoken out after Donald Trump made a bizarre statement on social media.
It comes after Trump previously threatened to take Greenland by force, though he subsequently climbed down on that threat.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the US needs to take control of Greenland for 'security reasons', to which Denmark has responded that Greenland future is not up for debate.
Now, Trump has taken a bizarre change of course and said that he is sending a 'hospital ship' to Greenland in order to 'take care' of its inhabitants.
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However, the offer to send the ship was politely but firmly refused by Greenland's prime minister, who took the opportunity to make a remark which could be interpreted as a stab at the US healthcare system.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Greenlandic prime minister, wrote on Facebook on Sunday: “That will be ‘no thanks’ from us.
“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."
Meanwhile, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen took to social media to share a thinly-veiled jab at Trump, though she didn't mention him explicitly.
She wrote: “I am grateful to live in a country where there is free and equal access to healthcare for everyone. Where it is not insurance coverage or personal wealth that determines whether you receive proper treatment.
"The same approach applies in Greenland."
Taking to his platform Truth Social to make the strange announcement, Trump wrote: "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. It’s on the way!!!”
The US healthcare system has come under increased criticism in recent years, relying on insurance companies to cover healthcare.
But the system is often criticized for being wildly inefficient and unfair, with treatments often running into tens of thousands of dollars, and coverage being reliant on the type of condition, or even the hospital where you're treated.
An example of the level of anger is the case of Luigi Mangione, who became a macabre reflection of the strength of feeling that many people in the US feel towards the healthcare system after he was accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson.
Despite the seriousness of the charges, which include first degree murder, Mangione has since come to be viewed as a folk hero over the alleged crime.
In the US, medical expenses remain one of the most common causes of bankruptcy in spite of measures to reform the healthcare system.
