COMMENTARY
By Troy Turner
Alabama’s port city found itself in unfamiliar social media territory over the weekend when it became home to a source of contradiction in the ongoing saga between President Trump and Denmark over the North Atlantic island of Greenland.
Greenland is a self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark, but Trump has remained adamant during his second term that it should be under American jurisdiction to better protect U.S. security. That argument has created quite the row between the United States and Denmark, with much of Europe siding with the Danes.
Trump, loved or despised for his outlandish social media posts depending on how much you view your porridge as red or blue, remarked again on the issue last week.
A sailor aboard a U.S. Navy submarine on patrol near Greenland was reported to be seriously ill and in possible life-saving need of hospital care. The Danes took action by dispatching a helicopter from one of its ships to evacuate the sailor to a Greenland hospital.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, with a reference to his special envoy for Greenland and with artwork portraying the USNS Mercy hospital ship:
“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!!!”
Greenland, it should be noted, has free, all-access healthcare for its citizens and requested no help from Trump or the governor of Louisiana, and thus began a firestorm of social media salvos.
The Alabama connection
So how did Alabama get dragged into the foray?
The U.S. has a variety of different-sized medical support vessels, including a fast-support, medical-variant vessel being produced by Alabama-based shipbuilder Austal USA.
(AustalUSA)
However, its two largest and most well-known hospital ships, the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy… are both docked at Alabama Shipyard, Inc., in Mobile, Alabama, for contracted maintenance work.
Meaning, the Mercy, despite being depicted in Trump’s post suggesting its dispatch to Greenland, might can sail later, but for now is unavailable while docked in Mobile.
(Alabama Shipyard, Inc.)
Numerous maritime and news social media commentators were quick to note that fact, and thus Alabama became a buzz word as AI-generated search algorithms quickly put the state’s name in front of internet surfers interested in the Greenland fuss.
Even on traditional and niche media sites such as this one, AlaDefense.com, the storyline had an effect.
Almost overnight, a story posted on AlaDefense.com last December related to the USNS Comfort joining its sister ship, the Mercy, in Mobile soared to the top of the site’s most-viewed story list from the past seven days.
AlaDefense.com, which primarily serves readers with interest in Alabama-linked military and defense industry news, suddenly had an influx of new viewers from around the globe, led by Finland, Denmark, Germany, and including a spike in curious observers from China no doubt amused at all the hoopla.
Time to act?
And so, there you have it.
Trump still wants Greenland.
Denmark still wants to keep Greenland.
And the sunny coastal waters of Mobile, Alabama, still are long, long way from the frigid, icy waters of the North Atlantic surrounding Greenland.
But, for at least one buzzy weekend, that distance from Alabama seemed, well, not so much.
Thus, opportunity knocks during these 15 minutes of Alabama-Danish fame.
Perhaps the Mobile Chamber of Commerce should send a brochure to Copenhagen.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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