Friends, my latest article praises DJT's recent brainstorm: the reopening of Alcatraz as a federal prison! Behold!
Trump and “The Rock”
President Trump
made headlines recently for suggesting that Alcatraz, the infamous
prison in San Francisco Bay, should
be reopened to house the worst criminal offenders in America. It
is a notion that boggles the minds of liberals – as everything
Trump says and does tends to – but it would be a magnificent, if
mostly symbolic, achievement, and one entirely in harmony with many
of the central themes in the MAGA movement.
Alcatraz
was, in its heyday, a legendary and forbidding prison fortress. Most
famously, it housed Al Capone, perhaps the greatest criminal
mastermind in American history. Its isolation made it incredibly
secure – and mysterious. It fame and the lore associated with it
inspired multiple Hollywood films, including Escape
from Alcatraz,
widely regarded as one of Clint Eastwood's best acting performances.
Its closure in 1963, on the orders of Attorney General Robert
Kennedy, came mostly due to the high cost of running an island
prison, but also reflected the ethos of the 60s and 70s, which often
assumed that “criminals” were victims of society and of the
justice system itself. Alcatraz, in the days of Kennedy and Dirty
Harry, was a symbol of cold, inflexible, cruel, and even corrupt
“justice”, and its closure represented a turn towards greater
leniency and compassion in the treatment of federal inmates. It
wasn't long before federal prisons became colloquially known as “Club
Fed”. In other words, they became sources of mirth rather than
fear.
Trump
and the MAGA movement, however, are unabashedly nostalgic for the
days when America was
great, and Alcatraz, a symbol of full-throated American justice,
fortified with puritanical harshness, is exactly the sort of prison
that Trumpers should want to revive. America was, after all,
infinitely
safer in the days when the FBI's Most Wanted were, when captured,
alternately electrocuted or packed off to prisons whose very names
conjured dread amongst criminals and ordinary citizens alike. In
those days, it was assumed that the punishments meted out to those
who violated federal law would always be swift, severe, and
unquestionably just. Alcatraz was a powerful symbol of a justice
system that enjoyed the confidence and support of almost all
Americans, rightly or wrongly. Before the 60s, no journalist would
have dared to blame judges, prosecutors, and policemen for society's
ills, or to spin fairy tales about the nobility of the men who landed
behind bars. America was an innocent place, in many ways, and
Alcatraz was the towering penitential edifice that sealed and
protected that innocence, and kept a long, straight, clean line
between good citizens, like you and me, and the criminal maniacs who
belong in cages, or, better yet, dungeons prudently located across
the briny deep.
By all accounts, bringing Alcatraz back to life as a federal prison
would be immensely
costly and difficult. It would be worth those costs and
difficulties, however, because America would be reaffirming its
commitment to law and order, its respect for legitimate authority,
and its collective belief in personal responsibility. We would be
(re)incarnating these principles, moreover, in stark, physical form,
and, more importantly, in a name – ALCATRAZ – that would once
again reverberate in the hearts of evildoers.
Trump has been successful as a politician and as a leader because he
understands that America's identity is as much a conglomeration of
symbols as it is a list of lofty ideals. We cannot be a sovereign
nation unless our border is secure and no one is brazenly strolling
across it – thus, “the Wall”. We cannot be an economic
powerhouse unless our factories are humming with activity and
producing big, beautiful, awe-inspiring machines that the world wants
to buy. We cannot be a vibrant, forward-looking society unless our
cities are sprouting tall, cutting-edge buildings that are the envy
of foreigners. And we cannot be a nation where justice and peace are
secure unless our worst malefactors are locked away in dark
fortresses, never to be seen or heard from again (at least, that is
what the criminals must believe).
It is imperative, therefore, that Alcatraz be reopened as a federal
prison, and that, on the doorstep of America's most liberal city, we
affirm our collective disdain for those violent, anti-social elements
that ought to terrify and disgust any decent, patriotic American.
Let's hope that Trump can get it done.
Dr.
Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred
and blogs at www.waddyisright.com.
He appears on the Newsmakers show on WLEA/WYSL.
Do you agree 100%, or only 99.99%??? Let me know!
And here it is at World Net Daily:
https://www.wnd.com/2025/05/reopening-alcatraz-a-perfect-symbol-for-the-maga-movement/
***
In other news, two nuclear-armed countries are trading potshots, and that's never good. Could war between India and Pakistan ensue? We hope not. Let cooler heads prevail.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6868pdpw4o
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump met today for the first time, and the dialogue was mostly cordial. Carney seems to understand that "poking the bear" isn't in Canada's interests. I advise him to behave!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4gw18753o
China and the U.S. are commencing negotiations that could lead to a deescalation of our ongoing trade war. I approve. Our trading relationship with China will never, I hope, return to what it was, but at the same time the spigot of Sino-American trade can't be shut off overnight. A compromise solution is best for all.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8rgrejkvmjo
Finally, after an unexpected humiliation yesterday, Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz secured his grip on the office today. He eschewed an alliance with the "far-right" AfD and instead joined forces with the socialist SPD. None of this suggests that Germany will see fundamental changes anytime soon, unless by "fundamental" one means the intensified persecution of right-wingers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp22zlrgko
