JAILHOUSE ROCK

Donald Trump’s plan to reopen Alcatraz is just the latest example of his raging obsession with throwing people in prison.

• America has a convicted felon in the White House for the first time, and evidently he’s got prison on the brain. President Donald Trump never stops scheming to put people behind bars: His administration has shipped migrants to a brutal foreign prison in El Salvador (in defiance of court orders) while Trump openly muses about sending U.S. citizens after them. Now he’s got a new prison fixation, right here in the United States.

• Last night, Trump called for the reopening of Alcatraz, the infamous penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, six decades after it was shuttered. Alcatraz is notorious for once housing old school criminals, like Al Capone, Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud, and Machine Gun Kelly (and I mean the prohibition-era bootlegger, not Megan Fox’s ex.)

• Trump later said that, basically, he just thought this would be a cool thing to do. It’s “just an idea I’ve had,” Trump told a reporter today. “It’s long been a symbol, Alcatraz … It’s a sad symbol, but it’s a symbol of law and order.” He instructed the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice and Homeland Security to work on his plan — alongside the FBI, which doesn’t even work on incarceration.

• Plenty of skeptics think this looks unlikely to happen. “Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote on social media. “The president’s proposal is not a serious one.”

• It would also be insanely expensive. Alcatraz was only open for 29 years, and closed because of its crumbling infrastructure and the difficulty of bringing food, fuel and supplies from the coast by boat. Opening the prison for 200 to 300 inmates could cost double what a mainland facility costs — up to $100 million per year, according to some estimates. And then there are the lost opportunity costs. Alcatraz currently generates some $60 million annually in tourism revenue.

What caused Trump’s sudden new infatuation? 

• Well, this is Trump, so no one ever really knows. But one theory is floating around social media: He may have watched a movie about Alcatraz, such as the 1996 thriller “The Rock” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. Think about it! Trump is heavily influenced by what he watched on TV. Soon after announcing his Alcatraz ambitions, he called for a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made movies. You can’t rule out the possibility.

• All that said, this proposal may be just part of Trump’s broader “flood the zone” strategy, which involves saying many outrageous things to bamboozle, confuse and disrupt the media. This is one way Trump dominates the news cycle, and it’s not hard to see several of his recent announcements in this light. His proposal to tariff foreign films, for example, “doesn’t make sense.” He said a U.S. attack on Canada is “highly unlikely.” He said kids should be happy with only a couple dolls. He doesn’t know whether he needs to uphold the Constitution. He posted an AI-generated picture of himself as the pope.

The fact that Trump, a felon, wants to reopen Alcatraz comes with no small hint of irony, as one online personality pointed out: “We need to reopen Alcatraz. There has to be another place in our country for dangerous repeat criminals. The White House only has so much room.

MOSCOW FOOL

Is Donald Trump getting fed up with his old bestie in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin?

There are fresh signs that he is — and that the U.S. appears to be thinking through ways to put pressure on Russia, as peace negotiations slip away.

The latest: The White House has privately indicated that it is prepared to continue sharing intelligence with Ukraine, even if the U.S. walks away from peace negotiations completely, two people familiar with these deliberations told What A Day.

That would be a big deal, because Ukraine relies on U.S. intelligence to defend against attacks and strike targets inside Russia. In March, the U.S. stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine for a week, inducing panic until the White House reversed its decision.

“That’s my understanding of their current intentions,” one of the people said, stressing that “anything can change.” The White House didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. The Defense Department declined to comment.

There are other signs of support for Ukraine. An American-made Patriot air defense system is on its way to Ukraine from Israel, four U.S. officials recently told the New York Times, while U.S. officials draw up new options to squeeze Russia’s economy, according to Bloomberg.

After Russia struck civilian areas in Ukraine last month, Trump had a come-to-Jesus moment: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along … Too many people are dying!!!”

People have been dying the whole time, Donald!

NEWS NEWS NEWS

The Federal Aviation Administration is facing more pressure to speed up the modernization of air traffic control systems, after United Airlines cut dozens of flights from its hub in Newark, New Jersey. The renewed urgency comes after a federal air safety employee told NBC News’ Tom Costello  that “it is not safe. Don’t fly into Newark.” Yet another reason to love Amtrak, I guess!

The Trump administration is offering to pay undocumented immigrants $1,000 to self-deport. In reality, they’re just trying to save money: It costs ICE more than $17,000 to deport someone, on average, according to DHS data. A cheapskate way to speed up deportations? You’d think there’d be a golden TRUMP logo on this idea.

Israel will send tens of thousands of additional troops into the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin announced today. Israeli military officials told Netanyahu that “it’s time to launch the concluding moves,” he said. “We are not done. We are before the finish line.” Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians since October 7, according to local health officials.

Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most divisive and ultra-America First advisers, is “at the top of the totem pole” to replace Mike Waltz as national security adviser. “I think he sort of indirectly already has that job,” Trump said. Trump’s new favorite hobby appears to be giving one person multiple important jobs. Like if you’re not great at your first job, take a second?

Speaking of Mike Waltz, remember how he was caught using a modified version of Signal during a cabinet meeting last week? Welp, it turns out that the messaging platform was hacked recently. What’s more, the app temporarily suspended services because of the hack. Can someone take away Waltz’s phone privileges please? Or maybe put a parental lock on?

Former Vice President Mike Pence defended the Constitution as what “binds us together” while receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award over the weekend. He received the honor for “putting his life and career on the line” to certify the 2020 election results. Wow, how awkward to get recognized because your boss suggested that you should be publicly hanged.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticized the Trump administration’s attack on universities as a “gigantic miscalculation.” French President Emmanuel Macron piled on: “There can be no lasting democracy without free and open science,” he said, pledging to make France a “safe haven” for researchers.

Speaking of Trump’s foreign movie tariffs, bringing filmmaking back to the U.S. would be a good thing, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told What A Day. But blanket tariffs on all films “would have unintended and potentially damaging impacts,” he said, who hopes to pass a bipartisan federal film tax credit. I’m not sure Trump is so interested.

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