President Donald Trump just gave a completely incoherent explanation for his impromptu plan to reopen Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay.

“How will you use it? How did you come up with the idea?” a reporter asked the president on Monday.

“Well, I guess I was supposed to be a moviemaker. We’re talking—we started with the moviemaking, and it will end,” Trump replied. “It represents something very strong, very powerful, in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, I would say, the ultimate, right? Alcatraz, Sing Sing, and Alcatraz, the movies.

“But uh, it’s right now a museum, believe it or not. Lotta people go there. It housed the most violent criminals in the world, and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there, but they, as you know the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up, and uh, it was a lot of shark bites, a lot of problems. Nobody’s ever escaped from Alcatraz, and just represented something strong having to do with law and order; we need law and order in this country.”

Trump said he hoped to “bring [Alcatraz] back in large form, add a lot.”

“It sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable, weak,” he added. “It’s got a lot of qualities that are interesting.”

Despite his surplus of adjectives, Trump’s response didn’t quite answer the question.

Some have suggested that Trump was inspired by Escape From Alcatraz, the 1979 film that aired on South Florida’s WLRN on Saturday night (Trump was staying in Palm Beach). Shortly after announcing plans to reopen Alcatraz, Trump also posted on Truth Social that he was planning to place tariffs on foreign-made movies.

This is certainly not the first time the president has had trouble answering questions. Just last week, when asked about his administration’s punitive measures against Harvard University, Trump began ranting about fictional riots of Trump supporters in Harlem.

The White House’s social media post on Friday night depicting Donald Trump as the pope was apparently “just a little fun,” according to the president.

“Actually, my wife thought it was cute,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to a seemingly AI-generated image in which he appears dressed in white papal attire. “Actually, I would not be able to be married, though. That wouldn’t be allowed. To the best of my knowledge, popes aren’t getting married. Not that we know of, no.”

Still, personally acknowledging that he and his wife witnessed and shared the bizarre and offensive image wasn’t enough to deem the image real.

“I think it’s the fake news media, you know,” Trump said. “They’re fakers.”

Trump also insisted that Catholics “loved it” and chalked up critiques of the stunt to the “fake news.” But that also appears to not be based in reality.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” posted the official account for the New York State Catholic Conference on X. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also had rough news for Trump, writing in Italian that the image “offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown.”

Even New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan—a supposed Trump ally, who was named a member of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission Thursday—said that the picture “wasn’t good.”

When asked by a reporter if leveraging the official White House account to share “memes” was “diminishing” the value of the channel, Trump responded that the press should give him “a break.”

“Somebody did it in fun. It’s fine. Hate to have a little fun, don’t you?” poked Trump.

It’s not the first time the self-purported Christian has made light of the religion’s principles. As a way to line his pockets last year, the notorious scammer launched a $60 Bible co-promoted alongside “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood.

And in the midst of his bank fraud trial in 2024, the famed adulterer compared himself to Jesus, claiming that someone had sent him a note likening his legal comeuppance for decades of financial abuse to Christ’s persecution.

And just last week, Trump actually said he’d “like to be pope.”

“That would be my number one choice,” Trump told reporters.

The Trump administration continues to subvert the constitutional right to due process to justify its illegal, extrajudicial deportations.

“The right of ‘due process’ is to protect citizens from their government, not to protect foreign trespassers from removal,” wrote deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Monday morning. “Due process guarantees the rights of a criminal defendant facing prosecution, not an illegal alien facing deportation.”

This is not how the law works. The due process clause of the Fifth Amendment states:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger. [emphasis added]

The clause has no specification for citizenship.

Miller’s claim has been widely rebuked.

“Stephen Miller is lying to you. The Supreme Court has emphasized for........

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