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One criticism made of Keir Starmer is that he is not vivid enough
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He doesn't ram home his politics in a way that sticks in people's imaginations
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Now, that could not be said of Donald Trump, who is pushing his programme for the mass deportation of migrants in America
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by hailing the opening of the so-called alligator Alcatraz in Florida. This is a pretty astonishing story
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and I am delighted that LBC's Washington man, Simon Marks, is here to tell us about it
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So this is a former airfield in the middle of the Everglades, they're called? Correct
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In Florida, surrounded by alligators, snakes, poisonous spiders. And President Trump is delighted
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Absolutely delighted. You know, Andrew, of course, that he has a plan anyway to reopen the real Alcatraz
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that iconic island prison in San Francisco Bay. He absolutely covets the idea of being seen to be taking dramatic action that is tough on crime
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adding to his kind of tough guy image. And in this case, he's embracing a 5,000 bed facility that has been built from nothing in the last three weeks in the Florida wetlands
1:05
This was all an initiative by the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, formerly one of Donald Trump's rivals in the Republican Party
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And basically, the White House says there's only one road into this facility. and the only way out of it is on a flight taking you one way back to the country that you came from
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if you're one of the migrants that Donald Trump plans to deport. The White House is confident that any escapee from this facility will fall victim to the alligators the pythons the rattlesnakes the deadly spiders that inhabit the wetlands that surround its perimeter
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So there's this whole sort of almost Dr. Evil fear. I mean, the real James Bond villain's lair stuff
1:48
Talk about performative, aggressive politics is absolutely extraordinary. And speaking again of performative politics
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there's a new episode in the wonderful long-running Trump versus Elon Musk fight
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You know, they were best buddies. And now they are at war
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partly over this so-called big, beautiful bill. And Elon Musk has been going at Donald Trump
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Let's just hear what Donald Trump's been saying back today. I don't know. I think we'll have to take a look
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We might have to put Doge on Elon. You know what Doge is
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which is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon
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Wouldn't that be fair, I suppose? So not an alligator, but another monster that's going to eat Elon if he's not deported
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Yes, I mean, it's the prospect that Donald Trump is threatening there of turning the Department of Government Efficiency
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which, of course, Elon Musk created and used to run, and we should always say it is not, by the way, a real American government department
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turning that department onto a review of all the federal government contracts
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held by Elon Musk's business. And this is Donald Trump saying things like Starlink
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SpaceX and all the other Musk owned companies will not stand up to very much scrutiny if those federal contracts are reviewed which is a way of Trump getting his own back for Musk continuing and increasingly vocal once again opposition to the big beautiful tax and spending bill
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It's like a mafia film where the families go to war on each other. I mean, again, I've got a quote here from Trump
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Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history by far
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And without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back to South Africa
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But Elon Musk has been going for this so-called big, beautiful bill, which he thinks is just raising spending
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It's just got through the Senate, hasn't it, by one vote? Yes. J.D. Vance, in his capacity as president of the Senate
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the vice president of the country, cast the deciding vote because they were looking at a 50-50 tie
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Three Republicans voted against Donald Trump on this legislation. And so as a result of that, this is now through
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It goes back to the House of Representatives, where continuing negotiations will take place with the White House
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There is a Republican pushback against some of the elements of this spending bill
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And it is vast, this bill, Andrew. It's going to add $5 trillion to the American deficit
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It's going to take more than 10 million people off health insurance
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It's going to shred the provision of food stamps and other nutritional assistance
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for an estimated 4 million Americans. Tax cuts, of course, for the wealthy
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it's a massive hostage to fortune if this thing finally gets through for Donald Trump
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He thinks it the pillar the hallmark of his domestic policy legislation But the implications of this if the Democrats are right are that it going to be the biggest job killer the economy has seen It a gigantic gamble
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And we know that Elon Musk absolutely hates it. And again, reading what he's been saying recently or posting on social media
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he said that any Congress members who vote for this big, beautiful bill
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should hang their heads in shame and they will lose their primaries next year
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if it is the last thing I do on earth. And he's now saying that this is an example of the old corruption, what he calls the Porky Pie Party
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And he's threatening to create a new American party called the America Party. The America Party, which he has argued he would position right in the centre to pull support away from disaffected Republicans and disaffected Democrats
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And looking at the political playing field in the United States today, there are plenty of people who fall into that category
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Whether they would be attracted by a political party founded by Elon Musk and funded by him is another matter
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But it does underscore the fact that he remains the richest man in the world
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He's sitting on a monumental fortune that he could use in a pretty devastating way politically
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Even as Donald Trump hints at the possibility of getting him out of the country back to South Africa
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Steve Bannon has said that the Department of Justice should launch an investigation
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into how Elon Musk first came to be in the United States
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suggesting that perhaps deportation may ultimately be the order of the day
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This is going to get increasingly ugly. It is a feral, feral world, and it's not just the alligators we're talking about
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Simon Marks, thank you very much indeed
