May 8, 2025 • 7 mins
Listeners want to know - can President Trump really reopen Alcatraz?
IG: @ThisisGavinNewsom
Email: ThisisGavinNewsom@iheartradio.com
Phone: 855-6NEWSOM
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Gavin Newsom and this is Escape from Alcatraz. Well,
I want to thank everybody for leaving voice messages calling
into the show. And one of the things that lit
up the voicemail line this week was Alcatraz. Yes, the Rock,
Escape from Alcatraz. Here we are I can't even make you,
(00:24):
cannot make this up. Here we are at the moment,
this critical moment in American history, and here we are
with a brand new distraction distraction day in the United
States of America. And so as a former mayor, it's
not surprising and yes, governor of the state of California,
that those calls made their way to the inbox.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hi. My name is Tara Trivini. I am a resident
and I've seen lisas California, loved in California my whole life.
I wanted to find out if our governor is going
to react to Trump's claim to wanting to reopen Alcatraz.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Am.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I at this point a lot of city says, we're
just like, what but him to a left field with
so much crap it's ridiculous. Okay, So yeah, response please,
that would be amazing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
First of all, I love I love the question. I
love the way you phrased the question. I love the
way you laughed when you left that.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Voicemail, because I think that's how all of us, I mean,
the overwhelming majority of us, responded to this.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I responded quite formally, by.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
The way, with a tweet that said, this was just
simply distraction day in Washington, d C. It wasn't just
reopening Alcatraz as a federal prison, but he also asked
and called for asked the Commerce Department, and called for
new tariffs on foreign made films. So this is what
Donald Trump does. He doesn't care if he's the heel
(01:56):
or the hero, as long as he's the star and
we're talking about him. And this is why it's so
important that we sort of distill the essence of what
Trump is actually communicating, what he's actually doing that has
a real impact in our lives. So everybody's chasing this,
It's totally understandable. I totally appreciate the question, and here
I am responding to it because heck, you know, I'm
(02:18):
a fifth generation San Francisco from a mayor of San Francisco,
So what would you expect? How could I not respond
to this? I think I, by the way, may have
commented to one reporter that it proposal has the form
and substance of fog, meaning there is quite literally no
there there. I'll remind you speaking to know they're there.
(02:39):
There's no water, there's no operating sewer system. What is
there is a dilapidated old prison that was designed in
the nineteen thirties, nineteen thirty three that Bobby Kennedy, not
junior Bobby Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States,
announced in nineteen sixty two that he was going to
shut down and did actually shut down in nineteen sixty three.
(03:02):
But I think Donald Trump's mindset is maybe nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I'm making that up.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
But when the Rock came out, and when Escape from
Alcatraz sort of iconic movies, and there's sort of an
indelible sense of place that is attached to Alcatraz.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's evocative.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Al Capone was there, Whitey Bulger was their machine gun.
Kelly was there, but not many other people were there.
I think it has a capacity of about three hundred
and thirty three hundred and thirty six cells. Anyone that's visited,
and I've been there on multiple occasions. I imagine many
people watching and listening have as well. It's corroded. You
(03:41):
have all that salt water intrusion. You've got a place
that would quite literally doge are you listening, quite literally
cost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,
would be the most expensive federal prison in the system.
It's completely unnecessary. And again it's all intended to be
(04:05):
a distraction. So we're focused on this and candidly not
focused on the real issue, which are these tariffs and
the impact that's having and wrecking on our economy, and
how it's impacting small businesses, and it's impacting each and
every one of you watching and listening in more ways
on more days than anything else that Donald Trump is
currently doing. And so that's why I think he did this.
(04:26):
And I'll just close on this. Don't do this to
San Francisco and California, and don't do this to tourism.
It's one of the drivers of tourism in the United States.
A million plus people I think it's one point two
million last year came to Alcatraz and the island. I
think the Park Service that runs it generates sixty million
(04:48):
dollars a year in revenue. Back to my Doge point,
this would cost tens of millions of dollars. You have
to bring people onto the island, the workforce and everything else.
He specifically directed his Department of Justice, and he directed
a secretary Bergham, to start to put together.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
A plan of action on this.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I mean, I pray that they're focused on other things
and not focused on the folly of this latest distraction.
And this is about zigging and zagging in a couple
of weeks, will be a couple of days, maybe a
couple hours, maybe today, maybe as I speak, there is
something out there that I'm not looking at that's the
next day's distraction. And this is what Donald Trump does
(05:30):
better than anybody else, gets us all talking about something
so that we're not talking about something else.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And so the critical thing from my.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Humble perspective is we've got to focus on what really matters,
what's essential, and again issue right now for Donald Trump
that is hurting him more than any other issue. And
there's a lot and I'm not trying to stack up
any sort of well, I'm not trying to diminish the
other issues. But it's the terroriffs the economy. You're, for
(06:00):
one case, what's happened in the markets. What's not happening
is it relates to imports, and what's not happening as
it relates to the kind of certainty that people need
and small businesses need in order to make decisions. What
may happen to your school supplies because they're not coming
into the ports of entry. What may happen, my gosh,
if it's just a few more months of these tariffs,
particularly to China, what may happen as it relates to
(06:22):
your Christmas choice that may not be on the shelves
later in the year. And Donald Trump is under deep
pressure on that issue. So I would expect to continue
to try to relieve some of that pressure in that
focus by bringing more of this nonsense to bear and
getting us all to chase these stories.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And I'll just close. Yeah, we had to chase it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I mean, my phone lit up with reporters, people calling
me saying is this real? Can this be true? What
are your thoughts on it? Can you stop it? And
the fact that there were real reporters in real concern,
frankly concerns me more than anything else. Form absence of fog.
There's no there there focus on something else. By the way,
(07:05):
the number of calls that I received, the number of
voicemails and text messages from reputable reporters all across the country,
from around the world, from other elected officials saying help,
what are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Can we stop this? Uh?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I told everybody you got it, you cannot. I mean,
you've got to be kidding me. This is going nowhere.
This is distraction Day in the United States of America. Everybody,
don't worry about it, don't panic. You're going to be
on that island as a tourist for decades, decades to come.
This is Gavin Newsom and this is Escape from Alcatraz. Well,
I want to thank everybody for leaving voice messages calling
into the show. And one of the things that lit
up the voicemail line this week was Alcatraz. Yes, the Rock,
Escape from Alcatraz. Here we are I can't even make you,
(00:24):
cannot make this up. Here we are at the moment,
this critical moment in American history, and here we are
with a brand new distraction distraction day in the United
States of America. And so as a former mayor, it's
not surprising and yes, governor of the state of California,
that those calls made their way to the inbox.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Hi. My name is Tara Trivini. I am a resident
and I've seen lisas California, loved in California my whole life.
I wanted to find out if our governor is going
to react to Trump's claim to wanting to reopen Alcatraz.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Am.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I at this point a lot of city says, we're
just like, what but him to a left field with
so much crap it's ridiculous. Okay, So yeah, response please,
that would be amazing. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
First of all, I love I love the question. I
love the way you phrased the question. I love the
way you laughed when you left that.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Voicemail, because I think that's how all of us, I mean,
the overwhelming majority of us, responded to this.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I responded quite formally, by.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
The way, with a tweet that said, this was just
simply distraction day in Washington, d C. It wasn't just
reopening Alcatraz as a federal prison, but he also asked
and called for asked the Commerce Department, and called for
new tariffs on foreign made films. So this is what
Donald Trump does. He doesn't care if he's the heel
(01:56):
or the hero, as long as he's the star and
we're talking about him. And this is why it's so
important that we sort of distill the essence of what
Trump is actually communicating, what he's actually doing that has
a real impact in our lives. So everybody's chasing this,
It's totally understandable. I totally appreciate the question, and here
I am responding to it because heck, you know, I'm
(02:18):
a fifth generation San Francisco from a mayor of San Francisco,
So what would you expect? How could I not respond
to this? I think I, by the way, may have
commented to one reporter that it proposal has the form
and substance of fog, meaning there is quite literally no
there there. I'll remind you speaking to know they're there.
(02:39):
There's no water, there's no operating sewer system. What is
there is a dilapidated old prison that was designed in
the nineteen thirties, nineteen thirty three that Bobby Kennedy, not
junior Bobby Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States,
announced in nineteen sixty two that he was going to
shut down and did actually shut down in nineteen sixty three.
(03:02):
But I think Donald Trump's mindset is maybe nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I'm making that up.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
But when the Rock came out, and when Escape from
Alcatraz sort of iconic movies, and there's sort of an
indelible sense of place that is attached to Alcatraz.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's evocative.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Al Capone was there, Whitey Bulger was their machine gun.
Kelly was there, but not many other people were there.
I think it has a capacity of about three hundred
and thirty three hundred and thirty six cells. Anyone that's visited,
and I've been there on multiple occasions. I imagine many
people watching and listening have as well. It's corroded. You
(03:41):
have all that salt water intrusion. You've got a place
that would quite literally doge are you listening, quite literally
cost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,
would be the most expensive federal prison in the system.
It's completely unnecessary. And again it's all intended to be
(04:05):
a distraction. So we're focused on this and candidly not
focused on the real issue, which are these tariffs and
the impact that's having and wrecking on our economy, and
how it's impacting small businesses, and it's impacting each and
every one of you watching and listening in more ways
on more days than anything else that Donald Trump is
currently doing. And so that's why I think he did this.
(04:26):
And I'll just close on this. Don't do this to
San Francisco and California, and don't do this to tourism.
It's one of the drivers of tourism in the United States.
A million plus people I think it's one point two
million last year came to Alcatraz and the island. I
think the Park Service that runs it generates sixty million
(04:48):
dollars a year in revenue. Back to my Doge point,
this would cost tens of millions of dollars. You have
to bring people onto the island, the workforce and everything else.
He specifically directed his Department of Justice, and he directed
a secretary Bergham, to start to put together.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
A plan of action on this.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I mean, I pray that they're focused on other things
and not focused on the folly of this latest distraction.
And this is about zigging and zagging in a couple
of weeks, will be a couple of days, maybe a
couple hours, maybe today, maybe as I speak, there is
something out there that I'm not looking at that's the
next day's distraction. And this is what Donald Trump does
(05:30):
better than anybody else, gets us all talking about something
so that we're not talking about something else.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And so the critical thing from my.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Humble perspective is we've got to focus on what really matters,
what's essential, and again issue right now for Donald Trump
that is hurting him more than any other issue. And
there's a lot and I'm not trying to stack up
any sort of well, I'm not trying to diminish the
other issues. But it's the terroriffs the economy. You're, for
(06:00):
one case, what's happened in the markets. What's not happening
is it relates to imports, and what's not happening as
it relates to the kind of certainty that people need
and small businesses need in order to make decisions. What
may happen to your school supplies because they're not coming
into the ports of entry. What may happen, my gosh,
if it's just a few more months of these tariffs,
particularly to China, what may happen as it relates to
(06:22):
your Christmas choice that may not be on the shelves
later in the year. And Donald Trump is under deep
pressure on that issue. So I would expect to continue
to try to relieve some of that pressure in that
focus by bringing more of this nonsense to bear and
getting us all to chase these stories.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And I'll just close. Yeah, we had to chase it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I mean, my phone lit up with reporters, people calling
me saying is this real? Can this be true? What
are your thoughts on it? Can you stop it? And
the fact that there were real reporters in real concern,
frankly concerns me more than anything else. Form absence of fog.
There's no there there focus on something else. By the way,
(07:05):
the number of calls that I received, the number of
voicemails and text messages from reputable reporters all across the country,
from around the world, from other elected officials saying help,
what are we going to do?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Can we stop this? Uh?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I told everybody you got it, you cannot. I mean,
you've got to be kidding me. This is going nowhere.
This is distraction Day in the United States of America. Everybody,
don't worry about it, don't panic. You're going to be
on that island as a tourist for decades, decades to come.
Host
Gavin Newsom
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