President Donald Trump made a big show on Tuesday by visiting Florida’s new immigrant detention center, where he and other GOP officials have made clear their intention to abuse human rights and vulnerable communities.
The so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” brings to life Trump’s lurid fantasies of using wild, violent animals in detaining immigrants, but it’s also a reminder that Trump has spent decades publicly fantasizing about his twisted desires.
Here are 8 other times when Trump subjected us all to the gruesome visions bouncing around in his head.
1. Executing the Exonerated Five
Trump ran a full-page newspaper ad in 1989 calling for the execution of the Exonerated Five—known at the time as the Central Park Five. The 5 teenage boys, who were Black and Latino, were completely innocent.
Years later, after DNA evidence and a confession conclusively proved their innocence, they were released from prison after spending between 6 and 13 years inside. Still, Trump refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong.
2. Shooting immigrants in the legs
According to a 2019 book by two New York Times reporters, White House sources said that Trump went into a “frenzied week of presidential rages” over immigration. At one point, Trump asked his closest advisers to authorize shooting immigrants in the legs to slow their travels across the border.
He also reportedly wanted to put spikes along border walls and electrify immigrants. It was during this frenzy that he apparently began falling in love with surrounding immigrants with alligators and snakes.
3. Shooting protesters
Secretary of Defense Mike Esper, who served during Trump’s first term, revealed in 2022 that Trump wanted to curtail the exercise of First Amendment rights by shooting protesters. The authoritarian idea was reportedly in response to the protests for racial justice following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Esper said that he and other military leaders were taken aback when Trump asked, “Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?”
Trump was upset because he thought that the protests made the country look weak.
4. Immigrant blood sports
While campaigning last year, Trump told his supporters that he told Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White that he’d like to see immigrants forced into gladiatorial combat.
“I said, ‘Dana, I have an idea. Why don’t you set up a migrant league of fighters and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league—these are the greatest fighters in the world—fight the champion of the migrants.’ I think the migrant guy might win; that’s how tough they are,” he said.
5. Murdering the families of terrorists
When he was first running for office in 2015, Trump was trying to prove that he had the best policy to combat international terrorism: murder.
“The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. When they say they don’t care about their lives, you have to take out their families,” he told Fox News.
At the time, Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor made clear in a CNN interview that this fantasy of Trump’s would be a “war crime.”
6. Reopening Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
Alcatraz is a public museum and has not operated as a prison since 1963. But in May, Trump said that he would use the power of the federal government to change that.
“I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” he wrote on Truth Social.
There are nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the United States—the largest rate of incarceration in the world. There isn’t any need to reopen Alcatraz beyond feeding Trump’s sick desires.
7. Turning the Gaza Strip into a resort
People are suffering in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on. But Trump thinks it would be a great location for a new resort.
In February, he posted an AI-generated video that showed Gaza morphing into a gold-covered luxury resort, which included statues of Trump and Elon Musk. That same month, Trump said that Palestinians should be forcefully relocated after a U.S. takeover.
8. A third Trump term
Trump’s second term has been constant mayhem, abuse, and scandal—even worse than his first term. The Constitution prohibits presidents from serving more than two terms, but Trump has made it clear that he has no respect for the law.
He has repeatedly floated the idea of running for office again and serving for another four years.
“I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure. Am I allowed to run again?” he said to House Republicans in January.
He isn’t.
Trump isn’t alone in his disturbing fantasies. In May, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was considering a reality TV show where immigrants compete for citizenship.
And, of course, Noem infamously posed for photos in front of immigrants being detained in El Salvador’s notoriously violent CECOT prison.
Americans’ pride in their nation has never been lower. Having a leader like Trump, who uses his presidential power to bring to life his gruesome and embarrassing fantasies, has no doubt contributed significantly to those negative feelings.