Trump: Alcatraz “Nobody Ever Escaped — It Represents Law and Order”; Film Industry “Abandoned the USA”; Kennedy: “COVID Cost 20 Million Lives”

President Trump expanded on three policy announcements at a May 2025 press event. On Alcatraz: “It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Nobody ever escaped. Right now it’s a big hulk sitting there rusting. We’re going to look at bringing it back in large form.” On film tariffs: “Our film industry has been decimated by other countries. It’s an industry that’s abandoned the USA where it started. We’ll get it back.” On gain-of-function: “It can leak out like from Wuhan. I said that right from day one.” Kennedy added: “No laboratory is immune from leaks. COVID cost 20 million lives and $25 trillion. This executive order is a precaution against us being involved in that kind of research.”

Alcatraz: “Horrible and Beautiful”

Trump offered his most detailed vision for reopening the prison.

“It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order,” Trump said. “Our country needs law and order.”

He assessed the facility: “Alcatraz is the ultimate, right? Alcatraz, Sing Sing, and Alcatraz — the movies.”

He noted its current state: “It’s right now a museum, believe it or not. A lot of people go there.”

He cited its legendary security: “Nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there, but as you know the story — they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. A lot of shark bites, a lot of problems.”

He described its qualities: “Right now, it’s a big hulk that’s sitting there rusting and rotting. But it sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful, and strong and miserable, weak. It’s got a lot of qualities that are interesting.”

He confirmed the plan: “We’re going to look at it. Some of the people up here are going to be working very hard on that.”

Trump’s description of Alcatraz as “both horrible and beautiful” was the assessment of a developer looking at a property with potential. The island prison was an iconic structure in one of the world’s most famous harbors. As a museum, it drew millions of visitors. As a reopened prison, it would serve as both a functional detention facility and a symbol of the administration’s commitment to law enforcement.

The “nobody ever escaped” detail was the key to Alcatraz’s symbolic power. In an era when courts were blocking deportations and activists were demanding the release of violent criminals, a prison from which no one had ever escaped represented the antithesis of the revolving-door justice system.

Film Industry: “Decimated”

Trump detailed the state of American filmmaking.

“Our film industry has been decimated by other countries and also by incompetence,” Trump said. “Like in Los Angeles, the governor is a grossly incompetent man. He’s just allowed it to be taken away from Hollywood.”

He described the hollowing out: “Hollywood doesn’t do very much of that business. They have the nice sign and everything’s good, but they don’t do very much. A lot of it’s been taken to other countries.”

He identified the mechanism: “They’ve been given financing by other countries. They’ve been given a lot of things.”

He cited the scale: “If you look at how little is done in this country — not long ago, 100%. Now we do almost very little. It’s shocking.”

He stated his approach: “I’m going to meet with the industry. I want to make sure they’re happy with it because we’re all about jobs.”

He concluded: “It’s a big industry, but it’s an industry now that’s really left — it’s abandoned the USA where it started. We’ll get it back.”

The film industry’s offshoring was a microcosm of the broader deindustrialization Trump was combating. Just as manufacturing had moved to China and auto production had moved to Mexico, film production had moved to Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries that offered tax incentives the United States didn’t match.

The irony was that Hollywood remained America’s most recognized cultural export — but the actual production increasingly happened elsewhere. Movies set in New York were filmed in Toronto. Television shows set in American cities were shot in Vancouver sound stages. The cultural product was American; the jobs were foreign.

”It Can Leak Out”

Trump connected the gain-of-function executive order to the COVID origin.

“It can leak out like from Wuhan,” Trump said. “And a lot of people think that. I think I said that right from day one.”

He described the mechanism: “It leaked out whether it was to the girlfriend or somebody else. Scientists walked outside to have lunch with the girlfriend, or it was together with a lot of people.”

He stated his view: “That’s how it leaked out, in my opinion. And I’ve never changed that opinion.”

He described the risk: “It can leak out innocently, stupidly, incompetently, but innocently, and half-destroy the world.”

Kennedy provided the technical context: “The SL3 and SL4 labs — highest-rated laboratories — leak almost every week. There’s no laboratory that does this right. There’s no laboratory that’s immune from leaks.”

Kennedy cited the cost: “The COVID outbreak cost 20 million lives and cost the world at least $25 trillion.”

He stated the purpose: “This executive order is a precaution against us being involved in those kind of research in the future and endangering humanity.”

Kennedy’s “20 million lives and $25 trillion” was the most specific accounting of COVID’s cost that any administration official had provided. The figure — combining direct deaths, indirect mortality, and economic destruction across every country on Earth — represented the consequence of a single gain-of-function experiment that escaped containment.

His assertion that high-security labs “leak almost every week” demolished the argument that gain-of-function research could be conducted safely under sufficient oversight. If the world’s best laboratories couldn’t prevent leaks, the only way to prevent the next pandemic was to stop conducting the research that might cause one.

Key Takeaways

• Alcatraz: “Nobody ever escaped. It’s both horrible and beautiful. It represents law and order. We’re looking at bringing it back in large form.”
• Film industry: “Decimated by other countries. Abandoned the USA where it started. I’m meeting with the industry — we’ll get it back.”
• Trump on COVID origin: “It leaked out from Wuhan. I said that day one. It can leak out innocently and half-destroy the world.”
• Kennedy: “No lab is immune from leaks. COVID cost 20 million lives and $25 trillion. This EO prevents us from being involved in that research.”
• Trump praised the film tariff concept: “It’s all about jobs. It’s a big industry.”