Kind of crazy... No, real crazy....

Trump says US to stop attacking Houthis in Yemen as group has 'capitulated'

From BBC

Donald Trump said the US would stop attacking the Houthis in Yemen because the group had "capitulated", as Oman confirmed a "ceasefire" had been reached with the Iran-backed group for it to stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea.

"[The Houthis] just don't want to fight, and we will honour that and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," he said, speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the White House.

Shortly afterwards the Omani foreign minister posted that the deal meant neither side would target the other, "ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping".

The Houthis have yet to comment.

The US stepped up air strikes on the Houthis in March and the US military says it has struck 1,000 targets in Yemen since then.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said the Houthis would "not be blowing up ships anymore".

"The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they announced to us at least, that they don't want to fight anymore... but, more importantly, we will take their word.

"They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore and that's what the purpose of what we were doing... so that's just news we just found out about that."

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said his country had mediated efforts to achieve de-escalation.

"In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" he said.

The Houthis began attacking shipping passing through the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, who have been under bombardment by the Israeli military since the Palestinian armed group Hamas attacked Israeli communities in October 2023.

They have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks on commercial ships, sinking two vessels, seizing a third and killing four crew members. The attacks forced even major shipping companies to stop using the Red Sea - through which almost 15% of global seaborne trade usually passes - and to take a much longer route around southern Africa instead.

US-led naval forces thwarted many Houthi attacks on shipping and former US president Joe Biden began US air strikes against the Houthis, which have intensified under Trump.

Last month, the Houthis said at least 68 African migrants were killed in a US air strike on a detention centre in north-western Yemen.

The Houthis have continued firing missiles towards Israel, with one missile landing near Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday.

On Tuesday Israel responded with a large-scale attack on Yemen's main international airport in the capital Sanaa, which left it "completely destroyed" according to an airport official quoted by AFP.

Other Israeli strikes hit power facilities and a cement factory. On Monday Israel bombed port facilities in Hudaydah and another cement factory in the city.

Sir David Attenborough

Attenborough at 99 delivers 'greatest message he's ever told'

Justin Rowlatt

Sir David Attenborough is launching what he says is one of the most important films of his career as he enters his hundredth year.

He believes his new, cinema-length film Ocean could play a decisive role in saving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change.

Sir David, who will be 99 on Thursday, says: "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea."

The ocean is the planet's support system and humanity's greatest ally against climate catastrophe, the film argues. It shows how the world's oceans are at a crossroads.

The blue carpet was rolled out for the premiere the Royal Festival Hall in London this afternoon.

In attendance was the King, who was seen greeting Sir David, and Prince William, who was there in a "personal capacity".

A host of celebrities also attended, including singer Geri Halliwell-Horner, astronaut Chris Peake and model Cara Delevingne.

They were joined by hundreds of children from schools across the country.

Toby Nowlan, who produced Ocean, says this new production is not a typical Attenborough film. "This is not about seeing brand new natural history behaviours. It is the greatest message he's ever told," he says.

The film documents how the state of the world's oceans and our understanding of how they function have changed in the course of Sir David's lifetime.

Sir David remembers his first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef way back in 1957: "I was so taken aback by the spectacle before me I forgot – momentarily – to breathe."

Since then, there has been a catastrophic decline in life in the world's oceans. "We are almost out of time," he warns.

Ocean contains some of the most graphic footage of the damage that bottom trawling – a common fishing practice around the world - can do to the seabed. It is a vivid example of how industrial fishing can drain the life from the world's oceans, Sir David claims.

The new footage shows how the chain that the trawlers drag behind them scours the seafloor, forcing the creatures it disturbs into the net behind. They are often seeking a single species: more than three-quarters of what they catch may be discarded.

"It's hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish," comments Sir David.

The process also releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide which contributes to the warming of our planet, yet bottom trawling is not just legal but is actively encouraged by many governments.

Sir David says the state of the ocean has almost made him lose hope for the future of life on the planet. What has kept him from despair is what he calls the "most remarkable discovery of all" – that the ocean can "recover faster than we had ever imagined".

Sir David says the story of the world's whales has been a source of huge optimism for him.

It is estimated that 2.9 million whales were killed by the whaling industry in the 20th Century alone. Scientists have said it is the largest cull of any animal in history when measured in terms of total biomass. It pushed almost all whale species to the edge of extinction.

Just one per cent of Blue Whales were left, recalls Sir David: "I remember thinking that was it. There was no coming back, we had lost the great whales."

But in 1986 lawmakers bowed to public pressure and banned commercial whaling worldwide. The whale population has rapidly recovered since then.

One of the film's directors, Keith Scholey, has worked with Sir David for 44 years. "When I first met David, I was in shorts," he jokes. That was in 1981, two years after Sir David had resigned as the BBC's director of programmes – one of the most senior jobs at the Corporation. "He'd done one career, and he was off on his next."

Despite now nearing his 99th birthday Sir David is still remarkably energetic, says Scholey. "Every time you work with David, you learn something new," he says. "It's really good fun. But also, David keeps you on your mettle, because he is so on his mettle and so, you know, it's always a very creative process."

Sir David's key message in the Ocean film is that all is not lost. Countries have promised to protect a third of the world's oceans. He hopes his new film will spur leaders to take firm action on this promise at a UN conference next month.

He believes that could be transformational.

"The ocean can bounce back to life," Sir David says. "If left alone it may not just recover but thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen."

A healthier ocean ecosystem would also be able to trap more carbon dioxide, helping protect the world from climate change, according to scientists.

"In front of us is a chance to protect our climate, our food, our home," Sir David says.

As he celebrates his 99th birthday this week he is still fighting to protect the natural world he has worked his lifetime to show to us in all its glory.

Ocean will be in cinemas across the country from Thursday.

"The best air defense..." Can't protect anything...

Ukrainian drones attack Moscow, temporarily halting flights ahead of major military parade

By Mariya Knight and Chris Lau

Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night, temporarily halting flights at four airports in the Russian capital and nine further afield – as it prepares to host a major military parade expected to be attended by world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a Telegram post Tuesday that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to the capital overnight, one night after Russian air defenses shot down four drones near the city.

There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties, but debris from downed drones fell on a major highway, Sobyanin said. Flights were temporarily suspended as a safety precaution at four of the capital’s airports, according to Russian aviation authorities. Flights at some of the affected airports, in and outside the capital, have since resumed.

The devices launched at Moscow were among 105 Ukrainian drones intercepted across Russia overnight, Russia’s defense ministry said on Telegram Tuesday.

The latest Ukrainian attack on the Russian capital comes ahead of Xi’s expected arrival in Moscow on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, in which the Chinese leader will take part in Friday’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations, according to a Kremlin statement Sunday.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vietnam’s President To Lam and Belarussian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko are among 29 leaders expected to attend, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. North Korea will send an ambassador to Moscow – and India, Nicaragua and South Africa will be represented by high-level delegations, he said.

Victory Day is the most significant day in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calendar, as he has long used it to rally public support and demonstrate the country’s military prowess.

Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of Moscow’s Red Square on Friday in an exhibition of patriotism marking the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany and commemorating the more than 25 million Soviet soldiers and civilians who died during World War II.

Kyiv called on international allies not to send troops to Russia’s Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, warning that participation would amount to “sharing responsibility for the blood of Ukrainian children, civilians, and military personnel.”

“The participation of foreign military personnel in this event is unacceptable and will be regarded by Ukraine as a desecration of the memory of the victory over Nazism,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

Troops from 13 countries are set to take part in the parade, Russia’s presidential aid said. The parade will involve marching units from Azerbaijan, Vietnam, China, and Egypt among others, Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russian authorities have already pulled scheduled celebrations in parts of the country – just hours after the Ukrainian salvo overnight. In the south, there will be no Victory Parade in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, or in the city of Krasnador, according to local governors.

Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-backed head of Sevastopol, announced commemorations were canceled “for security reasons,” in a decision mandated by Russia’s defense ministry. Similarly, Kuban Veniamin Kondratyev, the head of Krasnador, warned such celebrations posed “a big risk.”

“An air threat is announced almost every night. Of course, we cannot risk the residents of Krasnodar, those who come to the parade, the participants in the parade,” said Kondratyev.

Ukraine won’t be ‘playing games’

Putin last month declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with the May 9 celebrations based on what he called “humanitarian considerations,” prompting skepticism in Kyiv.

Following the attacks on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, accused Kyiv of “continuing the war,” insisting that the Easter truce “is still relevant.” But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly criticized the three-day ceasefire, saying he was only ready to sign up for a longer truce of at least 30 days.

Since April 29, when Putin called for the Victory Day truce, the Ukrainian army has accused Moscow of launching around 1,856 attacks along the expansive front lines. In that time, Russian attacks have killed at least 46 civilians and injured another 337 in Ukraine, according to a CNN tally of figures from local authorities and emergency services.

A Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Sumy in central Ukraine on Tuesday killed three people, including a six-year-old boy, Sumy’s regional military administration said. Eight people were being treated in medical facilities, two of whom were in “extremely serious condition,” the authorities added.

Meanwhile, the White House renewed calls for a “permanent ceasefire” as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a deal to end the war. But those negotiations have largely stalled.

In a message to dignitaries traveling to Russia for the Victory Day celebrations, the Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv “cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” due to the ongoing conflict.

Kyiv won’t be “playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin’s exit from isolation on 9 May,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

In response, Russia’s foreign ministry said his comments amounted to a threat.

Zelensky has demanded answers from China in recent weeks, after he revealed that two Chinese fighters had been captured by Ukraine in early April and claimed there were “many more” in Russia’s ranks.

Beijing denied any involvement and repeated previous calls for Chinese citizens to “refrain from participating in military actions of any party.”

Kyiv has increasingly turned to drones to level the playing field with Russia, which boasts superior manpower and resources. On Saturday, Ukraine claimed it shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea using a seaborne drone for the first time.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official told CNN the country’s military retains a presence inside Russia’s Kursk, days after Moscow said it had completely recaptured the western region following a months-long incursion by Kyiv’s forces.

Block House GOP crypto hearing

Waters plans to block House GOP crypto hearing

Her move will be the latest Democratic effort to derail GOP-led crypto legislation by highlighting potential conflicts of interest with the Trump family.

Jasper Goodman

House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) plans to object to a joint hearing the panel is hosting Tuesday on cryptocurrency policy, which will effectively prevent the meeting from taking place, according to a Democratic aide with direct knowledge of the matter who was granted anonymity to discuss unannounced matters.

Joint hearings require unanimous consent. The Financial Services Committee is hosting the meeting jointly with the House Agriculture panel, which also has jurisdiction over crypto regulation.

After objecting to the hearing, the person said, Waters plans to walk out with at least some Financial Services Democrats and host a “shadow hearing” focused on the Trump family’s entanglements in the crypto industry. Her move will be the latest effort by Democrats to derail industry-friendly digital assets legislation that GOP lawmakers are pursuing by highlighting potential conflicts of interest with the Trump family.

A spokesperson for Financial Services Republicans, Brooke Nethercott, said in a statement that since the last Congress, the committee has “had productive bipartisan, bicameral discussions on market structure legislation.”

“We encourage the Ranking Member to attend tomorrow’s hearing to express her views and reconsider her decision to object,” she said.

The hearing is scheduled to take place just one day after House Republicans unveiled a draft of landmark crypto regulation that would divvy up oversight of digital assets between market regulators.

Waters called House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) on Saturday to tell him she planned to object to the Tuesday hearing unless he agreed to include a provision in the crypto legislation he is pursuing that would take aim at the Trump family’s crypto businesses, the person said.

Hill has said that the Trump family crypto ventures are making legislating on the issue “more complicated,” but Republicans — and some crypto-friendly Democrats — have rejected calls to address the issue in their legislation.

Republicans’ crypto legislation “places universal requirements on issuers of all stripes,” Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who chairs a House Financial Services subcommittee on crypto, said at a markup last month.

Prepared to act

Congress is ‘prepared to act’ on disaster aid as FEMA runs out of cash, Cole says

Disaster relief funding is expected to be depleted this summer, but the White House hasn’t sent Congress an emergency request.

Jennifer Scholtes

The Trump administration is on track to run out of cash for disaster relief this summer, and the House’s top appropriator has been asking for an emergency request from the White House.

FEMA estimates that it will be down to about $5 billion in the disaster relief fund in June — just in time for the start of Atlantic hurricane season — before running out of cash by July or August. By the time the new fiscal year dawns in October, the Trump administration predicts it will have $8 billion in disaster costs it cannot pay, unless Congress clears an emergency aid package in the meantime.

But lawmakers need President Donald Trump to send a formal request to make that happen.

“I have raised this several times,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in a brief interview. “Look, we’re prepared to act on that. We never act until we get a request. So that’s really up to them.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is scheduled to testify before appropriators in both chambers this week and is expected to field questions about the administration’s plans for disaster aid. The secretary plans to tell lawmakers that the federal government’s role in emergency management “needs to be both reformed and reimagined.”

Noem has privately told administration officials that she wants to eliminate FEMA’s role in funding long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grant programs that help communities prepare for disasters, six people told POLITICO’s E&E News earlier this year.

For months, lawmakers in both parties have talked about the possibility of tying disaster aid to action on the debt limit. If Republicans can’t pass their party-line megabill by the time the U.S. runs out of borrowing power in the coming months, they will be forced to table their plan to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion under that bill and instead embrace a bipartisan solution that at least delays the fiscal cliff for a few months.

The White House has yet to send Congress a specific request for helping California recover from the series of wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles and surrounding areas in January. But FEMA has allocated more than $2.7 billion to aid recovery from those fires.

Cock Block........

House Republicans again block vote on Trump’s tariffs

Rules Committee Democrats tried to allow the matter to come to the House floor.

Meredith Lee Hill

Republicans on the House Rules Committee moved again to block a vote on rolling back Donald Trump’s tariffs Monday in their latest effort to protect the president’s authority over global trade.

Democrats on the panel offered an amendment that would have reversed earlier Rules Committee maneuvers that effectively blocked attempts to call floor votes overturning the tariffs. One amendment offered by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) was ruled out of order by Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.); a second amendment was voted down on party lines.

“These tariffs are tanking our economy, and the public wants us to take action,” Leger Fernández said.

Speaker Mike Johnson has given Trump immense leeway on the trade levies as the fallout continues to reverberate through the financial markets and the broader global economy. Last week, Johnson cracked the door open to congressional action on the tariffs if an “imbalance” develops between the branches. But said he didn’t believe it would become necessary.

Senate crypto bill

Thune open to changing Senate crypto bill to win over Dems

Concerns from Democrats may not be the only vote-counting hurdle Republicans face in the coming days.

By Jasper Goodman, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he is open to amending landmark cryptocurrency legislation that GOP leaders hope to pass in the coming weeks on the floor, as Republicans scramble to negotiate changes that would win over enough Democrats to advance the bill.

“Changes can be made on the floor for sure,” Thune told reporters Monday. He added that he is “waiting to see what it is [Democrats] are asking for.”

His comments come as key Democrats are negotiating to get changes to the crypto legislation, which would create the first-ever U.S. regulatory framework for digital tokens known as stablecoins that are pegged to the value of the dollar.

“Democrats and Republicans are talking to each other right now,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who privately urged members last week not to commit to supporting the stablecoin legislation in order to extract additional concessions from Republicans.

Concerns from Democrats may not be the only vote-counting hurdle Republicans face in the coming days. Sen. Rand Paul said in an interview Monday he is undecided on the legislation, which could add a new headache for Republican leaders who need 60 votes to pass the bill.

“Businesses come to Washington and they say, ‘Please regulate us.’ And usually I say, ‘Well, you’ll be sorry,’” Paul said.

The Kentucky Republican added that he is “all for stablecoin,” which he said could someday compete with the payment giants Mastercard and Visa, but added: “If you place all kinds of limits on it — I don’t know enough to know whether this might harm them in their competitive ability to actually overtake Mastercard and Visa.”

Paul added that he wonders “if this is some kind of thing to build up purchase of Treasuries,” which stablecoin issuers would be allowed to hold as reserves backing their dollar-pegged tokens.

The stablecoin bill hit a surprise roadblock over the weekend when a group of nine Senate Democrats who were previously open to backing the legislation said they wouldn’t support revisions that Republicans unveiled last week.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who voted for a previous version of the stablecoin bill when it cleared the Senate Banking Committee in March, said negotiations are ongoing and he hopes to come to a deal with Republicans ahead of a procedural vote that GOP leaders are eyeing to hold on Thursday.

“I’m hoping we could get it done by then,” he told reporters. “If we can’t then, yeah, then push back. But there’s no reason why we can’t.”

His comments are a sign that pro-crypto Democrats remain open to supporting the stablecoin legislation on the floor, despite concerns from other members of the caucus about advancing the measure as the Trump family pursues digital assets business ventures. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who also voted for a previous version of the bill in the Senate Banking Committee, said there are “real-time meetings going on right now.”

“I think we need a regulated stablecoin regime, but we’ve got legitimate national security issues,” he said.

District of Columbia budget fix

Speaker says House will vote ‘as quickly as possible’ on District of Columbia budget fix

But Mike Johnson is offering no firm timeline for action as the city could soon have to make dramatic cuts to local services.

By Hailey Fuchs and Meredith Lee Hill

Speaker Mike Johnson said he still intends to hold a vote House to vote to fix the District of Columbia’s $1 billion funding shortfall, after the stopgap government funding bill he spearheaded back in March inadvertently forced the city to confront sudden budget cuts.

“I talked to the mayor and told her that we would do it as quickly as possible,” Johnson told reporters Monday evening. “Reconciliation has taken all of our energy right now, but we’re not delaying this for some political purpose or any intentionality. It’s just a matter of schedule, even at this point.”

The Senate has already approved a measure to fix what many people believe to have been a drafting error in the package Congress passed to avoid a shutdown earlier this year. That package omitted key language included in previous funding bills allowing Washington to spend its own locally raised tax dollars through the end of the fiscal year.

Congress could be running out of time to act, however, to correct its error, as the city is already looking at making dramatic reductions in local services, from scaling back law enforcement capabilities to cutting resources for public education.

President Donald Trump has called on the House to take the measure up. In the meantime, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has presented herself as a partner to the White House, standing beside the president at a press conference earlier Monday to announce the NFL would host its draft on the National Mall in 2027.

House Oversight Chair James Comer, whose panel has jurisdiction over Washington affairs, said Monday he has also been personally pressing colleagues to rectify the funding issue, which could cause dramatic reductions in local services, from scaling back law enforcement capabilities to cutting resources for public education.

Comer, a Kentucky Republican, added that Bowser’s visit to the White House Monday was particularly helpful to the cause and their conversation about football gave the mayor an opportunity to advocate for the funding fix. Bowser recently announced plans to revitalize the long-vacant RFK Stadium as the new home to the Washington Commanders, who have been relegated to a stadium in Maryland for years.

“I’ve done everything I can to advocate for fixing it,” said Comer in an interview. “I’m willing to do everything in my committee, for the most part.”

Legislation to address the funding shortfall would likely have the votes to pass the House on a bipartisan basis, but the GOP’s most conservative flank could revolt and take procedural steps to block the chamber from considering the bill.

Some Republicans lawmakers have demanded Republican leaders include conditions like forcing Washington to reverse its policy allowing noncitizens to vote, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Those calls could continue.

And last week, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland continued to defend Congress’ authority to block the capital city’s government from spending more than $1 billion of its own funding raised through local taxes.

“D.C. is complaining because they’re having their spending frozen. Come on, the average American thinks the governments are pretty wasteful, and I think they’d applaud a freezing spending,” Harris told reporters. “Read the Constitution. The federal government has the authority over the federal enclave. Period. Full stop. That’s it.”

California emissions waiver

Thune says GOP senators are ‘still looking’ at nixing California emissions waiver

Democrats say holding a vote would be a “nuclear option” with sweeping implications for the Senate.

Jordain Carney

Senate Republicans are discussing whether and how to nix California’s longstanding emission standards waiver — a decision that could also have dramatic consequences for the state of the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he had not yet made a decision on whether to bring up a resolution rolling back California’s ability to set stricter air quality standards after it passed the House last week.

“We’re still looking at that,” Thune said about the resolution, which invokes the Congressional Review Act to overturn EPA waivers granted under former President Joe Biden. The Senate has a “buffer” of a few weeks to make a decision, he added, and Republicans are having “conversations” about what to do.

There’s widespread interest among Senate Republicans in nixing California’s waiver, which has allowed the state to in effect set national environmental policy, and some members of Thune’s leadership team have gone so far as to vow that the Senate will take it up — putting pressure on Thune to act.

The wrinkle for Thune is that the Government Accountability Office has ruled that the waivers do not qualify as rules subject to challenge under the Congressional Review Act. The Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, has backed up the GAO ruling.

Many Republicans are wary of challenging MacDonough, who will need to bless their party line policy bill later this year. One option under discussion would be to try to target the GAO’s ruling instead.

Democrats warned in a recent letter they would view Republicans bringing up a CRA resolution to nix California’s waiver as a move to undermine the filibuster, the 60-vote requirement for most legislation, in light of the GAO ruling and the parliamentarian’s guidance. The letter was sent to Republicans on May 1 but released publicly by Democrats on Monday.

“[S]uch an action would be a procedural nuclear option — a dramatic break from Senate precedent with profound institutional consequences,” 20 Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, wrote in a letter to Senate GOP leadership.

They added that “once that precedent is set, a future Senate Majority could subsequently apply it to legislation beyond the CRA. Put bluntly, there is no cabining a decision to overrule the Parliamentarian.”

Side-Show Bob....

Trump alone on an island with plan to reopen infamous Alcatraz

On a Monday morning visit to Alcatraz, foreign tourists were only slightly less critical of the president’s plan to make it a federal penitentiary again than the Democratic pols who run San Francisco.

By Will McCarthy

If the national park rangers of Alcatraz are soon replaced by the prison wardens of California’s newest penitentiary, the throngs of tourists marching across the decaying 22-acre fortress Monday morning will serve as a strange dream between two eras of incarceration.

Today, children in strollers point with wonder at 9-by-5-foot jail cells. Seagulls and shorebirds lay nested in the colonized rubble of collapsed structures. At the gift shop, visitors purchase Alcatraz guard whistles and tin prisoner cups for $10.95 a pop.

“Welcome to your national parks,” a ranger named Matt Connelly shouted to tourists filing off the ferry from San Francisco on Monday. “We hope you have a safe and pleasant trip to Alcatraz Island.”

The view of Alcatraz Prison and the Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry.

A view of Alcatraz and the San Francisco Bay.

In the hours since President Donald Trump declared his plans to reopen a “substantially enlarged” Alcatraz to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” California politicians have nearly universally derided the idea as a distraction, a fantasy, or a farce. State Sen. Scott Wiener called the proposal “absurd on its face.” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi described the idea as unserious, a sentiment that current San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie echoed at a news conference Monday morning.

In an interview, Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, said she viewed Trump’s plan as “asinine.”

“I’m kind of at a loss for words on this,” Tung said. “The way for the country to project strength is not by returning to the past. The days of Alcatraz being a place for incarceration have long since passed.”

Trump’s declaration marked another pivot point in the strange and sordid history of Alcatraz, a large rock about 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco. Originally a fort, the site was briefly operated as a military prison before opening as a federal penitentiary in 1934.

Over the years, the prison built a reputation for ruthless conditions that challenged the sanity of its inmates. Escape was nearly impossible and almost certainly deadly. Punishment was frequent and usually brutal. Then, as Trump hopes it will be again, the island was used to house the country’s most violent and reviled prisoners. In 1963, the prison was closed due to high operating costs and better facilities on-shore.

Today, the park prioritizes safety, warning visitors of tripping hazards and uneven pavement. Handrails line the sidewalks, leading to informational plaques about the salamanders and deer mice that now live on the island.

And like San Francisco’s politicians, park visitors too seem to view the idea of a reborn Alcatraz prison as an implausibility.

“It’s a mind game,” said one Argentine tourist. “Insanity,” said a Canadian. (Both declined to share their names.)

“I say if this is what we need to do, then do it,” said Stephanie Bishop, a visitor from Florida. “But if we don’t, then maybe just leave it alone.”

The park presents itself as a monument to dark moments in American history. A quote from Nelson Mandela covering one wall reads “a nation should be judged not by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” A banner near the entrance reads, “if you break the rules, you go to prison. If you break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz.” There are large exhibits on mass incarceration. Visitors can enter a windowless cell and close the door for a brief taste of solitary confinement.

But speaking at an unrelated White House event Monday morning, Trump called Alcatraz, the mythical inescapable prison, a symbol of a rougher, tougher America. It is a place, he said, that “represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order.”

“It housed the most violent criminals in the world and nobody ever escaped,” Trump said to reporters. “It is, right now, a museum, believe it or not.”