Trump wants tariffs on ‘foreign’ movies. But there’s a reason no one wants to shoot in LA

‘I love Los Angeles, but at times, it can feel like Alcatraz – an isolating movie prison where the only way to escape is to be kicked out.’ Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Two more top-notch ideas from the twisted mind of Donald Trump: reopening Alcatraz prison (currently a very wet, very old tourist attraction) and applying a 100% tariff on motion pictures made in “Foreign Lands”.

Somehow, I think these two things are related. Some have speculated that the president hatched his scheme to revitalize the island jail in the middle of San Francisco Bay after watching the Clint Eastwood film Escape from Alcatraz on PBS. That feels plausible, though it’s a bit odd that his epiphany about Alcatraz would come from watching a movie about a daring escape with a convicted criminal for a hero. Was The Rock not on that night?