News commentary

The intolerable memes of Alligator Alcatraz

The Verge · Gaby Del Valle · last updated

Alligator Alcatraz, Florida’s hastily built, $225 million-and-counting immigrant detention facility in the Everglades, is both a de facto concentration camp and a right-wing meme. President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters are willing to excuse — or are in some cases reveling in — allegations of inhumane treatment at the facility: worms in food, floors flooded with fecal water, fluorescent lights left on for 24 hours a day, and no air conditioning at night despite South Florida’s relentless humidity.

To them, the whole thing is a big joke, fodder for memes that activate the base even as they turn the majority of Americans off from Trump.

 

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