# Alligator Auschwitz **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533 "2025-07-31T00:21:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/41 "2025-07-31T21:48:42Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I think Trump’s current policy is certainly worse than his 2019 policy. I don’t see any evidence that it’s _that much_ worse. Sending hundreds off to CECOT in El Salvador strikes me as _that much_ worse, especially combined with the Trump maladministration’s statements that they reserve the “right” to deport people to third-party nations. The fact that doesn’t meet the definition of deportation – sending a person back to their home country, where they’re as free as any other citizen or subject – makes this significantly worse. CECOT’s really bad for (1) its horrible conditions, being imposed on (2) people who haven’t been convicted of a crime (most with no criminal record, period!), for (3) as long as Trump keeps paying Bukele to keep them. Venezuela trading for the release of most of the CECOT “deportees” doesn’t actually change any of those three things. The only difference now is the “deportees” remaining in CECOT are all El Salvadoran so they’re back in their home country. Alligator Alcatraz strikes me as Trump’s effort to duplicate CECOT on American soil as closely as U.S. law will let him. Calling it Alligator Alcatraz to mock it doesn’t faze Trump or Trumpists, as they’ve fully embraced the insult – as formidable to escape and harsh to live\* as Alcatraz, just with swamps and alligators instead of ocean currents and sharks. It seems to me that Alligator Auschwitz is not disrespectful to Holocaust victims but a necessary escalation if you want to convey disapproval that MAGAts won’t just adopt as a twisted compliment. \*Alcatraz was harsh, no doubt, but prisoners were actually pretty well fed and punished for rules violations with isolation rather than corporal punishment as previously and elsewhere. [Cite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkIFFPkKq_4). The goal was to keep prisoners from escaping, people weren’t _hoping_ that prisoners drown like MAGAs seem to hope detainees are eaten by alligators. 😮 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/42 "2025-07-31T21:53:02Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Calling it Alligator Alcatraz to mock it doesn’t faze Trump or Trumpists, as they’ve fully embraced the insult… Didn’t they coin it in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/43 "2025-07-31T21:58:37Z")
Quite possibly. The point is we’re playing on Trump’s field when we call it Alligator Alcatraz, and we have to call it something that unambiguously conveys condemnation. If Alligator Auschwitz is considered too extreme or disrespectful, Gator Gulag has the advantage of (1) being pithy and (2) invoking a place where the management didn’t care if the inmates lived or died. It has the disadvantage that the USSR has been gone long enough that a lot of people don’t know what a gulag is/was. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/44 "2025-07-31T22:02:23Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > If Alligator Auschwitz is considered too extreme or disrespectful, IMHO- yes it is. But Gator Gulag works, and i dont hate Alligator Andersonville, **Miller** ’s idea. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/45 "2025-07-31T22:29:30Z")
The problem with that is that even fewer people know what Andersonville is than Alcatraz or Auschwitz. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/46 "2025-07-31T22:36:08Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > It has the disadvantage that the USSR has been gone long enough that a lot of people don’t know what a gulag is/was. Well, it would get people to look up the meaning. It also has an advantage of being associated with Russia, so here’s mud in your eye, Putin. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/47 "2025-08-01T18:48:56Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > No one is referencing Auschwitz to allude to it’s earlier incarnation, any more than references to someone being _Hitlerlike_ should be taken to mean _middling at painting_. The point is, this facility won’t be a death camp, when it opens, and neither was Auschwitz, when it opened. Auschwitz was later turned into a death camp. And places like this will also be eventually turned into death camps, if Trump and his cabal aren’t stopped first. We can’t say “Well, we shouldn’t make the comparison until the gassings start”. Before the gassings start is precisely when we should be making the comparison. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/48 "2025-08-01T18:57:05Z")
When they tell you they want a genocide maybe we should believe them? [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gu4ITBgWkAEBUIC?format=png) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gu4ITBgWkAEBUIC?format=png) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/49 "2025-08-01T20:36:36Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > We can still workshop this. How about “Alligator Andersonville?” DesSantis Dachau? Everglades Esterwegen? Trump Treblinka? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/50 "2025-08-02T00:19:33Z")
Sunshine State Sobibor? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/51 "2025-08-02T01:17:08Z")
Manatee Maximum Security? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/52 "2025-08-02T16:43:44Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It’s more comparable to Japanese internment where people were also imprisoned without due process due to racism and which is also a stain on our country. No, it’s already much worse than those. People were locked into those camps, but not locked up within them. And they were given food (that i think they had to cook themselves.) Most of those imprisoned survived, and were released after the war ended. An elderly relative of my college roommate survived one, and she said they were all surprised at how well they were treated, for being in a prison camp. Gator gulag sounds best to me, so far. I don’t think it will become alligator Auschwitz, but i wish i were more certain of that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/53 "2025-08-02T17:35:28Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Sunshine State Sobibor? Bayoubliette? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/54 "2025-08-02T18:08:24Z")
Black Hole of Collier County? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/55 "2025-08-02T19:35:43Z")
Bastillewater ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/56 "2025-08-02T20:17:22Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Gator gulag sounds best to me, so far. Yep. Can we change the title please? The title name is demeaning to the memory of the Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/57 "2025-08-02T20:24:58Z")
If, in 1940, people had said of the actual Auschwitz, “Oh, don’t be so histrionic, it’s not like it’s a genocide camp”, they would have been technically correct, because at the time, it wasn’t. But would that have been the right thing to say? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/58 "2025-08-02T20:30:50Z")
I totally misread the post. Mea culpa. Deleted ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/59 "2025-08-02T20:33:43Z")
Re-read @puzzlegal 's post, there. She wasn’t referring to camps across Nazi Germany. She was referring to the camps in the US where Japanese-Americans were interred. We did, in fact, treat the Japanese considerably better than the Nazis treated the Jews, but that’s damning with faint praise. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533/60 "2025-08-02T20:34:21Z")
Yeah. I caught that. Apologies to @puzzlegal and to others. That was sloppy on my part … to the point of consequence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alligator-auschwitz/1021533.md?page=4)