00:00Hi, I'm Stefan Grobe. I want to talk to you about Donald Trump's trade war with Europe.
00:06Yes, again. You know that the European Union is scrambling to find something, anything,
00:12to throw at him in future negotiations. Something that can sway him, that can change his mind,
00:18because as you know, so far he doesn't budge. So here's my idea. Let's give him something
00:25that he desperately wants and that Europe could offer him. And that is prison space. Yes, you
00:32heard that right. Remember that mega prison in El Salvador where he deported hundreds of
00:38undocumented migrants? Now that prison is becoming too small for Trump's vision because he wants to
00:44incarcerate U.S. criminals there as well. Really, really bad people, as he told the Salvadorian
00:50president. So, domestic criminals in foreign jails? Is that even legally possible? Well,
00:57we're looking into that, Trump said. Apparently, that legal research hasn't brought any clear answer
01:03yet because Trump was then looking at rebuilding Alcatraz. Remember Alcatraz? Burt Lancaster?
01:10Clint Eastwood? Yes, that famous prison island in San Francisco Bay. In other words, he needs more
01:18prison space. And here's where the EU comes in. Because if it's island prisons Trump is looking
01:25for, Europe has plenty to offer. I know of three. Let's start with the Chateau d'If of the coast of
01:33Marseille. You know the Count of Monte Cristo and all that? It would need some serious patching up,
01:39but it's pretty safe. And Trump would need to deal with his pal Emmanuel Macron and not with Brussels
01:45bureaucrats or the obnoxious Germans. Then there is Devil's Island, also French, but off the coast of
01:51French Guayana in South America, closer to Trump. Remember, Henri Charrière wrote the best-selling
01:58novel Papillon about his successful escape from there. Devil's Island would also need some serious
02:04rebuilding, but it's okay. Trump is saving a lot of money right now. And finally, a place called
02:10Goli Otok, also a former prison island off the coast of Croatia. It used to be a prison camp under
02:17Tito, but today it's in ruins, a little like Alcatraz. Goli Otok means barren island, because it's
02:25completely devoid of vegetation. You get the idea. So if this prisons for tariffs pitch fails, Europe could
02:34point Trump to the criminal justice system in the Netherlands, where the prison population shrank
02:39drastically over the past 20 years. Why? Largely because of rehabilitation efforts. Some empty
02:46prisons have even been repurposed as hotels. And this might appeal to the real estate mogul in Trump.
02:55Thanks for watching. See you soon.
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