President Donald Trump’s fascination with reopening Alcatraz, a dilapidated former state prison off the coast of San Francisco, seems motivated more by symbolism than necessity and could risk becoming the administration’s biggest boondoggle. 

Trump has enthusiastically floated the idea of restoring Alcatraz to its former glory multiple times, each time met with intense pushback over its impracticality and astronomical cost, estimated at $2 billion.