Maga voters will snap up Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz'

In Ancient Rome, a popular form of entertainment for the masses was the “venationes”, in which criminals, captives and sometimes gladiators fought battles with wild beasts. Lions, tigers, bears, wolves, and even elephants and ostriches would be used in such gruesome displays.

- SEAN O'GRADY

On special occasions, vast amphitheatres would be filled with water and real boats would stage mock naval battles, with hippopotamuses and crocodiles thrown in for a bit of added jeopardy. The Colosseum itself would be used for such a naumachia, with fleets of vessels battling it out. You can imagine the glee in crowds with which some poor unfortunate would lose his footing and be consumed by a hungry croc, screaming in agony, blood and giblets everywhere.

Such elaborate games were one method by which an emperor could show off his wealth and power, at the same time as giving the people he ruled something to take their minds off their more mundane problems, with some free grain to show he cared. “Bread and circuses”, as the ruling strategy was called.

Now, I’m no Mary Beard, and I’m not saying this is what Donald Trump is doing in the Florida Everglades at the moment, but the performative cruelty is more than a little reminiscent of a Roman emperor seeking ways to entertain himself and his people.

His new facility for detaining deportees, “Alligator Alcatraz”, comes from an imagination every bit as sadistic as any in the ancient world. Indeed, it is far grander than anything Nero or Claudius ever dreamt up.