Ex-president calls Hopkins’ cannibalistic Lecter ‘late, great’ while condemning ‘people who are being released into our country’

Ex-president calls Hopkins’ cannibalistic Lecter ‘late, great’ while condemning ‘people who are being released into our country’

Donald Trump on Saturday praised fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter “as a wonderful man” before segueing into comments disparaging people who have immigrated into the US without permission.

The former president’s remarks to political rally-goers in Wildwood, New Jersey, as he challenges Joe Biden’s re-election in November were a not-so-subtle rhetorical bridge exalting Anthony Hopkins’ cannibalistic Lecter in Silence of the Lambs as “late [and] great” while simultaneously condemning “people who are being released into our country that we don’t want”.

Trump delivered his address to an estimated crowd of about 80,000 supporters under the shadow of the Great White roller coaster in a 1950s-kitsch seaside resort 90 miles (144.8km) south of Philadelphia.

The occasion served for Trump to renew his stated admiration for Lecter, as he’s done before, after the actor Mads Mikkleson – who previously portrayed Lecter in a television series – once described Trump as “a fresh wind for some people”.

  • Kit
    25·
    6 months ago

    Apparently this isn’t the first time that he has related illegal immigrants to Hannibal. I’m not sure what he means by this - is he implying they’re cannibals?

    • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
      13·
      6 months ago

      Heck, maybe he’s hoping Hannibal Lecter likes Mexican food, if you know what I mean.

      God only knows what Trump’s thinking. Though he’s likely to be as confused as the rest of us mere mortals…

    • triptrapper@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 months ago

      Well as a native English speaker, I didn’t see how he’s relating the two at all. He’s just saying two unrelated things one after the other, with no segue. It’s just braindead.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Maybe he’s getting hungry while he’s up there rambling and thinking he wants to eat them. Maybe someone told him about Swift’s A Modest Proposal and he didn’t realize it was satire, but maybe thought it was a good idea.