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”.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    15725 days ago

    The article didn’t have the full quote, so here it is:

    Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He often times would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? ‘Excuse me. I’m about to have a friend for dinner,’ as this poor doctor walked by. ‘I’m about to have a friend for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter. We have people who are being released into our country that we don’t want in our country, and they’re coming in totally unchecked, totally unvetted.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          2125 days ago

          It would be sad if an elderly family member started talking this way. The fact that a presidential nominee is talking like this, and yet the polls are close, is a bit mind boggling.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        323 days ago

        What’s giving me dementia is the fact that so many Americans want this guy to be president. Again.

    • @FinishingDutch
      link
      7625 days ago

      I’m honestly baffled as to why a movie character would even come up in a political speech, much less this incoherently.

      And yes, it’s a quote, it’s a funny line… why is he using it? It’s utterly silly. I’m also confused by the ‘late, great’ as if this was an actual person who had died, as opposed to a fictional character who hasn’t died in any book, movie or show I’m familiar with. And Anthony Hopkins is very much alive as well, as is writer Thomas Harris.

      It doesn’t make any… goddamn… sense.

      Please don’t elect this guy again.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        26
        edit-2
        25 days 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
          link
          14
          edit-2
          25 days 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…

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          424 days ago

          The right wing brain worms had a recent hate orgy about Haitians and cannibalism, so it’s probably that. This dipshit can only reach the lowest hanging fruits.

        • @triptrapper
          link
          223 days 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
          link
          English
          124 days 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.

      • @NOPper
        link
        724 days ago

        He was just watching the movie on the flight to the rally.

      • @CharlesDarwin
        link
        English
        324 days ago

        I’m thinking he’s gone beyond RFK jr - he has brain worms and mercury poisoning. But also lead poisoning, possibly Adderall/cocaine abuse…

    • @Everythingispenguins
      link
      3725 days ago

      Wait is he advocating for the eating of immigrants?

      Are these dependent or independent thoughts?

      Also he does know Hannibal Lecter is fictional right?

      And literally no person on the planet can give definitive answers.

    • MxM111
      link
      fedilink
      35
      edit-2
      25 days ago

      This is like early versions of LLMs hallucinating.

      EDIT: I feel I need to apologize to LLMs for this comparison.

    • mozz
      link
      fedilink
      3225 days ago

      Here’s the video. In context, it doesn’t make a whole lot more sense than what’s in the article. Here’s a story that goes into the other more coherent things he said which are actually a good bit worse.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1825 days ago

        I don’t know which one is actually worse.

        A nostalgia themed glamourizing of brutality right next to “unwanted people”. No explanation of how those two things connect, so all that stays is the association.

        Kind of on a neuro-marketing like level of discours (just strenghtening your associations by creating emotions or atmosphere) he is mobilizing violence against immigrants. (And normalizing violence as a means of governing in general)

        • mozz
          link
          fedilink
          9
          edit-2
          25 days ago

          (And normalizing violence as a means of governing in general)

          Yeah. I think as his dementia is getting more pronounced, his general admiration for people who kill you if you disagree with them is getting more explicit and weirdly specific and he’s talking about it a lot more openly.

          It’s hard to tell even what the hell he means when he’s talking about Hannibal Lecter. That’s the only reason I say it’s worse when he’s talking about deporting protestors, because it’s very clear what he means and it has more of a pathway to becoming reality. But I agree; my best guess when he talks about Hannibal Lecter and Al Capone is simply that he’s playing it straight – he admires someone who can casually talk about murdering other people, and aspires to be like that, because that means strength.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2325 days ago

        No this is somehow weirder. He seems to be confusing movies and real people, and possibly thinking it’s still the 1980s, when silence is the lambs was popular.

        Like mid stage Alzheimer’s dementia.

    • @kescusay
      link
      2325 days ago

      Does he… Does he just not know what referring to someone as “the late, great whatever” means? Does he just like the sound of the rhyme?

      How do people in his audience come away from rallies like this one and go, “Yep, that’s the guy who should be president”? Are they as brain-damaged as him?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          725 days ago

          Never been to any political rally or event, but do people actually stay during the whole thing usually? People leave early during baseball games to beat the traffic, even if they like baseball or the match.

          • lettruthout
            link
            English
            525 days ago

            I’ve only been to one that was big. It seemed like most people were still in the venue at the end, and it was slow going on way getting out.

    • @ripcord
      link
      2224 days ago

      You know, usually if I try hard I can kinda figure out how his rambling stream of consciousness verbal diarrhea got from one point to another. This is just…nonsense.

      • @kromem
        link
        English
        10
        edit-2
        24 days ago

        He’s trying to say that the people coming into the country are dangerous criminals, but he’s done the talking points so often by now that neither he nor his audience need the connective tissue between the ideas.

        “Oh, now he’s doing the Hannibal Lecter bit? Yeah, screw illegals or whatever.”

        They have their own coded language at this point where as Trump slips more and more into dementia they still understand what their adoptive hate spewing neo-Nazi grandpa dictator is talking about.

        “And then the blargabaghehhhh…

        “Exactly. Fuck the blargabaghehhhh…”

        Edit: I don’t think I’ll ever stop laughing when I see that clip, btw.

        • @CharlesDarwin
          link
          English
          124 days ago

          This is like when a band that has been doing a song for decades plays about thirty seconds of it and some of the best lyrics…a magamedley.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      9
      edit-2
      25 days ago

      He must’ve just watched Silence of the Lambs on cable the night before. He always works the last thing he saw on TV into his speeches.

  • IggyTheSmidge
    link
    fedilink
    75
    edit-2
    24 days ago

    How much d’you want to bet that Putin was waxing lyrical to him about Hannibal (the Carthaginian General and great military tactician), and the ignorant fuckwit assumed he meant Lecter?

    Edit: typo.

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen
    link
    fedilink
    3624 days ago

    I know the answer already, but does he not know that Hannibal is canonically a Lithuanian immigrant??

    • @Passerby6497
      link
      English
      2124 days ago

      Does it matter when the immigrant is white? My money is on those immigrants being the “good ones”

      • @lando55
        link
        English
        424 days ago

        I can’t remember, is Lithuania on Trump’s “shithole” list?

  • Patapon Enjoyer
    link
    3225 days ago

    I’m telling you folks, another great man persecuted by the democrats and fake news media. Clarice, what a vile woman. It gets the hose again she said.

  • @Stupidmanager
    link
    English
    2224 days ago

    People are focused on the nonsense he’s spouting and I’m reading the full article and notice the quoted 62 year old Kelly Carter-Currier who proclaims if the right person doesn’t win, then we’re looking at WW3. Why are you waiting for a democratic process to happen when you’re not willing to accept the results unless its what you want? To which, you’re going to have a war to get it? JUST START THE FUCKING WAR. Or you know, shut up and let the rest of us that are actually wanting a better America (world) for everyone and not its current form where corporations and billionaires “win” while a majority of people work 3 jobs so they can afford to eat and sleep.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      524 days ago

      The war has already begun, but one side doesn’t want to recognize or believe that while the other readies it’s battle plans.

      The Republicans have no interest in the Democratic process anymore, only insurrection and chaos.

    • @SupraMario
      link
      524 days ago

      Because they’re not going to start a war. It’s just chest beating from them. Shit has gotta get a lot lot worse for even the thought of a civil war to be seriously thought about. We’re not even close to it, people are still fed, clothed, housed and they still have jobs and their TV’s and entertainment…no one is starting a war.

  • PP_BOY_
    link
    English
    1925 days ago

    Is there a transcript for the full speech anywhere? I’m not going to listen to audio of Trump talking but this article feels like it’s doing a bit of cherry picking.

    • @Diplomjodler3
      link
      2325 days ago

      The full quote is given in another comment. And no, it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, even by Donnie’s lofty standards.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1825 days ago

        I’m honestly flabbergasted that after a decade of insane Trump quotes people still think context will make them any less insane.

        • Kalkaline
          link
          fedilink
          1925 days ago

          It’s important to give the full quotes because it further establishes that Trump and Biden are not equivalent. Biden will stumble over his words from time to time while making a coherent thought while Trump is confusing asylum with Silence of the Lambs.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            425 days ago

            I agree completely, I’m more referring to OP saying they might be cherry picking. Journalists always try to generously interpret his ramblings instead of pretending like anyone with half a brain is reading their articles and making up their mind for themselves.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate
      link
      English
      1325 days ago

      This comment has the whole quote. It’s usually a mistake to try and make sense out of what he says, but it kind of looks like he’s trying to invoke the image of the cannibalistic serial killer and then saying that’s the kind of criminal we’re releasing.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      225 days ago

      I can’t seem to find audio or video on that link (mobile). So it’s even worse to hear someone talk about it but not give any sources.

  • @MegaUltraChicken
    link
    1825 days ago

    Oh no, is Joe Biden going to take away my night vision goggles and fill in the well I keep my prisoners in too? WHO’S GOUNG TO FUCK ME??

    Oh that’s right. I’d fuck me. I’d fuck me so hard.

    • @Stupidmanager
      link
      English
      7
      edit-2
      24 days ago

      Read on a bit, the crowd thinned considerably as Trump was talking. He appears to be losing ground with people for his verbal diarrhea. We only need to hope its enough people either not voting or voting for biden.

      • VådFisk
        link
        fedilink
        123 days ago

        At least he’s rallying and putting himself out there on display for people to see

  • @cabron_offsets
    link
    9
    edit-2
    25 days ago

    You couldn’t make this shit up. Republicans are worthless. Edit: mikkelson is a fucktard.

    • @HWK_290
      link
      English
      825 days ago

      Mikkelsen’s full quote, for those who want to continue to enjoy his acting

      “He’s obviously not the classic politician, that’s for sure. I can definitely laugh at some of the stuff he says but I can also go, ‘Oh my God, did he say that?’ I think he’s a fresh wind for some people, but that’s what you’re voting for, I guess, right? It’s a big job,” he said.

      • FuglyDuck
        link
        English
        524 days ago

        Since when do greasy sharts count as a “fresh wind”?!

    • @Kiernian
      link
      825 days ago

      Edit: mikkelson is a fucktard.

      Without any concept of where the dude stands and knowing nothing more about him than the majority of hollywood leans more left than it does right, I took that “fresh wind” thing as comparing Trump to a fart without outright saying it.

      Am I wrong?

        • @Kiernian
          link
          1
          edit-2
          23 days ago

          Yeah, I just looked up the quote. Why in the actual fuck the journalist asked him this is beyond me, but here we have it:

          What do you think of Donald Trump?

          I have no idea, I’ve never met him. He’s obviously not the classic politician, that’s for sure. I can definitely laugh at some of the stuff he says but I can also go, “Oh my God, did he say that?” I think he’s a fresh wind for some people, but that’s what you’re voting for, I guess, right? It’s a big job.

          As answers go, it’s pretty non-commital I suppose but not encouraging.

  • @Jafoo
    link
    824 days ago

    Late and great? Lecter hasn’t died in fiction thus far

  • nifty
    link
    6
    edit-2
    24 days ago

    He could be signaling to some cult or secret society that he will literally let them eat people if he wins (/s)

    Or he’s signaling to his base that they should go all Brevik and kill brown and black people (not /s)

    Or he has dementia (also not /s)

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      224 days ago

      Maybe as an appetizer. I’m thinking there’s not enough brain matter in Trump’s skull to make a meal.

  • MxM111
    link
    fedilink
    325 days ago

    But whom Lector is going to eat then, if there are no illegal immigrants? Did you think of that Mr. Trump?

  • @CharlesDarwin
    link
    English
    324 days ago

    When do we find out that Ronald McDonald has a worm in his brain?

    Also: was BrainDead cancelled because it was just a little too real?