Does Donald Trump think Hannibal Lector exists?
On Friday, June 28, the former president, 78, warned his supporters of the fictional character, inviting them to dinner while in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Trump first mentioned the cannibalistic serial killer played byAnthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs by claiming undocumented people are "coming from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums like Silence of the Lamb."
"The press always says, 'Why does he ramble about Silence of the Lamb?' The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He'd like to have you over for dinner. Did you ever? Don't do it. If he suggests, 'I'd like to have you for dinner,' don't go. But these are the people — these are the people that are coming into our country and they are coming in numbers that nobody can believe," he ranted.
Following the rally, the clip of Trump speaking about the character went viral, causing people to bash the father-of-five for his remarks.
“Trump thinks Hannibal Lecter is actually a real person!” one person wrote, while another echoed, “Yes, Donald Trump believes Hannibal Lecter, the fictional cannibalistic serial killer, is real...”
“He saw it on the TV machine so it must be real. His brain is just mushy oatmeal at this point,” a third shared.
As OK! previously reported, this was not the first time the ex-commander-in-chief — who served from 2017-2021 — had mentioned the iconic horror film character.
While at his Wildwood, N.J., rally on May 11, the politician began, “They’re emptying out their mental institutions into the United States, our beautiful country. And now the prison populations all over the world are down. They don’t want to report that the mental institution population is down because they’re taking people from insane asylums and from mental institutions. You know what the difference is, right? An insane asylum is a mental institution on steroids.”
“Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs?” he asked, “The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes 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.”
People were shocked by Trump’s comments, with one user penning, "Imagine if Joe Biden said Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man? The media continues to normalize Donald Trump, who is insane."
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"Can someone explain to me why Donald Trump is praising Hannibal Lector during his campaign stop? This is the guy you want us to believe is the better option over President Joe Biden and his administration? No one from Trump’s former administration will even work with him.…and the rest are serving jail sentences," another person pointed out.
