11mo ago

Trump praises fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter during rally speech

www.theguardian.com

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”.

70 comments

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.
- I think reading that is giving me dementia...
  
  The brain worms are having a feast again.
  
  And they say dementia is not contagious…
  
  What's giving me dementia is the fact that so many Americans want this guy to be president. Again.
- 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.
  
  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?
  
  He was just watching the movie on the flight to the rally.
  
  I'm thinking he's gone beyond RFK jr - he has brain worms and mercury poisoning. But also lead poisoning, possibly Adderall/cocaine abuse....
- 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.
  
  Also, does he understand the double meaning of "having a friend for dinner"?
- This is like early versions of LLMs hallucinating.
  EDIT: I feel I need to apologize to LLMs for this comparison.
- 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.
  
  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)
- This is the nuclear speech all over again.
  
  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.
  
  newculer
- 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?
  
  Well apparently a lot of people didn't come to hear what he said, they left during the speech...
  https://twitter.com/aliyareports/status/1789435508822561181
- 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.
  
  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.
- 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.
- The fuck?
- Gives me Chris Farley as an interviewer vibes.

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.

I know the answer already, but does he not know that Hannibal is canonically a Lithuanian immigrant??
- Does it matter when the immigrant is white? My money is on those immigrants being the "good ones"
  
  I can't remember, is Lithuania on Trump's "shithole" list?

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.

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.
- 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.

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.
- The full quote is given in another comment. And no, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, even by Donnie's lofty standards.
  
  I'm honestly flabbergasted that after a decade of insane Trump quotes people still think context will make them any less insane.
- 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.
- 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.

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.

Donnie Diapers needs a diaper change..

80,000 ~~supporters~~ idiots.
Fixed.
- 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.
  
  At least he's rallying and putting himself out there on display for people to see

You couldn’t make this shit up. Republicans are worthless. Edit: mikkelson is a fucktard.
- 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.
  
  Since when do greasy sharts count as a “fresh wind”?!
  
  I suppose he did hedge.
- 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?
  
  I think so. Just my opinion.

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

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)

Hannibal would eat that rude disgusting pig.
- Maybe as an appetizer. I'm thinking there's not enough brain matter in Trump's skull to make a meal.

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?

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

Again? This isn't the first time he's brought him up and praised him.

This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.
Among other comments, Trump on Sunday also repeated exaggerations about having “been indicted more than the great Alphonse Capone”, the violent Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss.
Trump since the spring of 2023 has grappled with four indictments attributing more than 80 criminal charges to him for attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election he lost to Biden, retaining classified materials after his presidency and hush-money payments to an adult film actor which prosecutors maintain were illicitly covered up.
Sherrill’s fellow New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim, a congressman running for the US Senate, said that generalized apathy toward government helped Trump’s support.
The original article contains 464 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 54%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Its like the emperors new clothes. People are starting to notice!

70 comments