Trump Explains Why He Keeps Praising ‘The Late, Great’ Hannibal Lecter: ‘He’s a Sick Puppy’

Former President Donald Trump finally told rally attendees why he keeps talking about fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter at his rallies, confirming the suspected idea that the analogy is about conflating mental asylums with asylum seekers.

Trump’s obsession with the fictional villain from the horror film Silence Of The Lambs began in early 2023 at the Conservative Political Action Conference; from there, he continued to name-drop the character during his speeches with mock praise for the cannibal, much to the confusion of political commentators.

Efforts by Trump’s communications team to rationalize his use of Lecter even fell a little flat, with campaign director Steven Cheung simply remarking that Trump was “ an inspiring and gifted storyteller .”

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July, Trump asked those in attendance whether they’d seen the film, continuing: “The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’d love to have you for dinner. That’s insane asylums. They’re emptying out their insane asylums.” At rallies across the country, he also referenced Lecter as a “wonderful man.”

At a Pennsylvania town hall on Monday night, Trump responded to a question about inflation and “grocery prices” with a digression about Lecter and immigrants.

When millions of people pour into our country, they’re having a devastating effect on black families and Hispanic families more than any others. I think it’s going to spread to a lot of other places. I think it’s going to spread to unions. I think unions are going to have a big problem because, you know, employers are just not going to pay the price. And it’s a very bad thing that’s happening. So they’re coming in. Many are coming in from jails and prisons and mental institutions and sane asylums. That’s like, you know, a step above, right, insane asylums. And whenever I go, Hannibal Lecter, you know what I’m talking about?

They always go to the fake news. It’s a way of demeaning, they say ‘Hannibal Lecter, why would he mention him?’ Well you know why – because he was a sick puppy, and we have sick puppies coming into our country. I figure that’s better than wasting a lot of words, you just say, ‘Hannibal Lecter, we don’t want him.’

But they always sort of say, why would he say that? I do it for a lot of reasons. But I do it because we are allowing some very bad people into our country. And they’re coming as terrorists.

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