Trump finally explains why he can’t stop talking about Hannibal Lecter

Yet again, US president Donald Trump has brought up the cannibal and serial killer Hannibal Lecter, of the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, in one of his rambling speeches – and this time, he’s provided a new reason as to why he kept mentioning the criminal (played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the classic) on the campaign trail.

Speaking at an event to promote his One Big, Beautiful Bill – which has attracted criticism from both sides of the political spectrum over government spending and Medicaid cuts – Trump said: “We are bringing criminals out by the thousands - nobody can even imagine. They let people in that were murderers – 11,888 murders – gang members, people from mental institutions and insane asylums.”

Except, the 11,888 figure has already been queried by an NBC News fact-check.

Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year pointed to more than 13,000 “non-citizens” convicted of homicide in the US or elsewhere living outside of ICE detention centres, but NBC News says it is not accurate “to cast all of their entries into the US as recent or due to Biden policies."

Trump continued: “You know what that is? Insane asylum, that’s a mental institution on steroids.

“During the campaign I talked about the late, great Hannibal Lecter. Do you know who that is? Silence of the Lambs, I talked about it and the fake news would go crazy.

“’Why does he keep mentioning [him]?’ Well, ‘cause we won a landslide, that’s why.”

As a reminder, Trump described Lecter – who isn’t a real person, just be clear – as a “wonderful man” at a rally in New Jersey back in May 2024, and then in July, he brought him up again in North Carolina and claimed he was sharing “real stories”.

The 1991 film is actually based on a work of fiction – a novel of the same name by Thomas Harris.

This has prompted many Twitter/X users to question whether Trump doesn’t understand the difference between political asylum and insane asylums:

One took aim at the president’s train of thought, describing it instead as a “pool of thoughts”:

Oh, and even Hopkins himself is reported to be appalled by Trump’s obsession with the character he played, so there’s that.

Why not read…

• 'How is this real?' White House posts video calling Trump 'Daddy'
• Trump ridiculed after calling someone a 'very average mentally person'

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