Former President Donald Trump called the fictional serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter “a wonderful man” while talking about the migrant crisis in a campaign speech.
He asked the crowd at his Saturday rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, if they had seen the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” He segued to the movie after talking about how “people from insane asylums and mental institutions” from other countries enter the country via the open southern border.
“The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man,” Mr. Trump said. “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.”
He then continued talking about migrants coming into the United States.
“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,” the former president said.
This isn’t the first time Mr. Trump has made a connection between illegal immigrants and the 1991 movie character.
“They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums,” he said in March in an interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network. “You know, insane asylums, that’s ’Silence of the Lambs’ stuff.”
“Hannibal Lecter, anybody know Hannibal Lecter? We don’t want ‘em in this country,” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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