Donald Trump explained one of his stranger rally riffs Monday night during a lengthy response to a town hall question.
The former president often references fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter when talking about criminal migrants who entered the US through the southern border.
At a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, Trump ranted about how “fake news” doesn’t understand why he’s bringing up the fictional character.
He took time on stage to answer an audience member’s question about lowering the price of groceries and explained why he is calling on the Silence of the Lambs antagonist.
Trump said talking about Lecter is easier than “wasting a lot of words” describing the “sick puppies” coming into the country through the southern border.
A woman asked Donald Trump on Monday how he plans to lower the price of groceries at a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, prompting the former president to explain why he brings up Hannibal Lecter at his rallies
Without describing specifically how he plans to reduce rising prices, the former president told the woman who asked the question that he wanted to address her concerns about the increase in crime affecting Black communities.
He took time to speak out against illegal immigration and promote his plan to close the border – and thus reduce crime.
“When millions of people flood into our country, they have a devastating effect on Black families and Latinx families more than any other,” the former president said. “I think it will spread to many other places.”
‘It’s very bad what’s happening. So they come in, many come from jails, prisons, mental institutions and insane asylums. That’s, you know, a step above an insane asylum,” he continued.
Mentioning insane people and criminals seems to fuel Trump’s desire to bring up Hannibal Lecter and explain why he decides to bring up this character when talking about the migrant crisis.
“Every time I say ‘Hannibal Lecter,’ you know what I’m talking about,” Trump explained.
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Trump says that by using the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter (pictured) as an example, he is better able to illustrate the “sick puppies” who illegally cross the southern border and commit crimes in the US.
Trump held a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Monday evening, with just three weeks to go until Election Day
“They always go, the fake news – that’s a lot of fake news out there too,” he said, prompting a chorus of “booing” from the crowd in Pennsylvania. “They always say, you know it’s a way of humiliation, they say, ‘Hannibal Lecter, why would he mention it?’ Well, you know why, because he was a sick puppy.”
‘And sick puppies are coming into our country. I think that’s much better than wasting a lot of words,” Trump continued. “You just say, ‘Hannibal Lecter, we don’t want him.’ But they always say, ‘Why would you say that?’ I do it for many reasons.’
“But I do it because we are letting some very bad people into our country. And they come as terrorists.”
Critics of X went after the former president’s latest rant.
Trump answers a question from a woman who asks him about his plan to lower grocery prices. Ultimately he’s ranting about immigrants taking black jobs and Hannibal Lecter,” one user wrote.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign noted on