In a speech to Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday, former President Clinton mocked former President Trump for his “endless tribute” to Hannibal Lecter, the notorious fictional serial killer featured in the 1991 film “Silence of the Lambs.”
Clinton, in her speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday night, blasted Trump for claiming that no one on the world stage respected America “as much as when I was president.” She joked that Trump said that “with a straight face” during a debate with Biden in June, and quipped, “He’s a good actor.”
He also questioned how world leaders should respond to Trump’s repeated references to a fictional serial killer at his campaign rallies.
“As we send a signal to other countries, whether they agree with us or not, we want them to at least know that they’re on a fair playing field,” Clinton said as the crowd applauded. “Here’s where you stand, here’s what you believe. How are they going to respond to the constant tributes to ‘the late, great Hannibal Lecter?'”
“President Obama once gave me the great honor of calling himself ‘Accountable.’ Folks, I’ve been thinking about that and I don’t know what to say,” he added, drawing laughter from the audience.
Trump frequently mentioned the fictional cannibal during his campaign, calling him a “fantastic guy.” In a speech in New Jersey earlier this year, he discussed novelist Thomas Harris’ fictional cannibalistic psychiatrist after talking about unfounded claims that immigrants come from “mental hospitals.”
“Did anybody see ‘Silence of the Lambs’? The late, great Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He was a wonderful man,” he said at the time. “He used to have his friends over for dinner. Remember that scene at the end? ‘Excuse me, I’m going to have my friends over for dinner,’ this poor doctor says as he walks by. ‘I’m going to have my friends over for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Dr. Hannibal Lecter.”
Harris’ campaign described Trump as a “crazy guy” over these and other comments, and Anthony Hopkins, the actor who played Hannibal Lecter, said he was “shocked and appalled” by the comments.
The Trump campaign responded to Clinton’s comments, calling her a “total loser.”
“Bill Clinton is a total loser who is desperately grabbing onto any spotlight he can get because no one cares about what he has to say,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chang said in an emailed statement to The Hill.
“The sad reality is that, like Hillary, he suffers from Trump Madness Syndrome which has rotted his brain and turned him into a shell of his former self,” he added.
