Donald Trump slammed as he dodges question on praising villain Hannibal Lecter as 'great' at NJ rally

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: A day after Donald Trump's bizarre praise of 'Silence of the Lambs' villain Hannibal Lecter, he ignored a reporter's question about the motive behind his reference during his speech on May 11.

On Monday, May 13, a reporter outside the Manhattan court where Trump faces hush money trial asked the former president "Why Hannibal Lecter? Do you plan to testify?"

However, he sidestepped the inquiries and turned away from the reporters gathered outside the court, according to OK Magazine.

Inside Donald Trump's bizarre Hannibal Lecter reference

During his rally in New Jersey on Saturday, May 11, Trump drew an unusual parallel between the villainous character Hannibal Lecter and mental health policies, and said, "They’re emptying out their mental institutions into the United States, our beautiful country."

“And now the prison populations all over the world are down. They don’t want to report that the mental institution population is down because they’re taking people from insane asylums and from mental institutions," he continued.

"You know what the difference is, right? An insane asylum is a mental institution on steroids,” Trump added.

Calling Lecter a "wonderful man," the 77-year-old said, “Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. 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 added.

Donald Trump calls Joe Biden "a fool"

During the New Jersey rally, Trump did not shy away from critiquing President Joe Biden.

“You could take the 10 worst presidents in the history of our country, and add them up... and they haven’t done the damage to our country that this total moron has done,” the former president told the crowd.

“He’s a fool, he’s not a smart man. He never was,” he said of the president, adding, “He was considered stupid."

"I talk about him differently now because now, the gloves are off. He’s a bad guy… he’s the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him, he’s a fool," said Trump.

Internet reacts to Donald Trump ignoring question about Hannibal Lecter reference

Reacting to Trump ignoring reporter's questions about his Hannibal Lecter reference at New Jersey rally, one user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, "That is one of the greatest questions ever. That question needs to be thrown at him constantly until he explains himself."

"Kudos to the reporter asking the obvious, Trump gets extraordinary privileges," a user opined.

One user tweeted, "I wish he meets him one day" while another user wrote, "He wants him as his running mate."

"Is it safe to say that Trump's VP pick is Hannibal Lector? It's certainly leaning that way," a netizen commented.

"Because Hannibal is his spirit animal, of course," a user wrote.

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