For reasons unknown, Donald Trump always refers to the “late, great Hannibal Lecter.” The character has been around for quite a while and the actor who he’s most frequently identified with, Anthony Hopkins, is still with us. So are three other actors who have played the cannibal medical man, Brian Cox, Mags Mikkelson and Gaspard Urriel. The character originated in a series of suspense novels by Thomas Harris and more than one theatrical adaptation has been made, the most famous of which is Silence Of The Lambs, which won Best Picture that year and Oscars for Anthony Hopkins and Jodi Foster. Brian Cox of Succession also played Lecter. In fact, he was the first and he met Donald Trump. Here’s what he had to say about all that.
Brian Cox, who played Logan Roy on Succession and was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter, delivers a scathing takedown of Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/wErwYPTMCF
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 28, 2024
BREAKING: Hannibal Lecter distances himself from Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/xzAMprVSnl
— cαηα∂α нαтεs тя☭мρ (@Trump_Detester) July 25, 2024
Trump definitely got damaged in his childhood. A lot of us do. In fact, I would go so far as to say most of us are damaged to some extent by things that happen to us a child over which we have no control, but the vast majority of us don’t turn out to be sociopaths. I don’t know what that dynamic is about, how some people can absorb neglect or abuse and turn out to be decent, law abiding people who contribute to the world and other people turn out fundamentally destructive.
Trump has serious problems with empathy. That has been evident since he first came on the political scene. From his mocking a disabled reporter to his most recent shenanigans at Arlington National Cemetary, Trump has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t feel like other people do. He doesn’t know which moments are solemn or sacred. He’s such a shallow and superficial boor that nothing to him is either one. If he can’t eat it, fuck it, kill it, or spend it, he’s at a complete loss to understand what “its” use might be.
His obsession with Hannibal Lecter, like his obsession with sharks, is maybe power related. Lecter is an evil genius and utterly perverse. I think that may be Trump’s attraction. I’m just winging it here, speculating. I also think that the fact that Lecter gets away with his murders, at least to some extent and for a time, appeals to Trump.
Who knows how this character got included into Trump’s Catskill’s comic act along with transgender atheletes, whales, windmills, boats, batteries, toilets that you need to flush ten times or any of the other absurdities that characterize the grifting poseur? Your guess is as good as anybody’s.
The main thing is that America intends to take a shower and wash this guy down the drain on November 5. Good riddance.
A while ago I saw a TikTok about his word association tendencies (which is why his rallies are so rambling: he just jumps from one topic to another through word association): the theory was proposed that he heard the phrase “asylum” seekers from Mexico etc. and could only associate the word “asylum” with mental institutes; therefore to tRump all those seeking asylum are *from* ‘mental asylums’. So in his mind Hannibal Lecter fits very nicely. I thought it was quite a neat theory (please note I’m not a psychologist, so can’t say anything on any professional level about this though).
He is that stupid to where he doesn’t know the difference between political asylum and lunatic asylum.
The funniest thing about Trump’s admiration of Dr Hannibal Lecter (assuming he does mean the character rather any of the actors who’ve portrayed Lecter) is that Lecter wouldn’t give Trump the time of day. Lecter only bothered with people who intrigued him in one way or another; there’s absolutely NOTHING about Donald Trump that would interest Lecter.
As Ursula wrote, Trump is a very simple “shallow and superficial boor” whose only interest in someone or something lies in that entity’s value in Trump’s ability to “eat it, fuck it, kill it, or spend it.” Trump has never displayed the slightest interest in “learning” or “knowledge” or “curiosity” and Lecter wants a subject who would, at the very least, present some kind of “challenge.” Lecter would be so bored with Trump after 30 seconds that he’d have spent most of that time determining the best way to dispose of Trump’s body after killing him (I seriously doubt Lecter would waste a bottle of Chianti–even a cheap bottle–or a plate of fava beans to accompany Trump’s toxic liver so he’d probably be calculating whether quicklime or acid would be the most efficient method of disposal, and how much of either he’d need to use compared with how much he has on hand).
There is a famous scene, where a drugged agent Starling witnesses Dr. Lector lifting the top of Ray Liotta’s skull, while he sat strapped to the chair, giving Dr. Lector access to his living brain. Imagine his disappointment to lift trump’s and moths fly out of an empty space.
You’re right Joseph. Dr. Lector would have killed him instantly only if it fit into his plan. He hated rudeness. Trump is the king of that cult.
Thinking of imaginary characters, I much prefer Jed Bartlett.
Please.