Two months later, Trump once again brought up the fictional murderer.
“Did you ever hear of Hannibal Lecter, who’s a lovely man?” he asked the crowd. “He would love to have you for dinner. He will take you. Many people forget it. Well, yeah, we have a lot of people coming in. They always say, ‘Oh, that’s terrible for Trump to say! He is rambling about Hannibal Lecter!’ No I’m not rambling!”
Former President Bill Clinton even seemed confused by his regular references to the movie character.
“What are they supposed to make to these endless tributes to the late, great Hannibal Lecter?” he said in August. “I mean, President [Barack] Obama once gave me the great honor of saying I was the explainer-in-chief. Folks, I’ve thought about it, and I don’t know what to say.”