Did Donald Trump Praise Hannibal Lecter During Rally?

Donald Trump, the presumed Republican nominee for president, has developed a catalog of unusual comments and asides from his speeches and rallies.

Despite criticisms of his main political rival, President Joe Biden, for making confusing blunders, Trump has made a number himself including claims that he defeated Barack Obama in an election, calling Hamas “hummus”, and that wind turbines were killing whales “in numbers never seen before.”

Now, a conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump supporter, has suggested that “liberals” expressed “faux outrage” over praising comments the former president made about Hannibal Lecter, the fictional cannibal from the book and adapted film The Silence of the Lambs.

The Claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin, posted on May 12, 2024, viewed 1.2 million times, said that Donald Trump had called the fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter “a wonderful man” at his rally.

“Normie liberals and the media are melting down on social media with outrage, and faux outrage, that he’d “praise” a cannibal,” Crokin wrote.

“Here’s what Trump said: ‘Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He often times 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.’

“Do you see what Trump did? He’s getting his enemies to condemn cannibalism. 😂 Screenshot their tweets. They will come in handy one day when it’s revealed some of their false idols are actual cannibals!

“Did you think spirit cooking was just pretend?”

The Facts

As a QAnon influencer and conspiracy theorist, some of Liz Crokin’s have been demonstrably false and misleading. Last year, Newsweek investigated false claims she made suggesting that the late JPMorgan Chase director, James Crown, who died in a car accident, had incriminating information about President Biden and his family.

Crokin has also helped promote the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory and has accused famous public figures of being “satanic pedophiles.”

In this case, her claim about Trump was based on his comments at a rally this weekend.

Crokin’s quotation matches the comments he made in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday.

The former president congratulated Lecter, the fictional cannibal created by author Thomas Harris and further popularized in the 1991 cinematic adaptation of Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs. Actor Anthony Hopkins who played the now iconic killer would earn an Academy Award for his performance in that film.

Trump then went on to make an unrelated segue from Lecter into talking about immigration.

“Congratulations, the late, great Hannibal Lecter. We have people that are being released into our country that we don’t want in our country,” he said.

Newsweek has contacted a media representative for Donald Trump for comment.

It is not the first time that Trump has mentioned Lecter during speeches. Last year, during a speech in Iowa, he praised Lecter although quickly clarifying he meant an actor who portrayed him, who he claimed said that he loved the former president.

He said: “Hanibal Lecter, how great an actor he was. You know why I like him? Because he said on television, ‘I love Donald Trump,’ so I love him.”

None of the four actors who have played Lecter—Anthony Hopkins, Gaspard Ulliel, Brian Cox, Mads Mikkelsen—have said they “love” Donald Trump.

The Ruling

True.

Donald Trump did call Hannibal Lecter a “wonderful man” at a rally in New Jersey on Saturday, May 11, 2024.

The former president also called the fictional character “the late, great Hannibal Lecter” and congratulated him before segueing into a comment about immigration.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team