Bill Clinton knocks ‘endless’ Trump ‘tributes’ to Hannibal Lecter

Former President Clinton in his address to Democrats on Wednesday mocked former President Trump over his “endless tributes” to Hannibal Lecter — a notorious fictional serial killer from the 1991 movie “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Clinton, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday night, took aim at the former president for claiming no one on the international stage respects America “like they did when he was president.” He joked that Trump said that during the debate with President Biden in June “with a straight face,” quipping that “he’s a good actor.”

He then questioned how world leaders are supposed to react to Trump repeatedly talking about the fictional serial killer during his campaign rallies.

“When you send a signal to the other countries you wanted them to know — whether they agree with you or not — at least that you’re on the level,” Clinton said, as the crowd applauded. “Here’s where you are, what you believe. What are they supposed to make to these endless tributes to the ‘late, great Hannibal Lecter’?”

“I mean, President Obama once gave me the great honor of saying I was the ‘Explainer in Chief.’ Folks, I thought and thought about it, and I don’t know what to say,” he added, which was met with laughter from the audience.

Trump has repeatedly referred to the fictional cannibal on the campaign trail, calling him a “wonderful man.” In a speech in New Jersey earlier this year, the former president went from talking about unsubstantiated claims that migrants come from “insane asylums” before discussing the cannibal psychiatrist, who was created by novelist Thomas Harris.

“Has anyone ever seen ‘The Silence of the Lambs’? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’s a wonderful man,” he said at the time. “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.”

Vice President Harris’s campaign has labeled Trump as “weird” over these and other comments, while the actor who played Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins, has also said he was “shocked and appalled” by the comments.

The Trump campaign responded to Clinton’s comments, calling him a “total loser.”

“Bill Clinton is a total loser who is desperately clinging onto whatever spotlight he can get because nobody cares what he has to say,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an emailed statement to The Hill.

“The sad reality is that he, along with Crooked Hillary, suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome and has let it rot his brain to the point that he is a shell of a shell of a person he once was,” he added.