SILENCE OF THE MAN

Trump’s Hannibal Lecter Fixation Takes a Bizarre New Turn

Misdirection is a powerful tool for magicians—and, apparently, presidents looking to avoid a national crisis.

President Donald Trump hopped online Saturday evening to rage at his longtime foe Gavin Newsom, while continuing to ignore the mounting travel crisis.

As airports across the country grappled with the fallout from the worst aviation disruption since 9/11, Trump, 80, stayed out of the public eye, posting about his pet projects instead.

MIA

Trump Hides Out Amid Crisis to Rage Over Golf Course

Erkki Forster

In one Truth Social post, the president attacked outgoing California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 57, for commuting the death sentences of all 548 prisoners on death row in the state.

“Some of the people that Gavin Newscum freed from the Death Penalty, after many years of going through the California ‘Justice’ System, make Hannibal Lecter, of Silence of the Lambs, look like a nice guy! President DJT,” Trump wrote.

The post came nine days after Newsom announced his decision to commute the sentences of California’s death row inmates, and after the California governor had once again taken a series of stabs at Trump and his administration on X.

While Trump claimed Newsom had “freed” the inmates “from the Death Penalty,” the commutations did not result in anyone being released from prison. Instead, their death sentences were reduced to life without the possibility of parole.

Trump has not made a public appearance since Wednesday. His last on-camera appearance came Thursday, when he sat down for a privately conducted interview with sports commentator Stephen A. Smith at the White House. The president has remained out of sight since the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop just before 4 p.m. Friday. As of Saturday evening, he had yet to publicly address the aviation crisis.

Trump’s post about Newsom also included his childish nickname for the governor, “Newscum,” just one week after the 80-year-old president told 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat that he could “very easily” resist the urge to name-call Democrats for at least six months in order to work together.

Trump’s decision to invoke fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter recalled his 2024 presidential campaign, when he spoke so often about the character made famous by Anthony Hopkins that it became the subject of a Saturday Night Live cold open.

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump repeatedly invoked the “late, great Hannibal Lecter” during rambling speeches about immigration.

“They’re coming from prisons, coming from prisons and jails, you know there is a slight difference... mental institutions, and insane asylums like Silence of the Lamb [sic], the press always says ‘why does he ramble about Silence of the Lamb? Silence of the Lamb, the late, great Hannibal Lecter, he’d like to have you over for dinner. Don’t do it,” Trump said in June 2024 at a campaign stop in Virginia.

It is unclear whether the president thinks Hannibal Lecter was real.

Play Video

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Sarah-Jane CollinsReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.