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Campaign rally · 2024-03-02

Greensboro: Trump Compares an Insane Asylum to “Mental Institution on Steroids”

Greensboro, North Carolina

About this speech

Trump again brought up Hannibal Lecter and claimed foreign countries were emptying institutions into American communities.

What stands out in this speech

The speech used a horror-movie character to stigmatize migrants while offering no evidence for the claimed mass transfers from foreign institutions.

The strange definition
“insane asylum is like mental institution on steroids”

Trump presented an improvised comparison as an explanation of mental-health institutions.

Transcript location: 00:21:51

Fiction in immigration rhetoric
“Did you ever hear of a fine gentleman named Hannibal Lecter?”

The notorious fictional cannibal became an illustrative character in a policy discussion.

Transcript location: 00:21:51

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