“He was a lovely man. He would love to have you for dinner.”The line plays on the fictional cannibal’s reputation. The rhetorical joke is striking in the middle of an argument about immigration policy.
Transcript location: About 17 minutes
Campaign rally · 2024-07-09
Doral: Trump Insists He Is Not Rambling While Discussing Hannibal Lecter
About this speech
At a Florida rally, Trump returned to Hannibal Lecter, called the character a “lovely man,” and explicitly rejected criticism that he was rambling.
What stands out in this speech
Why it matters: The speech captures both the recurring Hannibal Lecter tangent and Trump’s own response to criticism of his speaking style.
“No, I’m not rambling.”Trump anticipated criticism of his detour and denied rambling, even as he continued to use the fictional character to frame his immigration claims.
Transcript location: About 17 minutes
Quoted excerpts are brief selections from the linked source transcript; explanations are editorial analysis, not quotations.
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