It’s Weird That Trump Can Praise an East Coast Intellectual Like Hannibal Lecter and Get Away With It

The rules just don't seem to apply to Trump

Hannibal Lecter photo from Orion Pictures, Trump photo from Gage Skidmore.

Donald Trump has shown a remarkable ability to emerged unscathed from gaffes that would have ended most politicians’ careers. But it was still surprising to see him go on this tangent at a rally a few days ago:

It’s not clear why Trump mentioned Lecter — he had just finished a riff about Biden and was transitioning to a riff about immigration. And I know that if you spend your life parsing Trump’s words, then you, in fact, are the fool. But…Hannibal Lecter??? How does Trump get away with this stuff? Because Hannibal Lecter — though fictional — is an effete, ivory tower intellectual that you’d think Trump’s fans would hate.

Hannibal Lecter is part of the East Coast cultural elite. He is a Johns Hopkins graduate and psychiatrist who was also on the board of the Baltimore Philharmonic. The guy radiates smugness — were he real, he definitely would have put an “in this house, we believe” sign in his yard in 2020. He is fussy, uptight, and — I’m just going to say it — he comes off a little bit gay. He’s the type of person you’d expect Trump fans to hate, and the fact that they don’t bat an eye when Trump sings Lecter’s praises shows how deep the Trump cult has become.

And I haven’t even mentioned the main thing Lecter is known for: Being a total food snob. Consider his famous "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti” line — ooo la la, Mister Sophisticated Wine Connoisseur! Chianti — I suppose in your mind, only crack whores drink merlot. How is Trump not being flayed by “beer track” voters? Remember when Obama got roasted for musing about the price of arugula, or when John Kerry was pillared as an out-of-touch elitist for eating a Philly cheesesteak with swiss cheese? The rules in those cases at least seemed clear: Regular people eat regular food, and “foodie” is basically a synonym for “dandy”. But Lecter is constantly eating bizarre foods like liver pâté, ossobuco, and other exotic meats! There is a clear cultural norm against fancy food, and all I’m asking is that it be applied consistently to Lecter and, by extension, to Trump.

Hannibal Lecter is also a trust fund baby and an immigrant. He was born to nobility in Lithuania and came to the US under mysterious circumstances — the books imply that he might be an illegal immigrant! This is the type of lawbreaking that would normally send Trump fans into a blind rage. Why doesn’t it bother them this time? If the same words had come out of Biden’s mouth, right-wing media would be full of headlines like “Biden Praises Likely Illegal Immigrant” and “Biden Heaps Praise on ‘Wonderful’ Member of Cultural Elite”.

I know that Hannibal Lecter isn’t real. And I know that Trump was riffing on a movie, not endorsing Lecter’s actions. But other politicians probably would have their words interpreted as an endorsement of everything Lecter did in the books and movies. And that person would have to answer for Lecter’s various misdeeds, including: Snobbery, fastidiousness, chichi wine tastings in immaculate villas, associations with psychiatry — the most fucked-up of the social sciences — and deep ties to white tie institutions in the Acela corridor. Lecter is political kryptonite. Which is probably what made him such a chilling character: I think that people found his culture vulture affect deeply sickening.

The election might hinge on which historically old candidate is most mentally present. Without a doubt, Biden faces challenges in that regard. But so does Trump. Biden’s advanced age mostly manifests itself in slurred speech and slowed movements; Trump’s shows itself in the form of rambling incoherence. This gaffe is probably best interpreted as a “senior moment” that — for most candidates — would be damaging. Because Trump did just heap praise on a character who is brainy, out-of-touch, and who in so many ways embodies the ivory tower snobbery that voters tend to abhor.

Oh and I also just remembered that he ate people!

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