‘Morning Joe’ Panel Baffled by Trump’s ‘Bizarre’ NJ Speech About ‘Late, Great’ Hannibal Lecter

MSNBC's Morning Joe co-hosts expressed confusion and laughter at Donald Trump's lengthy tirade glorifying a fictional cannibal during his campaign event in New Jersey. In front of his devoted MAGA supporters, the former president attacked immigrants before praising Hannibal Lecter, the main antagonist of novelist Thomas Harris's works, which include the best-selling The Silence of the Lambs, per Raw Story.

“Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’s a wonderful man,” Trump said bizarrely at the rally, then adding, "He often times 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.”

MSNBC co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski seemed visibly taken aback after seeing the video. "Donald Trump over the weekend in New Jersey, of all places, in New Jersey praising a fictional serial killer," Brzezinski began, with Scarborough suggesting, "This is exactly, Mika, this is why the Biden campaign desperately wants to see more bizarre moments like this during Trump's rallies."

Scarborough remarked, "I promise you, they're more upset Donald Trump is in trial right now than Donald Trump, because they know when he goes out on the road, people see, the guy is just not there." He further emphasized, "He is celebrating a fictional character there who — one of the most grotesque, horrifying people of movie history." Adding to this, he questioned, "By the way, if you're going to a rally like that, why are you cheering that on? What can you be thinking at that rally other than, this doesn't make sense?"

Co-host Brzezinski chimed in, stating, "That is my point. This is why I disagree with the concern he is in court rather than on the campaign trail. I think when he is on the campaign trail, it is like a cult; they'll agree with anything."

Finally, Brzezinski expressed, "Less is more, in my opinion. Seeing him in court is seeing him actually having to be accountable." Trump supporters left the aforementioned rally in New Jersey without warning. A video that USA Today reporter Zac Anderson shared on X indicates that a large portion of the audience left before the former president finished speaking. "This whole area was full of people when Trump started," Anderson wrote.

The former president has talked about the Silence of the Lambs character before. At a rally in New Hampshire this January, Trump made the wholly different but equally insane comparison between the psychotic serial killer and migrants, many of whom are entering the country lawfully to seek refuge. “Did you ever hear of Hannibal Lecter? They’re being dropped into our country. Hannibal Lecter is coming.”