Rick Wilson on Trump's love affair with a fictional serial killer: "Lecter is everything Trump isn’t. Brilliant, profoundly worldly, educated, tightly, disciplined, and sophisticated a level Trump would achieve in 1000 years."
Published:May 15, 2024
Share
By Rick Wilson
If you paid even the slightest attention this week to Donald Trump’s Wildwood, New Jersey rally, you’d saw this gem:
Now, the Lecter riff was embedded in the course of one of his usual blood and soil, poisoning-of-the-blood, browning-of-America white replacement theory rants, but this isn’t the first time by a long shot that Trump seems to believe that imaginary characters from fiction and real characters from history are…well, you know, his friends.
From John Barron, John Miller, and David Dennison, to the mysterious Jim in Paris, Donald Trump has always had a series of imaginary friends. He got it from Daddy. He rolls out fake characters to validate his ongoing bullshit tornado and to provide anecdotal backup for his lies, bullshit, scams, and ludicrous political assertions. It hardly matters to his audience that none of them were real. Like so many things in the participation trophy culture of MAGA, that the facts and truth of an issue are secondary to the vibes.'
Reporters, and even his supporters have long understood that Trump’s panoply of invisible friends is largely there to make points. The Trump can’t make rational discourse or argument. They’re there to be an amen chorus and nothing more. There are literary constructs in service to a man who knows what neither of those two words mean.
Of course, Trump enjoys the support of an army of imaginary friends when it comes to big strong men. Big Strong Men(TM), so many of them come up to him with tears in their eyes, saying Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump (insert heartwarming and utterly fictional Trumpian story here).
If Trump had that many people coming up to him with tears in their eyes, it would rival Catholic pilgrims arriving at Lourdes.
But this weekend and the recent past, we started to see some new characters slipping into the Trump narrative matrix.
Hannibal Lecter, one of the most frightening literary figures in the modern era and in a strange way, I think sees the Thomas Harris antihero as someone to admire.
Lecter is everything Trump isn’t. Brilliant, profoundly worldly, educated, tightly, disciplined, and sophisticated a level Trump would achieve in 1000 years. He is also of course, an insane serial killer, cannibal, and a psychopath.
Just saying, Judge Merchan…
I’m wondering if we’re going to see appearances on the campaign Trail from other notorious figures in history. Pursuant to that I’ve written for your speculation and amusement about some real and fictional characters who may be making their appearance soon.
“Pol Pot. Nobody talks about Pol anymore. I call him Potty. The Pot Man. Lil Potty. Very strong leader though. Very strong. Very determined. People moved to the countryside. Too many elites in the city looking down on them. He took all the steps. Strong. Very strong. Killing Fields. We could use that.”
“Sauron. Remember our buddy Sauron? Good friend. Knew him well. Sure they said he was a servant of Melkor and wanted the One Ring to plunge all Middle Earth into eternal darkness, but that was just the mainstream fake news. Sauron was a builder, like me. Big Towers. Barad Dur, big tower in Mordor. The biggest. Almost as big as Trump Tower but not quite as luxurious.”
“You know when I was coming up in New York, my good friend Patrick Bateman was really making a name for himself on Wall Street. Like me, he was really really popular, really really rich. Whatever happened to Patrick? Patrick here in the audience with us today, ready to make America great again. Great business cards. Always good about returning his videotapes.”
“It’s so good to be endorsed by my good friend Humbert Humbert. Met him at a party with Jeffrey Epstein. Very smart, very popular with the girls. They say he’s a very good writer.”
“They say I hate immigrants, but that’s just not true. I believe if you’re a good white person willing to come here and do the jobs Americans just won’t do, like my friend Anton Chigurh, America’s doors are open for legal immigration. Anton is a good man. Where are you Anton?”
“I’m proud to be endorsed by so many great American business leaders. Men like Calvin Candie truly make America great. Calvin is one of our great, great plantation owners and I don’t know if you know this, but he’s an expert on agricultural employment. One of our great farmers. I call him Sweet Candie.”
“Where’s my good friend Vlad? Vlad the Impaler. Impaler. Such a strong word. A bold world. So strong against the radical Muslims. And he started late in life! He didn’t impale anyone until he was 45, then he got good at it. Vlad’s going to help advise my Secretary of State Seb ‘The Dragon of Budapest’ Gorka.”
“Thanos. My good friend Thanos. They say he has hands almost as big as mine. So strong. So tough. Ready to destroy half of the life in the universe to make it so great again.”
Lisa Senecal writes, "The Harris-Walz campaign isn’t afraid of change because it is far from being afraid of what the American people will do if given more freedom; they’re excited about the progress we can all make together."
As we inch closer to this historic election there are many questions to answer. On this episode Rick picks a handful of your submitted questions and gives them a classic hot take. He touches on Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's potential paths to electoral college victory, Trump's declining favorability and the recent criminal charges against him, while also sharing some personal reflections, including the joy of becoming a grandfather.
Historically the democratic party has struggled with clear, direct messaging. It's now clear they are finally getting the memo. In this episode Rick is joined by Leigh McGowan, also known as PoliticsGirl, for a discussion on the current political landscape. They dive into the smashing success of the Democratic Convention, how the dynamics of the election have changed, and share candid thoughts on the upcoming debates. They touch on the challenges of modern masculinity, the power of effective political messaging, and the importance of staying true to core American values. To pre-order Leigh's book, "A Return To Common Sense:" https://a.co/d/byr9E8m. Release date: Sept. 17!
Why does it seem like Democratic attacks on Trump are breaking through now? Joe explains why it was always the contrast - and how Kamala Harris opens up new ways for Democrats to make the case. Why getting into Trump's head (and staying there) matters so much. And how should Kamala Harris prepare to debate Trump? Joe has some pointers.
And don't forget to check out Sez.Us - it's time to stop being held hostage to algorithms and rebuild the town square.
A crazy old man named Donald J. Trump called into the last night of Fox News’ coverage of the DNC. When the first show hung up on him he called in to the next show - the worst comedy show on television. Jessica Tarlov broke down his meltdown. Jesse Watters made a racist statement about crime. Sean Hannity waited for a riot that never happened. Brit Hume referred to women who suffered sexual assault and serious pregnancy complications as “abortion speakers” Multiple Fox News hosts whined about how the Dems have treated Biden. Nancy Pelosi proved she’s a boss on PBS.