SNL Wheels Out Hannibal Lecter As Possible Trump VP Pick: ‘A Man I Can’t Stop Talking About!’

Saturday Night Live’s season finale cold open featured James Austin Johnson’s “Donald Trump” considering The Silence of the Lambs character Hannibal Lecter for his vice presidential pick.

The scene opens with Johnson standing behind metal barriers to give his daily “post-trial briefing.” For his V.P. pick, he first considers South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (“I’m more popular than you among the Blacks”) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (“She shot a dog, which is pretty awesome”).

Johnson then said, “And finally, my last and favorite choice is a man I can’t stop talking about in my rallies. It’s the late, great Hannibal Lecter!”

With that, the “Tim Scott” character wheeled out the straight-jacketed, wild-eyed character, who was played to perfection in the Academy Award-winning movie by Anthony Hopkins.

“Trump” considers the muzzled cannibal, saying, “Here he is! Look at him!” Johnson continued:

I keep calling him “late and great” even though he’s not dead, he’s not great, and he’s not real. But I think he would really scare everybody at the border, right? Can anyone else see him, or is it just me? Ok, get him out of here, we’re done. He’s giving me “Pence vibes.”

The real Trump has been invoking the fictional character since last Veterans Day when he bizarrely claimed the made-up character said, “I love Donald Trump!”

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Trump claimed that “millions” of bloodthirsty Hannibal Lecters were being sent to the U.S. from “insane asylums” in countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico:

We have millions and millions of people, and they came from prisons and jails. They came from mental institutions and insane asylums. No, they’re not the same. An insane asylum is a mental institution on steroids, Ok? It’s Silence of the Lambs, Ok? You know that. Hannibal Lecter! They’re all being deposited into our country.

And, at a recent MAGA rally in New Jersey, Trump said:

Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes 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.

Watch the clip above via SNL on YouTube.

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