More info and source
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-explains-why-he-keeps-praising-hannibal-lecter-1930009
During his Wednesday rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump appeared to explain why he keeps praising the character, saying it was because they are “real stories.”
“They go crazy when I say the late, great Hannibal Lecter. They say, ‘Why would he mention Hannibal Lecter? He must be cognitively in trouble.’ No. These are real stories. Hannibal Lecter from ‘Silence of the Lamb,’ is a lovely man. He wants to have you for dinner,” he said.
This would be funny if I thought he had a sense of humor.
I think he probably heard a joke about Hannibal Lechter being nice because he wants to have you for dinner but doesn’t get how humor works so he works it into speech awkwardly and without context. His addled brain jumps from ‘asylum’ to Hannibal Lechter being nice and just skipped right over the connections that make it a joke.
