Donald Trump and Hannibal Lecter. What's up with this?

For some reason, I doubt Trump has even a passing knowledge of Townes. Even if you said “Pancho and Lefty,” he’d probably say either, “You mean Willie Nelson?” or, more likely, “You mean Poncho and Lefty.” For background, the LGTVZ album was recorded in 1972, Townes died in 1997.

Years ago, shortly after Townes’ death (last century), I was involved in a mailing list concerned with Townes. From it, I found out that in the mid 1950s, Townes’ father, in the oil business, moved the family to Midland, Texas (or was it Odessa?). Anyway, Bush Jr. was President at the time (late 1990s), and George, Sr. had moved his family there around the same time. I postulated to the list, knowing Townes’ fondness of mood-altering substances, and Jr. Bush’s youthful indiscretions were well known, that it isn’t entirely unlikely that they were pre-teen buddies, as oil-baron families tend to know one another.

Sadly (or fortunately, I guess), the mailing list informed me that Townes Family moved to Montana before Bush moved there. Oh, well…

Bush Jr. was elected in 2000, served from 2001-2009.

OK, Early 2000s…

This is what confuses me. (OK, one of the hundred thousand things about Trump that confuses me.) He calls him the “late, great,” but doesn’t he also refer to him in the present tense? “He’s a wonderful man.” and “He loves me.”

Those who are saying Trump doesn’t know what “late” means in this context may be on to something.

Yes, I think he thinks “late great” is a way to describe someone who is very great.

Or who is great for something in the past.

The Post has an article about this.
Seems like a lot of trump supporters read whatever they want to into his talking about it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/14/why-trump-keeps-talking-about-fictional-serial-killer-hannibal-lecter/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3eb5154%2F66bcd1b6406d8e209115a003%2F6552f1c24aedb46329b01569%2F10%2F55%2F66bcd1b6406d8e209115a003