As thousands of Americans struggled with canceled flights and crowded airports during one of the nation’s worst aviation disruptions in decades, President Donald Trump found time to revive one of his strangest political obsessions: fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.
The 80-year-old president launched into an angry attack on California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday, November 14, comparing some of the state’s death row inmates to the notorious villain from The Silence of the Lambs.
In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed certain prisoners affected by Newsom’s decision to commute death sentences would make Hannibal Lecter “look like a nice guy.”
The president also revived his insulting nickname for the Democratic governor, calling him “Gavin Newscum.”
But Trump’s attack contained a significant distortion of what Newsom actually announced.
On November 5, the California governor revealed plans to commute the death sentences of 548 prisoners to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. None would be released from prison, and 382 of the proposed commutations require approval from the California Supreme Court.
Trump had earlier condemned the move as a disaster for American justice, incorrectly referring to 563 death row inmates.
Newsom, who has opposed capital punishment for years, argued that California’s death penalty system is fundamentally flawed and vulnerable to wrongful convictions and unequal treatment.
The decision has sparked fierce opposition from prosecutors and victims’ families, some of whom argue that eliminating death sentences denies them the justice they were promised.
Yet the timing of Trump’s latest attack raised a different question: Why was the president focused on a fictional cannibal and a longtime political rival while America’s airports were struggling to recover from a nationwide emergency?
On Friday, November 13, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop after technical problems disrupted air traffic control communications and radar systems.
The shutdown lasted more than four hours, becoming the longest nationwide flight stoppage since September 11, 2001.
Approximately 9,200 flights were canceled Friday, followed by more than 6,400 cancellations on Saturday. Tens of thousands of travelers were left scrambling to find alternative arrangements as airlines struggled to reposition planes and crews.
Federal officials traced the disruption to problems involving equipment upgrades by contractor L3Harris, which apparently overloaded communications systems serving air traffic control centers.
While Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and aviation officials worked to address the crisis, Trump spent Saturday posting about Newsom and a separate dispute over a Washington, D.C., golf course renovation.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that the president publicly addressed the travel disaster at length.
Rather than focusing solely on the stranded passengers, Trump turned his attention to former President Joe Biden, accusing his administration of worsening an outdated aviation system.
Trump also demanded additional congressional funding to modernize air traffic control infrastructure, arguing that the nation’s aging equipment desperately needs replacement.
The administration’s criticism comes despite Biden having signed infrastructure legislation that included billions of dollars for airport and air traffic control improvements.
The political attacks were particularly striking given Trump’s recent comments about cooperation with Democrats.
During a 60 Minutes interview, Trump was asked whether he could refrain from insulting Democrats for six months if doing so would help secure a political agreement.
“Very easily,” the president replied.
Just days later, he was once again using personal insults against Newsom.
And Hannibal Lecter’s unexpected return to Trump’s political vocabulary was hardly a first.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly referenced the fictional murderer, famously portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, while delivering speeches about immigration and crime.
His references became so frequent that Saturday Night Live mocked the fixation in a sketch featuring a Trump impersonator alongside the infamous movie character.
Now, nearly two years later, the fictional killer has resurfaced in another presidential political attack.
But with thousands of flights disrupted, travelers stranded and federal officials facing serious questions about the reliability of America’s aviation infrastructure, the contrast between Trump’s Saturday social media attacks and the national crisis unfolding at airports was difficult to ignore.
For passengers desperately trying to get home, the real concern wasn’t Hannibal Lecter or another feud between Trump and Newsom. It was when America’s skies would return to normal—and whether Washington could prevent another massive shutdown.
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Trump and his administration are complete morons