Former US President Donald Trump raised eyebrows among his pragmatic New Jersey audience at a rally on Saturday when he recited the entirety of a 1963 soul song and called a fictional cannibal “awesome”.
In a meandering recitation of “The Serpent” during a more than 90-minute speech, Trump used the Oscar Brown song to draw parallels with “illegal immigration and how much of what we’re doing right now moment is stupid.”
“We’re letting people into our country and it’s only going to lead to trouble,” the Republican presidential candidate said.
Trump has drawn on the song several times to emphasize his anti-migrant stance, apparently sparking objections from Brown’s family.
“A tender-hearted woman saw a poor half-frozen snake,” Trump said, reciting — but not singing — the song to the crowd.
“But instead of saying thank you, the snake bit him viciously.”
Trump, who faces Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election, has used increasingly violent rhetoric around the country’s migrant crisis.
At the same time, the extended recitation of “The Serpent” elicited a subdued reaction from thousands of people gathered on a beach in Wildwood, on the Jersey shore.
Some looked on quizzically, while a man behind Trump shown on the big screen yawned and a trickle of spectators headed for the exits.
“Did everyone enjoy it? Don’t enjoy it, you should be – you should be scared!” he said awkwardly, speaking spontaneously after his recitation onto a crib sheet he had in his jacket pocket.
Just a few months ago, the Republican claimed that migrants were “poisoning the blood” of the United States, triggering a violent reaction.
Biden’s campaign accused him of imitating Hitler’s language.
And during his first presidential campaign before the 2016 vote, Trump shocked observers with his comments about “rapist” illegal immigrants.
A rambling article about cannibalism also attracted attention on social media.
“The late Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man,” Trump said, referring to the 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs.”
“He often had a friend over for dinner,” he says with a smile, rehashing a well-known joke about the infamous cannibal character before diving back into migration.
“But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations, the late, great Hannibal Lecter. We have people who are released into our country that we don’t want in our country.”
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