Fox News host Trey Gowdy dared to bite the hand that feeds his network as he poked fun at the state of President Donald Trump’s stock market by referencing a bizarre Trump riff about cannibal flick Silence of the Lambs.
The real horror show is the stock market, which has just suffered its worst week in more than two years. The picture was just as bleak on Monday, with the S&P 500 futures, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures and the Nasdaq 100 all down.
Former Republican congressman Gowdy was reacting to the stark economic picture on his show Sunday Night in America, when he quipped: “I’ve been watching Silence of the Lambs because it’s less scary for me than looking at the stock market.”
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Gowdy’s guest, Forbes media chairman and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes, laughed and responded: “Well, don’t pay too much attention to Hannibal right now.” He then attempted to make sense of the markets.
Trump’s volatile relationship with trade partners, and threats of yet more tariffs, have created uncertainty in the markets. A report by CNBC on Friday found that 500 of the largest publicly traded companies have suffered an estimated $5 trillion in losses in the past three weeks alone.
In his gag, Gowdy was referencing the president’s love for Silence of the Lambs, the 1991 horror film starring Anthony Hopkins as a charming cannibal. “That’s like Silence of the Lambs stuff. But they’re coming into our country," Trump said on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania in July 2023, claiming that migrants were pouring over the U.S.-Mexico border having departed insane asylums.
Since then, he has cited the Oscar-winning flick or Hopkins' portrayal of the main character 11 times, according to Rolling Stone.
Hopkins apparently didn’t know about Trump’s fascination with the film until confronted with it by a Deadline interviewer in July last year. “As if [Lecter] is real?” he asked, laughing. “I’m shocked and appalled what you’ve told me about Trump.”
