Donald Trump Told UFC’s Dana White He Should Start a Migrant Fighting League | Video

The former president also brought up “Silence of the Lambs” cannibal Hannibal Lecter once again leading into an attack on President Biden and the media

Donald Trump in front of a large banner reading "FAITH & FREEDOM."
Donald Trump at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Speaking to the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, Donald Trump shared Saturday that he had suggested to UFC head Dana White that they should start a “migrant league of fighters.”

“I said, Dana, I have an idea,” the former president began. “Why don’t you set up a migrant league of fighters, and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league — these are the greatest fighters in the world — fight the champion of the migrants? I think the migrant guy might win! That’s how tough they are.”

Watch video of the moment here:

Despite Trump and White being longtime friends (as White discussed in a recent interview with TheWrap, in which he talked about how they “bro out” together), the UFC leader wasn’t into Trump’s suggestion, according to the Republican candidate.

“He didn’t like that idea too much, but actually, it’s not the worst idea I ever had,” Trump concluded the anecdote, to cheers and appreciative laughter from the crowd.

Trump used the story to underscore his continued criticism of the lack of enforcement at the border of immigration laws, as well as the numerous immigrants who are undocumented currently living in the United States. Elsewhere in the speech, he talked about immigrants coming to this country from “prisons” and “mental institutions,” as he has before.

He transitioned right from talking about undocumented immigrants to making one of his much-talked-about references to “Silence of the Lambs” and the serial killer cannibal character Hannibal Lecter. Trump also dropped the “S” from the film’s name, referring to it twice as “Silence of the Lamb.”

“Whenever I say ‘Silence of the Lamb,’ the fake news back there, they say, oh, he’s talking about Silence of the Lamb. And I say, ‘The late, great Hannibal Lecter,’ ‘Oh, he likes Hannibal Lecter!’ No, they’re crazy,” Trump said.

The candidate’s point seemed to be that he has been joking around when talking about Lecter in previous speeches and that the media has made too much of those comments. He followed that up by joking about making fun of Biden’s alleged mental confusion, noting that he’d intentionally wandered into a wall during speeches to mock Biden, but stopped doing it because of people taking that out of context.

However, Trump then defended the New York Post and other media’s claim that Biden had to be led off the stage by former President Barack Obama at a recent L.A. fundraiser. Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the event, as well as the White House and TheWrap’s reporter who was at the event, have disputed the conservative characterization of the moment.

New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat, is among those who drew attention to Trump’s suggestion of a migrant fighting league. The congressman subtly noted, “Speaking at a Christian conference today convicted criminal donald trump mused about creating a professional fighting league for migrants.”

Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote on social media of Trump’s comments, “This is some really sick s–t and in and of itself should be disqualifying.”

You can read social media video journalist Aaron Rupar’s coverage of Trump’s Faith and Freedom Coalition speech in this thread on X and watch the full speech here:

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