"Hannibal Lecter, how great an actor was he?" the former president asked at a rally Saturday in Cedar Rapids. "You know why I like him? Because he said on television: 'I love Donald Trump,' so I love him. I love him. I love him."

Hannibal Lecter is not a real person.

He's a character in books and films. The fictional cannibalistic serial killer was featured in the gruesome 1991 film classic "Silence of the Lambs."

Trump may have thought he was referring to Anthony Hopkins, the actor who played Lecter in the movie.

Nope.

Hopkins told the Guardian in a 2018 interview that he doesn't think anything about Trump, and never votes because he doesn't "trust anyone."

Other actors have played Lecter, but none is known to support Trump.

Brian Cox, who played Lecter in the 1986 film "Manhunter," commented to Deadline in an interview last year regarding Trump: "How the f--k can this country vote for such a f--king a----le?"

Trump has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's mental competence.