'It was a warning to America': The Simpsons episode that predicted Trump's presidency
In an eerie prediction made almost 16 years ago to the day, The Simpsons forecast Donald Trump’s presidency in a futuristic episode titled ‘Bart to the Future’.
The popular show aired the episode on March 19, 2000, and featured a look into the future for the main characters, and seemingly, the rest of America.
Show writer Dan Greaney said Trump was chosen as the president as “a warning to America”.
"And that just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
The episode showed Bart and Lisa’s life in the future, and concentrated around Lisa’s presidency, which she had just taken over from Trump.
Greaney said they needed someone who would create turmoil for Lisa to fix, so they settled on the ludicrous idea of the current Republican candidate.
"What we needed was for Lisa to have problems that were beyond her fixing, that everything went as bad as it possibly could, and that's why we had Trump be president before her."
In the episode, Lisa talks with her staff about the country’s financial crisis left by Trump.
“As you know, we’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump,” she says, before realising that the country is, in fact, broke.
Fans of The Simpsons noticed the prediction along with another coincidence from a 2013 episode; David Bowie and Alan Rickman, who died in the same week in January this year, were both referenced in the same scene.
Greaney said the coincidence has sparked regenerated interest in the episode and he was “tickled”.
The writer said he personally does not believe Trump will win the election.
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Newsbreak – March 19
