Key Highlights
- Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris.
- ‘The Simpsons’ eerily predicted Harris’s potential presidency 24 years ago.
- Donald Trump’s numerous encounters with The Simpsons’ predictions, including an assassination attempt.
- The Democratic Party rallies behind Harris, while Trump plans a second presidential run.
(livesinsight.com) –Is the United States finally ready for their first-ever Madame President? Well that is something only the presidential polls scheduled for winter this year will reveal. While political rallies, news hour debates and the reams and reams of statistical data may give you a rough idea of where the wind is swaying as of now, we have a much trustier source at hand who always knows what’s up. The Simpsons! While we would say pun-intended, the jarring and downright eerie accuracy with which the 80s animated sitcom has been predicting key global events makes it a rather reliable source (in hindsight of course). From Joe Biden abruptly refusing to accept the Democratic Party nomination and instead endorsing Kamala Harris to run for president to Trump’s voraciously backed run as POTUS, here’s taking a look at The Simpsons’ unnerving knack for satirically ‘predicting the future’. Kamala Harris’ run for POTUS may just have been predicted by The Simpsons 24 years ago.
Kamala Harris’ Presidential Run and The Simpsons’ Prediction
As of today, the United States of America is standing at the very same crossroads that it was at back in 2016. Around 8 years ago Hillary Clinton conceded to Trump, who enjoyed a landslide victory spelling out the commencement of his polarising run as POTUS. After losing to now-President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump has returned with a vengeance to claim a potential second run for office. While the country (and the world) was gearing up for Biden vs Trump 2.0, in a nail-biting plot twist, Joe Biden has declared having withdrawn from the US Presidential race, endorsing his trusted Vice-President, Kamala Harris as the face of the Democrats instead.
While this is a moment for the history books, the possibility of it had already been predicted by The Simpsons — 24 years ago! Episode 17 from season 11, which aired back in 2000 shows POTUS Lisa Simpson speaking about the budget crisis orchestrated by ‘President Trump’ which she now has to deal with. Lisa is being equated to Harris owing to the fact that the former’s choice of attire, a purple pantsuit with a string of pearls, is eerily similar to the purple Christopher John Rogers and Sergio Hudson blazer dress worn by the latter on inauguration day 2021.
Trump for President: The Simpsons’ Foretellings
Not too long back, the internet was abuzz with absolute shock over Donald Trump’s assassination attempt. A Pennsylvania rally organised on July 13 turned grim when a bullet grazed Trump’s right ear mid-speech, creating a bloody 2-cm wound. Several breakdowns of the situation since, reveal that the bullet was definitively aimed at his head, but missed him owing to a casual head tilt.
A series of images, presumably from The Simpsons, show the former-president in a coffin leading many to believe that the show managed to predict the assassination attempt on him. Though those images were soon debunked as fake, one cannot still overlook the fact that Trump’s presidential reign was predicted by The Simpsons decades before he ran for president, in a season 11 episode titled ‘Bart to the Future’.
2023 was an absolutely crazy year in US politics, with Trump being taken into custody on account of 2 criminal federal charges and 2 state charges. This is still a developing case. Keeping aside the details for the same, Trump being taken into custody too was predicted by The Simpsons, way back in a 1994 episode from season 5, titled ‘Lisa vs Malibu Stacy’. In the episode, Springfield’s TV anchor, Kent Brockman concludes his report by announcing that the president had been arrested. Needless to say, the internet jumped right in, tying the statement to Trump’s indictments.
The Simpsons Prophecy: Trump’s Second Presidential Run
The Simpsons not only predicted Trump’s race for presidency, but also accurately predicted a nonconsecutive second presidential run in 2024. In a blink-and-you-miss shot from a 2015 Simpsons episode, Homer Simpson can be seen flying across a sign that reads ‘Trump 2024’. Mind you, this was 2 years before he was sworn in for the first time, as the 45th President of the United States, in January 2017.
‘Old man yells at old man’ may seem like an ageist and harsh description of the US presidential debate, round 1 of which was held on June 27 in Ohio, but, the internet seems to agree. The debate was characterised by a several instances of both Trump and Biden speaking over and interrupting one another. As per viral images doing the rounds of the internet, a Simpsons episode featured a newspaper with the line, ‘old man yells at old man’ with an image to go with it. Much like the Simpson-coded images of Trump in a coffin, this too appeared quite believable. However, the same soon stood debunked with the original image being revealed to be one man, not two, with the headline, ‘old man yells at cloud’.
Nevertheless, instances like this stand testament to the internet’s frenzy over The Simpsons knack for predicting the future — something that actually can’t be ignored. This also serves as the window to a parallel debate about sieving out fact from fiction, especially when it comes to events of global importance, in the digital era.
Biden’s Endorsement and Democratic Reactions
The animated show seemingly predicted Vice President Kamala Harris seeking the Democratic presidential nomination after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race over the weekend.
A writer from the show even addressed the coincidence on social media. In 2000, Lisa Simpson (left), from The Simpsons, wore a similar purple ensemble to that worn by Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2021 inauguration. In the 2000 episode of the comedy series, ‘Bart to the Future,’ Lisa Simpson becomes the first female president of the United States. She sports the exact same purple ensemble that Harris rocked during the 2021 inauguration, including the pearl necklace and earrings.
The back-to-back images of Lisa and Harris, 59, went viral on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday after the huge shake-up to the Democratic presidential ticket. Al Jean, a screenwriter for the show, tweeted out the prescient photo as well.
‘@TheSimpsons ‘prediction’ I’m proud to be a part of,’ he wrote.
The Matt Groening-created show is notorious for predicting future events, including Donald Trump’s presidency. In the same episode, President Lisa remarks, ‘We’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump.’
Groening, 70, addressed the show foretelling Trump, 78, reaching the White House in a 2016 interview with the Guardian. ‘We predicted that he would be president back in 2000 — but [Trump] was, of course, the most absurd placeholder joke name that we could think of at the time, and that’s still true. It’s beyond satire,’ he said.
The show has also correctly predicted the Capitol riot, the ‘Game of Thrones’ finale, the coronavirus pandemic and more. An episode from 1996, titled ‘Lisa the Iconoclast,’ depicted Lisa nearly being shot and killed while standing on a rooftop, in a visual eerily similar to the assassination attempt on Trump earlier this month.
The episode was subsequently pulled from airing in the UK the day after the former president was shot at during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Biden, 81, dropped out of the 2024 presidential election following his dismal June 27 debate performance. Democrats were concerned that the sitting president would lead to a wipeout defeat in November.
‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,’ Biden wrote in a letter that he addressed to ‘My Fellow Americans’ on Sunday. ‘And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,’ Biden continued. ‘I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.’
He also endorsed Harris for president in an announcement on X. ‘Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,’ Biden wrote.
Harris said in a statement she was ‘honored’ to have Biden’s endorsement and confirmed she’s seeking the nomination.
Harris’ Road Ahead and Party Dynamics
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race: ‘Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead,’ the former California senator said. ‘I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.’
Bill and Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have endorsed Harris. Former President Barack Obama did not give her his stamp of approval as of now, instead noting that Dems will pick an ‘outstanding nominee.’ Her nomination is not a done deal until the Democratic National Convention in August.