It’s official: Donald J Trump is the 45th president of the United States. This is a fact most of us are currently struggling to process, since no one predicted with any certainty that the reality TV star businessman (with no previous political experience) could win.
Despite the shock, however, there’s one group of people who’ve known this has been coming for 16 years. Back in March 2000, the Simpsons aired an episode entitled Bart To The Future, which predicted Trump would one day become president, and with it, the world’s most powerful man.
The episode featured Bart looking 30 years into the future, in which a grown up Lisa Simpson was taking over from President Trump as the country’s first female president. Spooky, huh?
In the clip from the 16-year-old episode, Lisa Simpson, who has become the first female president of the United States, says: “As you know, we’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump.”
Writer for the show, Dan Greaney, told the Hollywood Reporter: “It was a warning to America. 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.”
In October, Matt Groening told 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.
“If by chance he gets elected, which I doubt highly will happen, I think we’ll suddenly be very inspired. Mr Trump’s election, as horrible as it would be, would be great for comedy – as comedians always say…”
Bart To The Future wasn’t the only episode of The Simpsons that has openly poked fun of Trump. Back in August, the show released a clip which asked: “It’s 3am and the phone is ringing in the White House. Who do you want to answer the call?“