‘Simpsons’ Writer Who Predicted Trump Presidency Is Now Running for President Himself
Dan Greaney, the veteran Simpsons writer behind one of television’s most famous apparent predictions, is taking an extraordinary step from political satire into politics itself launching a campaign for President of the United States in 2028.
Greaney wrote the 2000 Simpsons episode “Bart to the Future,” which imagined Lisa Simpson becoming president and inheriting serious financial problems from her predecessor: President Donald Trump.
The episode aired on March 19, 2000 — more than 16 years before Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
What has long been described as an eerie prediction, however, was not simply a random joke. Greaney has explained that the writers deliberately needed to imagine a president who could leave America in such bad condition that even the highly capable Lisa Simpson would need help from her brother Bart.
“We said, well, who was president before him?” Greaney recalled while discussing how the storyline developed.
According to Greaney, another writer suggested an unlikely celebrity: Johnny Depp.
“And another writer pitched Johnny Depp. And honestly, it just didn’t make any sense to me,” Greaney said. “I mean, it was funny, but it didn’t make sense. Why? Why would anyone vote for Johnny Depp?”
Greaney said his thinking instead turned toward the type of personality Americans might realistically embrace during a period of frustration.
“They’re going to vote for somebody who promises them everything, who will say anything to get the job, is completely shameless,” he said.
That person, he believed, could be somebody like Donald Trump.
Greaney has previously described the choice not as supernatural foresight but as an observation about American society and its historical attraction to larger-than-life salesmen, promoters and political personalities.
In a 2023 account of how the episode was conceived, Greaney wrote that choosing Trump “wasn’t a prediction, it was an observation,” arguing that Americans had repeatedly been attracted to get-rich-quick promises and similar salesmanship throughout the country’s history.
The joke became considerably more remarkable when Trump won the presidency in 2016 and again returned to the White House following the 2024 election.
Greaney is now trying to write a different ending himself.
He formally launched a campaign for the 2028 presidential election in May 2026, presenting himself as a “progressive Republican” and campaigning under the theme “For All.”
“I’m running for president. My platform: America for all. Let’s do this,” Greaney declared during his campaign announcement.
The campaign began with the kind of comedy expected from a longtime Simpsons writer. Greaney appeared dressed as a prophet, playing on his reputation as the man who supposedly saw Trump’s presidency coming, before dropping the costume and turning to his actual political ambitions.
But Greaney insists the candidacy itself is serious.
His campaign held its first official rally in Los Angeles in June, attracting a small crowd of roughly 30 people. Despite the unconventional beginning and his background in comedy, Greaney told supporters his presidential run was not a joke.
His campaign platform calls for universal healthcare, housing affordability measures, a Green New Deal, changes to campaign finance, Supreme Court reform and stronger government accountability.
Greaney has also criticized both major American political camps, arguing that Republicans empowered Trump while Democrats failed to effectively stop him.
His motivation appears deeply connected to what he believes the original Simpsons joke ultimately revealed about America.
“Trump is an expression of us,” Greaney said while reflecting on the country. “He’s not the only expression of us. He’s a part of our nature. We have other parts of our nature.”
Greaney said his presidential campaign is partly an attempt to encourage Americans to demonstrate those other qualities.
“Let’s turn the wheel and express our better nature,” he said.
The unusual candidacy also comes with a résumé extending well beyond television comedy.
Greaney attended Harvard College, served as president of the Harvard Lampoon, went to Harvard Law School and became an attorney. He also worked in journalism before returning to comedy and later became involved in media and technology entrepreneurship.
He has written and produced for The Simpsons and also worked on The Office. His association with The Simpsons stretches back to the show’s seventh season, when he joined after writing the first draft of the episode “King-Size Homer.”
Fun Facts
– “Bart to the Future” originally aired on March 19, 2000.
– The Trump reference came more than 16 years before Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016.
– Another writer reportedly suggested Johnny Depp as Lisa Simpson’s disastrous presidential predecessor before Greaney proposed Trump.
– Greaney has said the Trump storyline was intended more as an observation about America than a literal prediction of the future.
– After Trump actually won the 2016 election, The Simpsons responded with a chalkboard gag reading: “Being right sucks.”
– Greaney is a Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate and has worked as a lawyer and journalist in addition to writing comedy.
– He once served as president of the Harvard Lampoon.
– His 2028 campaign describes him as a “progressive Republican,” invoking the reform traditions of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
– His campaign slogan and central message is “For All.”
– Greaney is now attempting something considerably harder than predicting a fictional president: convincing American voters to make him a real one.
More than a quarter-century after imagining an America struggling with the aftermath of a Trump presidency, Greaney is effectively turning his old television premise on its head.
Instead of writing President Lisa Simpson as the person tasked with fixing the country, he is now asking voters to give him the opportunity.
For the writer behind one of The Simpsons’ most famous predictions, the message this time is deliberately optimistic: if satire could help identify America’s darker tendencies, perhaps politics can help Americans choose what Greaney considers their better ones.One important correction for your publishing system: spell his surname “Greaney,” not “Graney.” His campaign is also more than an announced “intention”; he launched the 2028 campaign in May and subsequently held a campaign rally.
His official campaign site confirms his Simpsons, Harvard, law, journalism and entrepreneurship background and lays out proposals including universal healthcare, housing policies, a Green New Deal and Supreme Court reform.
Article and image source: facebook.com
