Virtually everyone has heard of if not seen the cartoon series called “The Simpsons,” which has been around for thirty-one years — known for its rebelliousness, irreverence, and familial dysfunction (also more than a smidgeon of raciness). The animated cartoon series was banned in Venezuela as “unsuitable for children” and by Russian Pentecostals for “propaganda of various vices.” On January 27, 1992, then-President George H. W. Bush, running for re-election, said, “We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.”
Alas, as we all now know, that was never accomplished. (He was beaten by William Clinton.)
This is by way of saying the Simpsons were not paragons of spirituality. But have there been supernatural dynamics? Has the animated series at times been amazingly precognitive — predicting future trends or events?
Consider (as Business Insider has):
The episode where Kobe Bryant was portrayed with an angry helicopter eyeing him in the background (2013, six years before the basketball star and his daughter were killed in a chopper crash):
An episode about a coronavirus (there are various kinds of that virus) and killer bees in 1993:
Or protests that burned down a police station (2001):
How about J. C. Penneys going out of business (2006)? (That’s now occurred.)
When Disney bought Fox (1998, two decades before it happened):
Notes another website:
“In the 1995 episode ‘Lisa’s Wedding,’ a visit to a fortuneteller transports Lisa to 2010, when she’s talking to Marge via her phone’s video chat feature, called Picture Phone. What happened in real life: Yes, other Hollywood depictions of the future had predicted similar technology over the years, but guess what year Apple overlord Steve Jobs announced the breakthrough videotelephony product known as FaceTime? 2010.” (See also here.)
The Simpsons also seemed to foresee Donald Trump’s stunning rise to the summit of U.S. power. It did so in a 2000 episode called “Bart To the Future.”
Or did it?
To a degree, perhaps. The escalator scene (recalling his famous entrance in the race for the Republican nomination) was in 2000.
The series also had a brief mention (see video below) in which the words “President Trump” were mentioned by a character. Check this out (the Simpsons are admittedly liberal — very):
Pretty interesting stuff.
Just dumb luck, simple logic, or subconscious precognition?
Even by 2000, when the Simpsons’ mention of him came out, Trump had spoken about possibly running for president.
But still: deep in the psyche can often be glimpses of the future, tiny fragments, usually disjointed, especially in the “nonsense” of dreams.