WhileThe Simpsonshas numerous notable future predictions dotted throughout its 36 seasons to date, the show’s most famous one is deeper than you might have thought. With more than 790 episodes and a theatrical movie spinoff to its name,The Simpsonsis now the longest-running scripted primetime American TV show in history.
Since the family comedy has always satirized every element of American life, it is perhaps no surprise that the show has occasionally appeared to predict the future when its zany events came to pass in reality. However, thefuture predictions ofThe Simpsonsare a little too spooky to be coincidental.
From a gag that seemingly mirrored 2022’s OceanGate submersible implosion to Lisa correctly listing the winners of numerous future Superbowls in one piece of dialogue, the show’s famed ability to predict the future is legendary. However, the most notable instance of this feat is more complex than you might have guessed.
How The Simpsons Predicting Donald Trump’s Presidency Was Surprisingly Layered
The Show’s Joke Was A Jab at the Cultural Landscape of the Early ‘00s
In season 11, episode 17, “Bart to the Future,” Bart was shown a vision of his potential future by the manager of a Native American casino while the rest of the family whiled away their time in the building. The vision revealed that Bart would become a burnt-out wannabe musician, while Lisa was the president of America.
Infamously,“Bart to the Future” features a line where Lisa says her government inherited quite a budget crisis from “President Trump,”implying that the real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump would become America’s president sometime in the future. At the time, this gag seemed like an absurd one-liner.
AsThe Simpsonsseason 37’s release dateapproaches, the joke no longer seems so far-fetched. As most readers will know, Trump won the 2016 election and was President of the United States from 2017 until 2021, and then won the 2024 election. As such, this seemed like the most striking and consequential case ofThe Simpsonspredicting the future.
As the character of Mr. Burns proves,The Simpsonshas often taken a dim view of corporate America.
However, there is an argument to be made that this prediction wasn’t so surprising at all. As the character of Mr. Burns proves,The Simpsonshas often taken a dim view of corporate America. The show has criticized the power that corporate interests have over branches of the government, most explicitly in season 3, episode 2, “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.”
Season 11, episode 17
“Bart to the Future,”
A gag about Donald Trump becoming President of the United States
Season 3, episode 14
“Lisa the Greek"
Season 17, episode 10
“Homer’s Paternity Coot"
Homer’s near-death experience resembles 2023’s Titan submersible implosion.
As such, casting Trump as a past president effectively underlined a point the show repeatedly revisited. The argument was that, when “Bart to the Future” first aired in 2000, America was increasingly run by corporate interests. As such, in short order, the middle man would be cut out, and the country would inevitably be run by a famous businessman.
While another version ofThe Simpsons’ future featured Marge’s death, this event was significantly harder to predict than Trump’s election. The laissez-faire economic policies favored by both major US parties since the early ‘80s prioritized the interests of big business, meaning a businessman running for president and winning was almost a foregone conclusion.
The Simpsons’ “Bart to the Future” Accurately Predicted A Real-Life Crisis
Bart’s Underemployment Reflects A Problem Unique To the 2010s and 2020s
Furthermore, Bart’s fate in “Bart to the Future” is equally tied to the economic realities of the episode’s original airdate as much as any imagined future.Bart’s underemployment reflects the reality faced by many young people across America, and Nelson paying Ralph and Bart for their performance in popcorn shrimp is a hilarious and tragic prediction of the music industry’s future.
As streaming platforms increasingly became the only venue for artists to publicize their new releases, the viability of making a living wage as a musician in the United States evaporated in the early 2000s. WhileHomer isThe Simpsons’ true protagonist, it makes sense for “Bart to the Future” to focus on his feckless son as he is the next generation of American everyman.
Where Homer was able to muddle through and ended up with a suburban home, a single-income household, and a comparatively stable family, Bart and Ralph face unemployment, eviction, and constant financial precarity.
Between them, Bart and his housemate Ralph are as hapless and lovable as Homer. However, the social safety net and relatively robust middle-class economy that kept Homer afloat are gone by the time Ralph and Bart reach their forties. This reflects the reality faced by many middle-class children of the ‘80s and ‘90s entering a post-recession workforce.
Where Homer was able to muddle through and ended up with a suburban home, a single-income household, and a comparatively stable family, Bart and Ralph face unemployment, eviction, and constant financial precarity. Although the crash didn’t occur until 2008, the writing was on the wall by the early ‘00s when this episode was written.
Stagnating wages, steady inflation, and the tech industry’s impact on the job market all made the comfort enjoyed by Homer’s generation inaccessible for Bart, something the show explicitly focused on in season 33’s finale, “Poorhouse Rock.” While “Bart to the Future” isn’tthe saddest episode ofThe Simpsons, it is jarring to rewatch the outing thanks to its bleak accuracy.
The Simpsons’ Ability To “Predict” Global Events Keeps It Relevant
The Series Has Always Been Prescient Thanks to Its Canny Satire
The Simpsons’ iconic Trump presidency prediction highlights the show’s greatest strength, namely its timeless skewering of American culture via political, social, and cultural avenues. Making fun of the present will inevitably sometimes result in predicting the future, andThe Simpsonshas historically been truly great at mocking current events.
The Simpsonsis available to stream on Hulu.
This is why millions of viewers believed a viral TikTok hoax that claimedThe Simpsonspredicted the Coldplay concert incident, even though no such episode or scene existed. With any other TV show, this claim would have been instantly disbelieved and debunked. However, viewers can imagineThe Simpsonspinpointing this specific event thanks to the show’s unerring satire.
The Simpsonsseason 36 debuted on June 15, 2025.
WhileMarge’s season 36 deathmight be the last time the show made headlines, it is only a matter of time before another prediction fromThe Simpsonsseemingly comes true. Throughout its four decades on the air,The Simpsonshas taken an alternately affectionate and ruthless look at America’s issues through the lens of satire.
If the show seems to know what will happen before it happens, this is only becauseThe Simpsonsholds up a mirror to the America of today. More recent outings ofThe Simpsonscould be accused of softening their satire somewhat, but even “Bart to the Future” managed to pinpoint the real-life future by looking closely at present realities.
