‘It’s Not a Joke’: A ‘Simpsons’ Writer Holds His First Presidential Campaign Rally
Key takeaways
- “My fellow Americans,” Greaney began, standing at a lectern in front of a row of American flags flapping in a light breeze.
- That self-aware little aside is the sort of thing you’d expect from a veteran TV writer who has worked on The Simpsons since its golden era in the 1990s.
- Because of that joke, Greaney is often credited with predicting the real Trump’s unlikely rise to the White House. “It was a warning to America,” he told The Hollywood Reporter early in the 2016 election cycle.
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Photograph: Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story On a sunny Friday afternoon in a park overlooking the Silver Lake Reservoir in Los Angeles, about 30 people—including three in costume as Uncle Sam, Darth Vader, and Elsa from Frozen—gathered to hear the first official stump speech of Dan Greaney, candidate for the 2028 US presidential election.
“My fellow Americans,” Greaney began, standing at a lectern in front of a row of American flags flapping in a light breeze. After this opening, he added, “Yeah, let’s go with that. It’s a classic.”
That self-aware little aside is the sort of thing you’d expect from a veteran TV writer who has worked on The Simpsons since its golden era in the 1990s. Apart from penning classic episodes like "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" and “King-Size Homer,” Greaney is also known for writing “Bart to the Future,” a flash-forward episode, originally aired in 2000, in which Lisa Simpson is the newly inaugurated US president and struggling with a financial mess left behind by her predecessor. “As you know, we've inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump," she explains.