The Simpsons writer Dan Greaney has announced a 2028 presidential run, after famously previously predicting a Donald Trump presidency back in 2000.
Greaney is credited with writing Bart to the Future, The Simpsons’ infamous 11th season episode which imagines Lisa Simpson as president following a disastrous Donald Trump tenure.
Aired long before Trump had ever expressed an interest in politics, the episode is frequently cited as the best example of The Simpsons accurately predicting future events (though Lisa herself is yet to announce her own presidential bid). Now, Greaney has said he’s using the episode as a springboard for his own campaign, which he intends to run as a moderate Republican.
Describing himself humorously as a “prophet” in a new Instagram video, Greaney — initially dressed in an outlandish wig — also made a fresh prediction: that Donald Trump will be removed from office before the end of this year, leaving the Republican candidacy wide open when 2028 arrives.
“Screw it, I can be a politician,” Greaney said. “I’m running for president. My platform: America for all. Let’s do this.
“The United States was founded on a transcendental insight: that all men are created equal,” Greaney continued. “But now, Trump, Vance, the billionaires, careerists and cowards in both parties have turned their backs on it. It’s money, power and security for them, but not for you. In America, the government is supposed to work for everyone. Democracy for all, accountability for all, prosperity for all.”
With more than two years to go until the 2028 presidential election, no other candidates have yet formally announced their own run. However, numerous figures are expected to declare interest as the time nears, such as Republican senator Ted Cruz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. President Trump has also suggested on several occaisons he would like to remain president, though it is not (currently) constituitionally possible for him to do so.
“When I saw that photo of Trump surrounded by tech billionaires and CEOs at the inauguration, I was disgusted into action,” Greaney said in an accompanying statement. “I realized that nobody was going to save us, and that self-respect required me to at least try to do something. I used what I had, my claim to fame as the writer of the episode of The Simpsons that predicted Trump, to predict his downfall. This was an expression of both conviction and my deepest values.”
In all, Greaney is credited with writing 20 episodes of The Simpsons, and also inventing the word “embiggen” — a term that can now be found in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Image credit: Dan Greaney/Instagram.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
