‘It’s Not a Joke’: A ‘Simpsons’ Writer Holds His First Presidential Campaign Rally

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. 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. “It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane.” For months now, Greaney has been leaning into his “Prophet” alter ego, posting Instagram videos of himself predicting the downfall of Trump and his allies in an Old Testament-style gray beard and wig. On Friday, however, he wore the more conventional suit and tie of a politician running for office. And his message was earnest. “It's pretty ridiculous for me to be running for president,” he said. “It's the sort of thing that a cartoon dad might do—somebody like, you know, Peter Griffin,” he said with a smile, referencing the patriarch of Family Guy rather than Homer Simpson. Yet, Greaney went on to say, he was moved to stand up for the values that he believes most Americans still share. “I think democracy is under attack, and in many ways [has] been demolished by a rogue Supreme Court, by a lawless president, and by the cliques of billionaires that they work for,” he told the crowd, mostly made up of friends and colleagues in entertainment. “It's not a joke,” Greaney said of his campaign, despite his long career in comedy going all the way back to a stint as president of the Harvard Lampoon. (He has also worked as a journalist and practiced law.) “Comedy isn't just about laughter,” he continued. “Comedy is about truth. And at The Simpsons, one of the things we all tried to do was to say the truth about American life, to look behind the humbug and hoopla and say the truth about America with love and humor in a way that people saw and connected to, and that is what I hope to do here.” “So, yes, it is a bit absurd, but it's not a joke,” he reiterated. “And, in fact, it's an act of conscience.” Greaney concluded his own remarks by saying, “I invite you all to join my movement and create an America that works for all, including Darth Vader.”