From a writer of the hit TV show The Simpsons to filmmaker and author Michael Moore, the folks who had predicted a win for Donald Trump in the US presidential race were probably having the last laugh on Wednesday.
Oh, and you can add to that list Allan J Lichtman, professor of history at American University, Geda, a monkey from China dubbed the “king of prophets” and Chanakya III, a fish from Chennai. (Okay, we didn’t take the fish or the monkey as seriously as the fish.)
The person who probably had his fingers closest to the pulse of American voters was Michael Moore, the maker of hard-hitting documentaries such as Bowling For Columbine and Where To Invade Next.
In a piece titled “5 reasons why Trump will win” posted on his website, Moore wrote: This wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full time sociopath is going to be our next president. President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, ‘cause you’ll be saying them for the next four years: “PRESIDENT TRUMP.”
He wrote that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s support for trade policies that were seen to be hurting the American working class in the heartland would fuel the rise of her Republican rival. “Angry, embittered working (and non-working) people who were lied to by the trickle-down of Reagan and abandoned by Democrats who still try to talk a good line but are really just looking forward to rub one out with a lobbyist from Goldman Sachs who’ll write them nice big check before leaving the room,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}He wrote that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s support for trade policies that were seen to be hurting the American working class in the heartland would fuel the rise of her Republican rival. “Angry, embittered working (and non-working) people who were lied to by the trickle-down of Reagan and abandoned by Democrats who still try to talk a good line but are really just looking forward to rub one out with a lobbyist from Goldman Sachs who’ll write them nice big check before leaving the room,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}Probably more prophetic was The Simpsons’ writer Dan Greaney, who included a throwaway line about “President Trump” in an episode of the hit animated show that aired in March 2000. The show depicted Bart Simpson’s sister Lisa as the first “straight female” president of the US and she tells her staff that the country is broke because of inheriting a “budget crunch from President Trump”.
“It was a warning to America,” Greaney told The Hollywood Reporter. It “just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom”, he added.
Despite the recent scandals that rocked Trump’s campaign, professor Allan Lichtman didn’t go back on his prediction that Trump would win. He should know better – Lichtman has perfected a system that has correctly chosen the winner of US elections since 1984.
“The 13 keys are a historically based prediction system that were founded on the study of every presidential election from 1860 to 1980, and I’ve since used them prospectively to predict, often well ahead of time, the results of all eight elections from 1984 to 2012,” he told The Washington Post.
Over in China’s Shiyanhu Ecological Tourism Park, the monkey Geda, which correctly predicted the outcome of the 2016 Euro football cup, chose Trump when presented with life-size cut-outs of the candidates and even sealed the deal with a “kiss” for the Republican candidate.
Felix, a polar bear at Royev Ruchey zoo in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk foretold Trump’s win by choosing a pumpkin bearing a photo of the candidate.
Closer to home, Chanakya III the fish ate feed from a boat with Trump’s photo during an event organised by the NGO Indian Community Welfare Organisation in Chennai.