HBO; Warner Bros. Pictures; 20th Century Fox
Kamala Harris' announcement that she was running for president after Joe Biden stepped down is a history-making moment that none of us guessed would happen when 2024 started. Well, maybe not none of us because movies and TV shows have been predicting this very event for years.
Hillary Clinton made history back in 2016 when she became the first woman to run for president, but since the popular vote counts for nothing in this country, we got stuck with four hellish years of the man who shall not be named instead. Now, Harris has cemented her place in the history books as the first Black woman to ever run for president, and if things go our way, she'll make it all the way to the White House.
That may still feel like a long shot, but if shows like The Simpsons and State of Affairs and movies like Barbie are anything to go by, we are overdue to see a woman like Harris take her place as the leader of the free world.
We may usually turn to pop culture for escapism rather than fortune-telling, but these pieces of entertainment predict our current moment with such accuracy that they're giving us goosebumps!
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The Barbie movie may have looked like a bit of fluffy pink escapism—and it definitely was—but it was also a takedown of sexism and misogyny and may have even predicted a future that women in the U.S. have imagined for years. In the film, Issa Rae portrays a Black woman president, and while that seemed like a pipe dream a year ago, now that Harris has entered the race, it could become a reality.
Harris announced her intent to run for president of the United States on July 21, exactly one year after the Barbie movie premiered with a Black woman as president. Now, if only dismantling the patriarchy would come true, too!
From Donald Trump running for president to smart watches to Siegfried and Roy being attacked by their own tigers, The Simpsons has been correctly predicting the future for years. But the most surprisingly accurate Magic 8 Ball moment was back in 2000 when Lisa became president and wore a purple suit and pearl necklace combo that looked shockingly similar to the outfit Harris wore to her inauguration 21 years later. Fingers crossed The Simpsons are right once again!
The second Joe Biden announced he would no longer be running for a second term and endorsed Harris; people ran to social media to compare the historic event to the show Veep. In one remarkably prescient episode, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character tells her staff, "I'm not leaving. POTUS is leaving. He's not going to run for a second term. I'm gonna run. I'm gonna run for president." Who knew a satire could be so accurate?!
With Harris thrust into the limelight this week, people have been remarking on the striking similarities between The L Word's Bette Porter and the future president (hopefully!). Internet denizens have pointed out that the two powerful women look alike, both have political aspirations (Harris is running for president, and Bette ran for mayor of Los Angeles), are both biracial, and share a penchant for beautiful pant suits!
Way back in 1932, cartoon bombshell Betty Boop ran for president, predicting a future no one at the time probably ever would come to fruition. It may have taken nearly 100 years, but we're on track to get our first woman president!
Courtesy of NBC
Before Barbie came along, the short-lived drama State of Affairs had already featured a Black woman president, played by Alfre Woodard. We'd vote for her!
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
While it was over the top, Prison Break correctly deduced that one day, a vice president would step up and run for the most powerful position in the country. Now, the character Caroline Reynolds (Patricia Wettig) may have gotten the opportunity after POTUS was assassinated and is willing to go to violent lengths to win the election, but it still gave us a view of a VP running for president.
Giovanni Rufino/ABC
On Quanitco, Marcia Clark played Vice President Claire Haas, who had to step into the role of POTUS after the current president resigned when his wife was killed. Okay, so that's much more melodramatic than what's actually happening in real life, but the show still predicted a Veep being asked to become president, and that feels very accurate.
Back in 2023, Harris was speaking at a White House event and made a comment about the younger generation, quoting her mom as saying, "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?" Since Harris announced her candidacy a few days ago, her coconut tree comment has been endlessly memed, but who knew Barbie predicated that too? One internet sleuth was quick to point out that in a picture of the pink candy-coated "White House" from Barbie, there are coconut trees lining the lawn. It's starting to get eerie!
