James Whitbrook
In a U.S. election year, even as one as quickly weird as this one has become in recent weeks, you expect candidates (and presumptive candidates) to appear all over the place as they launch their campaigns to help shape the impending future of the nation. Rarely are those campaigns at Comic-Con, and rarely are they related to having Simpsons brainrot.
But such was the case when Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening climaxed the SDCC Simpsons panel by teeing up a clip from none other than Vice President Kamala Harris herself. During the recording, Harris quoted a legendary quote from a skit in the classic 1996 special, “Treehouse of Horror VII”: “We must move forward, not backward, upward, not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.” There are conflicting reports on the nature of the message, with some reports saying the audience believed the recording was made for the panel (Harris was not in San Diego today, but campaigning in Massachusetts). Others report that the clip is actually a resurfaced video from several years ago, when a group of University of Chicago students were apparently tasked with getting an elected official to recite the infamous quote.
The line comes from, of course, “Citizen Kang”, the third and final skit from “Treehouse of Horror VII”. The short saw recurring Simpsons aliens Kang and Kodos infiltrate the then-upcoming 1996 U.S. presidential election, taking the place of nominees Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. The alien duo then participated in their rival election campaigns before eventually assuming control of America, even after being exposed, due to the nature of the two-party electoral system.
But Harris’ nascent campaign has already been inextricably linked with Simpsons memes and shitposts even before her surprise SDCC appearance. In recent days, one resurgent meme around Harris’ potential to become the first female President of the United States this year has seen her contrasted with the 2000 episode “Bart to the Future” and its own vision of the near future—putting images of an adult Lisa Simpson’s purple pantsuit as the future POTUS, belaboring a budget crunch inherited from President Trump, with images of Harris in a similarly colored suit at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2020.
Is America ready for a President with a mind as addled by Simpsons quotes as the average 30-somethings? Perhaps we’re about to find out.
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