We've all gotten pretty used to the The Simpsons predicting the horrible things that happen around us by now, right? But it's bound to be different when you're the one doing the thing they predicted.
Last week, after Texas Senator Ted Cruz became the butt of every joke (again) for trying to run off to Cancun during the Texas winter storm, people thought it felt a little familiar.
That's because it was a gag on The Simpsons in 1993.
The season 4 episode, Marge in Chains sees the town of Springfield hit with a terrible virus. Rather than stay and help, Mayor Quimby runs off to the Bahamas, and gives a televised address claiming he's staying home.
While telling his constituents his plans to stay in the city, a drum player walks into the shot, giving away the facade.
The details may not all line up, but we have a politician running off to the beach rather than face a crisis, and being caught due to his incompetence.
Sounds like that describes Cruz perfectly.
Cruz has become one of the most roasted politicians on Twitter in the last few months. While he wasn't very popular previously, recent events have highlighted how much scorn he receives.
In particular, the Cancun trip, and subsequent lies about his intent to return, have been the talk of the internet for the last week.
However, this feels more poetic. Cruz is a huge Simpsons fan and is even known to try his hand at impressions of characters.
It's only natural that he'd end up in a prediction from the show.
As fun as it is to laugh at this situation, and claim a cartoon is predicting the future, the truth belies something much darker.
The show has been running for more than 30 years, and takes shots at just about everything, from pop culture to politics, with dozens to hundreds of gags per episode. That many jokes, about our society and you're bound to stumble onto a few accurate predictions.
But beyond that, is a point made by Twitter user and Youtuber Humanstein:
Nothing has improved in three decades.
Ted Cruz is just the latest in a long line of cowardly politicians.
As power and heat is restored to the state of Texas, there's still a crisis to be handled. Water is difficult to come by since pipes burst from the cold and filtration systems broke down.
The counsel for Texas's power grid has to answer questions about how this was allowed to happen, and how they will improve the grid in the future.
And lastly we have to ask, will GOP Senator Ted Cruz do anything more than be a punch line this year?
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