The pack of 2016 presidential hopefuls is finally thinning, but the election is still as unpredictable and bizarre as ever. In response to the madness, The Simpsons has joined the ever-growing list of shows to spoof the race, releasing a new Web short that features animated versions of the election’s candidates past and present.
In the video, Marge wakes up from a nightmare and starts hyperventilating. When Homer asks her what is wrong, she tells him, “I can’t take it anymore! Basic manners are gone from politics. What is it with these ding-dongs?”
Homer does his best to console her, but the truth isn’t so comforting: “It’s just like when you have a bad dream, except this is real and will probably ruin your lives.” He takes it further and encourages her to imagine another America, “one where Republicans, Democrats, and Donald Trump all get along.”
From here, we get to see a debate with “the Debateful Eight”: Trump, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, John Kasich, and now ex-candidate Jeb Bush. The group team up to sing and dance How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), complete with Trump doing headspins. Yet when Marge falls back asleep, the vision quickly changes: Cruz, who had lifted Clinton, swiftly drops her, and the chaos quickly escalates. Trump rises from his headspin and — after his hair miraculously restyles itself — criticizes the “morons” onstage with him; Kasich throws a punch at Cruz; Trump pulls a CD out of Robot Rubio; and Clinton tries to choke Sanders with a pearl necklace.
All in all, the events of the short don’t seem that far off from the reality of the crazy race. This is the election that inspired a Showtime docuseries called The Circus, after all.
