Stranger than fiction...
A TV series from the 1950s predicted the concept of a border wall being promoted by a man named Trump.
The fact was seemingly unearthed by Twitter user Alex Hirsch this week, who noticed that CBS’ old western series Trackdown featured an episode in 1958 about a man called Walter Trump, who tries to convince townspeople to build a border wall in the face of impending doomsday.
What the fresh hell. This is REAL. Filmed in 1958- about a conman who grifts a small town of suckers into building a wall. History not subtle enough for you? GUESS THE GRIFTER'S NAME
(And watch until the end) pic.twitter.com/6FA3p6KC00— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) January 9, 2019
A border wall, of course, is the huge sticking point in the current US political climate. Donald Trump is continuing a partial government shutdown in the hope to secure funds for his controversial US-Mexico wall to keep out illegal immigrants.
The parallels between this and the wall needed to protect the fictional town of Talpa from a meteorite in Trackdown’s ‘The End of the World’ are certainly eyebrow-raising.
In the episode, Walter Trump is portrayed by actor Lawrence Dobkin as a snake-oil salesman with oddly Trump-like character traits. At one point in the show, he responds to a threat with the retort: “be careful son, I can sue you.” Sound familiar?
But fans of the HBO series were quick to point out (beware, spoilers ahead!), the Great Wall of Westeros collapsed in the 2017 Season 7 finale.