Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

This 1950s TV Show Featured a Con Man Named Trump Who Wanted to Build a Wall, and It's Freaking People Out

This 1950s TV Show Featured a Con Man Named Trump Who Wanted to Build a Wall, and It's Freaking People Out
Screenshot: Trackdown/YouTube/ NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

What the what?

Like much of America, you may find yourself occasionally asking if our timeline could get any stranger. Turns out, the answer is yes.


In 1958, an episode of the TV western Trackdown featured a character named Walter Trump, a con-man who promised to build a wall around a town to protect the residents from the impending end of the world.

The episode was posted to YouTube in November 2016 with claims that it predicted our current President Donald Trump.

The fictional Trump claimed that he alone could prevent the town from being destroyed by comets and that the inhabitants should put their faith in him, and only him, to ensure their survival.

Watch the clip below:

And the full episode here:

"I bring you a message, a message few of you will be able to believe, a message of great importance, a message I alone was able read in the fires of the Universe," Trump proclaimed to the locals. "But be not afraid, my friends. I also bring you the means with which to save yourselves."

Trump told "those who want to be alive tomorrow" the world will end at midnight and that "without my knowledge, every one of you will be dead."

After one resident wises up to Trump's grift and complains to the sheriff, who is on Trump's side, Trump threatens to sue those who question his message. THe local judge also refuses to intervene.

Later on, Trump preaches to frightened residents as ominous narration helps set the scene.

Narrator: "The people were ready to believe. Like sheep they ran to the slaughterhouse. And waiting for them was the high priest of fraud."

Trump: "I am the only one. Trust me. I can build a wall around your homes that nothing will penetrate."

Townperson: "What do we do? How can we save ourselves?"

Trump: "You ask how do you build that wall. You ask, and I’m here to tell you."

Trump is eventually arrested as he tries to flee the town in the dead of night.

The foreshadowing of our time is haunting, as the real Trump holds the country hostage over his desire to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to solve a crisis that exists solely in his head.

The similarities to today are obvious. But they get even eerier if we look a few years into the past. As a presidential candidate, Trump vowed to build a wall to protect the people of New Hampshire "who have a tremendous problem with heroin and drugs, you wouldn't even believe it."

Not a far cry from warning people about hellfire from above.

Watch Trump's scorched Earth speech below:

How else can I put this? 2019 is holding 2018's beer, and people are freaking out.

And the parallels go well beyond the namesake and false prophecy.

Walter Trump looks remarkably similar to Fred Trump, the president's father.

Fred Trump was a well-known real estate developer in the 1950s, so the namesake probably not a coincidence.

Though people have theories.

You may be wondering if this is all a hoax.

Thanks to Snopes, we now know this is all too real.

"A representative for MeTV, a Chicago network that airs reruns of Trackdown, confirmed that the episode was real," Snopes reported on Wednesday. "The rep said that the after Hoby tells Walter Trump that he is under arrest, the character gets shot by another character and may have been killed."

More from People/donald-trump

Stephen and Katie Miller
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images

Katie Miller Blasted After Lecturing Women About Their 'Biological Destiny' In Mother's Day Post

Katie Miller—former Trump administration member turned Elon Musk employee and wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Homeland Security Advisor, and unofficial Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Stephen Miller—stepped in it again online with her Mother’s Day Lebensborn propaganda post.

The Lebensborn ("Fount of Life") program was an SS-initiated organization founded by Heinrich Himmler, operating in Nazi Germany and Nazi occupied territories, to increase the birth rate of "Aryan" children by calling on unmarried women to do their duty for the Fatherland and become baby factories, pumping out as many children as possible to be placed in proper Nazi households.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

People Bring Receipts After White House Claims Photo Of Trump Asleep During Oval Office Event Was Just Him 'Blinking'

After President Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep during an event on maternal health in the Oval Office on Monday, people brought the receipts when an official White House account claimed he was simply "blinking."

The event was used to launch moms.gov, a new federal resource hub focused on prenatal care, nutrition, and postpartum support, along with information on employer fertility benefits and expanded childcare options, including assistance for stay-at-home parents.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Dr. Oz Just Made An Alarming Comment About Fertility Rates That Sounds Straight Out Of 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, made an alarming comment about fertility rates, declaring that 1 in 3 Americans are "under-babied."

In the United States, infertility affects roughly 9% of men and 11% of women, while globally the figure is estimated at about one in six people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.; Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr.'s Old Tweet Praising His Father For Avoiding War With Iran Just Resurfaced—And It's Aged Like Milk

As President Donald Trump's war with Iran rages on, his son Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after an old tweet he wrote praising his father for avoiding war with Iran resurfaced.

Back in April 2024, the president's eldest son wrote the following on X:

Keep ReadingShow less
Images of Savannah and Nancy Guthrie
@savannahguthrie/Instagram

Savannah Guthrie Shares Heartfelt Video Of Her Missing Mom On Mother's Day: 'We Miss You With Every Breath'

Today co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, was declared missing on February 1, 2026, after she did not routinely arrive at church that morning, and a well-check confirmed that her home was empty and the door was left wide open.

Due to her need for multiple medications, including for her pacemaker, and her limited mobility, the Pima County Police Department deemed her case a high priority, soon welcoming the help of the FBI.

Keep ReadingShow less