This election has just been one giant roller coaster from the start. The American people have continually lost faith in the American election system every cycle, but this election appears to have killed it. We have ended up with two enormously dislike candidates which has left the American people angry and disillusioned. Before the election is called, let us reminisce on how exactly we got here.

The Republican Party primaries started out with 17 candidates. Several men, and one woman, who were looking to take the place of Obama and "undo the damage he has done to this country." The first debate had to be split between the main candidate and the "kiddie table" candidates in August. Slowly but surely, Republican candidate began to drop out one by one as the race went on. Trump, Carson, and Cruz were all saying things that many Americans deemed crazy, but it was Trump that stood above them all. As Trump continued to parade his nationalist, populist message, he also began to rise above the more rational candidates like John Kasich, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio. Eventually, The Donald won the Republican primary, but does not have the endorsement of many Republicans, including both President Bushes. Despite this, the GOP base loves Trump, even evangelicals, because they love the thought of VP Mike Pence.

The Democratic Party primaries were much more subdued. There were only 5 candidates. After 8 years of Obama, most of the party establishment was ready for Hillary, who had to wait 8 years until her last antiestablishment challenger was going to leave office. As a result, many Democrats did not run in the primary. The ones who did, dropped out fairly quickly. Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb dropped out almost immediately after the first debate in October. Despite how little support Martin O'Malley was getting, he continued on until the 4th debate in January. The only candidate who ran against her until the end was Bernie Sanders, who ran with a progressive populist message of thrusting America back to the left, which ultimately didn't win. Hillary then proceeded to pick Tim Kaine as her running mate, a move that may be safe for the general election, but one that many of the new leftists within the party looked upon as a slap in the face. Many believed that the DNC heavily favored Hillary and after the primary, leaked DNC e-mails confirmed this. But Hillary was already the winner, so it was on to the general election.

Then, we came to the general election, and with that, a whole new can of worms was opened. The investigation of Hillary's e-mails was closed due to lack of evidence of wrongdoing, then reopened because of Anthony Weiner. We got treated to more of Donald Trump's antics and reveals of some of the not so savory things that he has said along with many accusations of harassment from women. We went through three debates that were filled with more attacks than actual, substantive policy discussion. We got to enjoy a new heyday of Wikileaks as they revealed information about Hillary Clinton. And of course, we got to watch Pepe become a symbol of white nationalism and the alt-right.

Well, that's most of the 2016 election cycle summed up into one article. It has been a pleasure. Go vote and I'll see you in the 2018 midterms (because midterms are important.)