16 of the Zillion Crazy Things That Happened in Politics This Year Sam Stein The year 2020 will be remembered as, if nothing else, a hellscape. A raging pandemic causing large-scale suffering and death can do that. So too can a scorched-earth presidential campaign that results in the losing candidate latching on to a number of wild conspiracy theories to undermine the tenets of democratic governance. Most people have no desire to relive terrible moments, let alone hellscapes. So, it’s quite possible that you, dear reader, will have exited out of this web page upon glancing through the introductory paragraph. But on the off chance that you’re a masochist who enjoys stories of pain, sorrow, drama, and political intrigue, well… You’re in luck. Here are 16, “Wow, this was really a LOOONG year?!?” moments from a hellscape year.