Tom Mcclure
I drew this at the height of the GOP madness during the primary season. I think it speaks for itself.
Tom Mclure
I drew this at the beginning of February when I first "felt the Bern." One of my friends noticed that the gap between Hillary Clinton's ankles looked like a light saber. I thought it was appropriate because Bernie Sanders' hordes of young supporters referred to him as Obi-wan.
Tom McClure
February 9: This is the second cartoon I drew of the campaign, as I started to warm to the process. It summed up my opinion at the time, though I had to keep revising the GOP side as contenders kept dropping out. Note Hillary Clinton holding tight to Obama's coattails and Bill Clinton holding forth in his bedroom slippers.
Tom McClure
February 23: Early on in the primaries it was becoming increasingly clear that Donald Trump was going alpha male on his opponents. Trump as King Kong was a natural, but while I was drawing it I had to keep reducing the number of planes (representing his rivals in the primaries) as he knocked them down. (The damsel in distress, Fay Wray, is missing because he already ate her.)
Tom Mclure
March 19: Not all the Republican contenders were able to come to terms with Trump as the presumptive nominee after Super Tuesday (Ted Cruz would bite at his ankles for months afterward before grudgingly endorsing him), but Ben Carson and GOP hanger-on Sarah Palin stepped right up to support him -- and Chris Christie quickly assumed the toady position. He remains there at this writing.
Tom Mcclure
April 26: Bernie stood apart from the saber rattlers during the primary debates, as Republicans tried to outdo each other whipping up terrorism fears and promising scary, militaristic solutions to a war-weary country. Hillary Clinton joined in, although I wasn't sure if they were her real positions or if the potential first female major-party candidate just wanted to prove she could sound as tough as the guys.
Tom Mcclure
May 3: It was becoming clear that my preferred pick Bernie Sanders would not be the candidate, and in mid-July, he would make it official. Still I had to keep this potential president and first husband OUTside the gate, just in case.
TOM MCCLURE
July 20: It's been a banner year for the fact-checkers and, no question, the candidates' credibility from the primaries on has been tarnished by mischaracterization, exaggerations and sometimes flat-out lies. Hillary Clinton was not immune, but, according to PolitiFact, her statements only drew the "pants on fire" tag 2% of the time; Donald Trump? 17%. Clinton rated true or mostly true more than 50% of the time. Trump? 15%. The cartoon reflects this, and the alternative universe Trump inhabits.
Tom Mcclure
July 26: I drew this in the summer when Trump started calling Clinton's designated attack-dog Elizabeth Warren, "the Indian," and a "a fraud" because of her earlier claims to Native American ancestry. Later I revised the caption when he started calling her "Pocahontas". "Goofy Elizabeth Warren," as he (also) called her, appeared to get under his skin, calling him, for example, a "small, insecure money-grubber."
Tom Mcclure
September 21: Even before vice president candidate Mike Pence made the shocking statement that "Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country," it seemed to me Putin's mouth must be watering at the opportunity that a Donald Trump presidency would bring. After all, Pence was only echoing his running mate, who has embraced the Russian President, even as he's complained of a "rigged" election process in the United States. Ironic, because, GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan (among others) charges that Russia had been "conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks" on "our political system."
Tom Mcclure
October 5: At the vice-presidential debate, Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, tried again and again to get Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, to defend Trump's most outrageous positions. But Pence was way ahead of him. He simply denied that Trump held these positions, shook his head, chuckled, and so on. Being in denial is apparently the only way Pence can live with himself.
October 6: Hillary Clinton mentioned Trump's humiliation of Alicia Machado in the first debate on September 26, and Trump's reaction spun out of control in the days that followed. Machado's would be the first in a fusillade of stories from women describing their alleged mistreatment and/or sexual harassment at the hands of the real-estate mogul. But his response to the story of the former Miss Universe made news after he dispatched a series of abusive, 3 a.m. tweets railing against Machado and Clinton. The behavior seemed to cry out for an intervention from someone who could stifle him. Hence the cartoon: We knew that Trump kids were the only ones able to influence him. Maybe this is the only way possible!
TOM MCCLURE
October 7: As the campaign headed for the finish line, Hillary Clinton was still taking heat over a statement she made to a group of supporters in September that about half of Donald Trump's supporters -- those who were "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic"-- could be put into a "basket of deplorables." The Washington Post's Dana Milbank suggested Clinton might have lowballed it, based on polls that showed Trump fared best with white people who expressed racial animus and that a significant percentage of his supporters didn't think racial diversity helped Americas. I drew this to Illustrate the accuracy of Clinton's statement
Thomas McClure
Stay tuned.

Editor’s Note: Thomas McClure is an illustrator and designer whose most recent work is in the production and conceptual illustration for feature films. The opinions expressed in these cartoons are his own.

CNN  — 

The 2016 election has been a wild ride, a presidential campaign unlike anything the nation has seen before.

It’s stunning to consider: We first met the motley cast of Republican and Democratic candidates at the first debate in the summer – of 2015!

Since then, voters have endured an interminable season of stunts, insults, character assassination, scandals, half-truths and outright lies. Now the field is winnowed to two major party candidates, who will face each other for the third and final debate this week.

An exhausted America is left to contemplate: How did we get here?

Get our free weekly newsletter

  • Sign up for CNN Opinion’s newsletter.
  • Join us on Twitter and Facebook

    • Early this year I started drawing cartoons of the campaign. It was the first time I’d tried political cartooning.

    I draw because I don’t write and have limited verbal skills. My background is in art, architecture, advertising, design and movies.

    Why did I venture into the world of political comment and caricature assassination? Two reasons: my addiction to cable news, and the insanity that passes for political campaigning this season. Not since my innocence was shattered by the Watergate hearings have I been as shocked by the stupidity that reverberates from our media.

    I found myself ranting uncontrollably at my TV and continuing the rant on the phone to my friends. My cats were starting to get nervous and my friends were not returning my calls.

    A bald eagle hunts from my property daily. His morning chattering, which I normally found pleasant, suddenly sounded mournful and strident, reminding me of the plight of our nation.

    This could not go on. My health was suffering. In desperation I took my frustration to the drawing board.

    The therapeutic value of this action was amazing.

    The ideas flowed forth. The source was inexhaustible. Donald Trump was enough to keep me going all by himself. He seemed to personify everything the world dislikes about the United States. He truly is the Ugliest American.

    As I found my voice, I started to send these regurgitations to my friends. The response was encouraging so I posted a few on Facebook. The feedback was amazing. I started hearing from people I had lost touch with years ago.

    Some said they had always thought I had a unique point of view, while others suggested that it was not so much that I marched to a different drummer but that I had no rhythm.

    I’ll let you decide. These are my musings. Enjoy.