So, that happened. Somewhere, in an alternate universe's version of 2015, Jeb Bush probably really is dominating the race for the Republican Party 's presidential nomination. In our 2015, however, the long shadow over the pre-primary period has been cast by reality television mogul and sun-stained Velveeta loaf Donald Trump . Now with a few precious weeks remaining before the first caucus votes are cast, the GOP establishment is unsure where it was that they went wrong.

To listen to the old guard try to cope with Trump, you'd think that everyone was suffering from hallucinations. But what if what Trump's actually done is revealed the true face of the GOP base to the party that had always imagined they could keep it tamed? And is this a dark cloud or a silver lining in disguise? Writer and podcast host Ana Marie Cox joins us in a special two-part podcast recording that continues at her show, "The Brouhaha ."

Meanwhile, at the end of the year, we take stock in how well Congress did in finishing all their work for the year, and in news that will surprise nobody, it turns out that the Senate has once again left a large number of judicial vacancies unfilled. But this year, it's the lack of a congressional authorization to make war on ISIS that reveals the true depths of your congresscritters' cowardice.

Finally, was there really any good news this year? Well, one nice thing is that America's bank lobbyists actually failed to get their mitts on all the taxpayer boodle that they'd set their sights on this year. Never fear, they'll be back to have another go at it next year.