In political terms, this is the year when the unthinkable becomes not just a possibility but a reality.
The Brexit vote came as a complete surprise - even to the Leave campaign leaders who clearly didn't expect to win - and showed how the political establishment had drifted out of touch from many ordinary voters who blamed Europe for all manner of ills.
It was a mood of disenchantment and disaffection tapped into by Ukip and other eurosceptics who made all sorts of promises on the economy and immigration which they could not deliver.
Nevertheless, the referendum is over and politicians who in the main voted to stay in the EU have been left with a monumental mess and no clear sense of what is going to happen over the next few years.
Across the Atlantic and there is a similar story as Donald Trump taps into a public mood which is angry, resentful and inward-looking.
But where that other unlikely Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan, appealed to the working classes with an optimistic vision for America, Donald Trump's acceptance speech in Ohio was a much darker affair.
Throughout his campaign he has played on fears over terrorism and immigration and on Thursday night he underlined this with a firm commitment to build a wall along the entire border between the US and Mexico.
It is the sort of madcap idea that no serious, sensible politician would put forward, but Trump has stuck to this plan and furthermore says he intends to force the Mexican government to pay for it.
The candidate, who previously called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, now wants to suspend immigration from nations ``compromised by terrorism.''
Trump has been mocked and derided throughout his campaign but he has managed to see off 16 rivals in the primaries and emerge triumphant to the obvious dismay of the mainstream Republican Party.
It is deeply alarming how the party has been effectively hijacked by someone who follows his own rules and has no regard for the normal conventions of the political process.
The only person who can stop Trump grabbing control of the White House - a terrifying prospect for most of the world - is Hillary Clinton.
With her considerably greater experience and proven ability, she should be the overwhelming favourite against the untested, self-regarding, billionaire showman.
However, she is struggling to persuade voters to warm to her and given the importance of likeability in US presidential elections, this is a problem for the former secretary of state.
At next week's Democratic convention she needs to seize the initiative and show that she is the only credible candidate in this strangest of political contests.
