In a bitter and drawn out presidential election year that saw the media's preferred candidate lose to Donald Trump, it's only natural that the people charged with covering the campaign would come close to reaching their breaking points.

Here are the six most depressing media moments of 2016:

6. Charles Blow implies that Trump's black outreach effort is a pile of s—t. After Trump locked up the GOP nomination, he began aggressively calling for minorities, particularly inner-city blacks, to support his campaign. Liberal New York Times columnist Charles Blow used a highbrow term to describe what he thought about that effort.

"Like so much of what Trump has said and done," wrote Blow, "this new outreach forces writers like me to conduct scatological studies, framing Trump's actions in their historical and intellectual absurdity."

He added, "All of black America is looking askance at Donald Trump. He has no credibility with black people, other than the handful of black staffers and surrogates who routinely embarrass themselves in their blind obsequiousness."



5. MSNBC guest ponders whether Trump has ED. On the set of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in mid-September, ahead of a taped episode of "The Dr. Oz" show in which Trump would discuss some of his health history, frequent guest and marketing executive Donny Deutsch argued that the 70-year-old may have sexual problems.

"I also want to point out one other thing that all — there are certain traditional problems that all 70-year-olds have, hypertension, and 40-60 percent of 70-year-old men have erectile dysfunction," said Deutsch. "So, I wonder if whenever he releases his [health] transcripts if there will be anything …"

The other guests and co-host Mika Brzezinski cringed and laughed nervously at the suggestion, to which Deutsch said, "These are facts and he's 70 years old."

4. Krugman claims FBI 'rigged' election. A day before Election Day, liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman claimed that FBI Director James Comey had deliberately attempted to swing the race in Trump's favor. By sending an ominous letter to Congress that said new evidence was found related to Democrat Hillary Clinton's private email server, Krugman said Comey "rigged" the election and that he "abused his office, shamefully."

3. David Brooks admits to feeling depressed about Trump. In early October, the New York Times columnist published another column that analyzed Trump's mental health, while contemplating some of his own emotional matters.

"Trump's emotional makeup means he can hit only a few notes: fury and aggression," Brooks wrote. "In some ways, his debate performances look like primate dominance displays — filled with chest beating and looming growls. But at least primates have bands to connect with, whereas Trump is so alone, if a tree fell in his emotional forest, it would not make a sound. It's all so pathetic."

Brooks said that he often finds himself "experiencing feelings of deep sadness and pity."

2. Beck accuses Christians of blasphemy for not supporting Ted Cruz. In the heat of the GOP primary, as the race narrowed down to match between Trump and Cruz, conservative radio host Glenn Beck endorsed the Texas senator and waged a holy war against his opponent.

At a campaign rally on March 21, Beck told a pro-Cruz crowd in Utah that they had an "incredible opportunity" ahead of them.

"So many Christians have been standing up," he said, before delivering a harsh line to the evangelicals who sided with Trump. "But all throughout the South the evangelicals are not listening to their God. Let us raise a standard in Utah."

1. Reporter muses about the death of Donald Trump. The Los Angeles Times in early November, a few days before the election, severed its relationship with freelance reporter Steven Borowiec after he openly mused on social media about the death of then-Republican nominee Donald Trump.

It was on Twitter that Borowiec replied to a post from Time magazine related to a photo slide show of Trump. Time's tweet said, "See Donald Trump's life in photos." Borowiec replied, "I would rather see Donald Trump's life end."