The election of 2016 was a lot of things. It was a showdown between two candidates who had been household names for decades. It was the second time in five elections where the winning candidate lost the popular vote. And, most relevant here, it was eight years ago and one of the candidates in that election is running again in 2024, so we've still got a long time before we can see the full impact it had on US history.

For now though, we can say that the narrow margin by which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton has already cast third parties- both candidates and outside actors- as central characters in the narrative of 2016. Did Jill Stein's Green Party run hand the election to Donald Trump, as some Clinton supporters claim? Is it true that Russia "hacked the election?" Or did the Democratic National Committee's advocacy for Hillary Clinton deny the party a winning candidate. Let's try to find out.

Welcome to the final installment of The Road to Now's Third Party Series. Today: the election of 2016 and ever after w/ John Heilemann.

John Heileman is a journalist and national affairs analyst for NBC News & MSNBC. You can hear him weekly on his podcast Hell & High Water w/ John Heilemann.

This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.