The media has, across all platforms, taken the primaries and spun them into a type of reality show. Treating the candidates like red carpet celebrities besmirches the presidential election and makes a joke out of our democracy.

Kanye West recently announced his bid to run for president in 2020. Don’t start laughing yet, though. Remember that no one took Donald Trump seriously when he first announced his bid for candidacy either.

If this election is any indication as to how the next one will be, when we see Kanye running in 2020 we can expect albums and “diss” tracks instead of civil political debate points. As for the 2016 elections, the only things we can expect are for the wild remarks to intensify and news stations’ ratings to skyrocket.

The primaries have captivated such a large audience because of the series of scandals and drama that surround the candidates.

Hillary Clinton for example, has been getting heat for her use of a private server while in office as the Secretary of State. This has led to controversy and suspicion over Clinton’s motives because using a private server left her activity not only unmonitored but also vulnerable to hacking by foreign groups.

In an election where honesty appears to be valued over all else, things do not seem to be looking too well for the supposed front-runner of the Democratic Party. Because of the controversies surrounding Clinton, the much more liberal Bernie Sanders has been gaining momentum within the Democratic Party. Sander’s edge on Clinton stems from his honest reputation as a genuine politician who stands firm in his beliefs.

The Republican Party has garnered a lot of media attention lately, mostly because of the wide array of candidates that are running. Seventeen Republicans are campaigning to become the party representative in the general election.

Among them is television personality and billionaire Donald Trump, George Bush’s older brother Jeb, and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon with no political background. Because of the numerous Republican presidential hopefuls, it appears that the candidates are doing anything and everything to steal the media spotlight from one another.

Trump, with his gravity-defying haircut, has made outlandish comments that have at least temporarily solidified his place as the leading candidate in the Republican primaries.

He has set the norm for disarray among the candidates as he has made it clear that in such a large group, any kind of publicity is good publicity.

It is a shame this is the mentality of the candidates because, in the process, they have collectively made offensive comments against immigrants, women and minority groups. These demographics are groups of voters each party needs to win the general elections and the Republican Party is not helping itself by alienating these groups.

The election process has lost its seriousness as an essential part of our democracy.

America’s obsession with sensationalism has led politicians to stray away from their platform issues to put on a show for the general public.

The presidential primaries appear to be cutting into the ratings from more popular television shows on cable, and rightly so, as the elections are packed with as much drama, suspense and outlandish commentary as highly rated shows like Game of Thrones, Empire, Breaking Bad and House of Cards.

The race to the oval office is being treated as yet another drama series leading up to a finale that will air on Election Day November 2016.