John Quincy Adams, our greatest secretary of state (sorry, Hillary Clinton fans), thought that Cuba would inevitably become part of the United States. It hasn’t, at least not yet, but two Cuban-Americans were serious presidential contenders this year.

Yes, neither Marco Rubio nor Ted Cruz won the Republican nomination, instead suspending their campaigns the nights they lost the Florida and Indiana primaries. But they did become Donald Trump’s most serious competition. If you imagine that a few things had happened a bit differently, you might plausibly believe that one of them would now be mulling his VP pick and preparing an acceptance speech for Cleveland.