After over two decades in the heart of America's spotlight, Hillary Clinton is still an unknown quantity for most Americans. That's thanks to one factor and one factor only: the love and worship of the mainstream media.
Over the weekend, no less than six terrible stories broke that would have crippled anyone else's campaign. First, we learned that Clinton aide and confidante Huma Abedin acted as assistant editor on the radical Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, where she greenlit pieces that stated that "pushing (mothers) out into the open labor market is a clear demonstration of a lack of respect of womanhood and motherhood," among other things.
Next, we found out that Clinton had blamed former Secretary of State Colin Powell for giving her the idea to set up a private email server at a dinner party, and that Powell not only denied giving her the idea but also denied ever having a dinner conversation with her on the topic. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who Clinton claimed was present for the conversation, has also denied the story.
Then we discovered that the Clinton State Department oversaw some $6 billion in mismanagement, fraud and incompetence.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Clinton's pay-for-play -- Clinton Foundation donations in exchange for access to the State Department -- ran deeper than originally thought.
And we learned that the FBI and Justice Department are investigating the Podesta Group -- co-founded by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta -- over its ties with former Ukrainian President and Vladimir Putin ally Viktor Yanukovych.
Finally, we found out that the FBI uncovered some 15,000 emails that Clinton failed to disclose to the State Department. Presumably, they do not all concern yoga and Chelsea Clinton's wedding plans.
So, what was the media's response to this tidal wave of incompetence and corruption?
They focused on the Trump campaign's internal mess, naturally. That's what they always do.
And that's why Trump became the Republican nominee.
The media once painted former Gov. Mitt Romney the way they paint Donald Trump, and they excoriated anyone who dared to ask about President Barack Obama's botched Benghazi policy. They scoffed at Romney's suggestion that Obama's Russian policy had emboldened Moscow. They castigated legislators like former Rep. Michele Bachmann for connecting Huma Abedin to Islamic radicalism via the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.
By the time Trump came along, the American people had already rejected the media's capacity for truth-telling. So when the media targeted Trump and Trump refused to be cowed by them, many Republicans resonated to Trump's call. They believed that Trump would hit Clinton with all the material the media covered up and ignored.
So far, that hasn't panned out. Trump's been far too distractible to focus on Clinton. But that doesn't mean that he couldn't. If Trump were to target Clinton, he'd be doing the job Americans thought they elected him to do: exposing the empress who's protected by the media Praetorian Guard.
If he doesn't, Clinton will become president, scandals and all. The media are still the gatekeepers, and they still have no intention of allowing Clinton to become the story when Trump's tweets can be.