The 2016 presidential election is widely regarded as a contest between the two most unpopular candidates in a generation, if not all time. The lion’s share of the attention has focused on the spectacle of Donald Trump, the wealthy real-estate mogul and television personality who has succeeded in capturing the Republican Party nomination in large part due to his capacity to manipulate a mass media system that has long favored sensation over substance.

In doing so, Trump has contributed to an unprecedented debasement of the national political discourse. His incoherent ramblings and lack of substantive knowledge, along with his predilection for explicitly sexist and racist appeals, outright lies, scathing personal insults and threats directed against his opponents and their supporters, and not least, sexual assault, have brought the bar to a new low. Yet, remarkably, his core supporters remain undaunted. They have bought the spin from the Trump campaign hook, line, and sinker and rationalized their decision to vote for him.

Clinton supporters like to believe that they are above such spin. However, this is not the case. On the one hand, Trump has been a dream come true for the Clinton campaign, which has happily focused the bulk of its efforts on the self-destructive Republican in an attempt to distract attention from Clinton’s serious flaws.