How did Hillary Clinton allow herself to fall into her current predicament? How did she finally make a mistake so big, even the FBI can’t ignore it? Why didn’t anybody who cares about her well-being take her aside at any point and say, “Hey, I think this might be a real problem”?

National Review’s Brendan Bordelon wondered the same thing. This is a helpful hint:

State Department staffers aren’t talking — not yet, at least. But the thousands of Clinton e-mails reluctantly released by the State Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit are illuminating. They reveal a Secretary of State heavily insulated from her agency’s rank-and-file by a devoted inner circle, one which relentlessly lavished praise on Clinton and sometimes functioned more like receptionists than top strategic advisers. Many of the same confidantes appear set to take high-level jobs in a future Clinton White House, meaning her “yes-man problem” is likely to persist should she become president…

E-mail after e-mail shows how top State Department officials were kept from dealing with Clinton directly, instead being rerouted to the members of her inner circle…

E-mails between Clinton and her personal advisers, meanwhile, were brimming with fawning praise for the secretary. Dozens of times, Mills forwarded messages from State Department observers and lower-level staffers congratulating Clinton on a successful speech or media appearance. “A little positive reinforcement to pass on to the S,” read the subject line of one March 28, 2009 e-mail, in which a University of Southern California lecturer called her trip to Mexico a “stunning success” and “jaw-dropping.” Mills also forwarded an April 30, 2009 message from Paul Begala, a former Clinton adviser. “I gave Sec. Clinton an A+ in our dopey CNN report card last night,” he wrote. “So did Donna Brazile. The only two A+’s all night.” Clinton would sometimes ask her staff to print the more effusive commendations.

It’s said that in ancient Rome, whenever they threw a big celebration of a military commander’s victory, a servant would be assigned to the man’s chariot. As the lowly rabble cheered on the victor, as his heart soared with joy at his own glory — in other words, as he started to believe his own press — the servant would whisper into his ear:

“Remember, you are just a man.”

Of course, there’s no need for that in this case, because Hillary Clinton is a woman.

I’m no fan of anything having to do with the State Department, obviously, but even I can spare a moment of sympathy for any employee who was just trying to do his job while this pack of overgrown Mean Girls did nothing but defend their queen. She only took the job to stay in the game, and now all the underlings she left behind are caught up in her awful wake.

How long until one of them blows the whistle? Her power over them is fading by the minute, and she can’t count on all of them to go down with the ship alongside her. She’s “jaw-dropping” and “A+” and otherwise wonderful, right up until the moment she becomes more of a burden than a threat.

How long until everybody else starts following the lead of the White House?

Read the whole thing for more examples of Team Hillary’s nauseating butt-kissing. No wonder she’s been caught flatfooted. She’s been sheltered from the world for decades. She’s like a kid who grew up under a helicopter mom and now is completely unprepared for the harsh realities of the outside world.

Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, the White House is not a participation trophy.

P.S.

Three months later, this guy brushed off my boss’s questions about the SUV that crippled me. http://t.co/zfqzB8MPJl pic.twitter.com/CW593JhIZN

— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) August 25, 2015

P.P.S. Drip, drip, drip…