ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The big political story is, of course, Hillary Clinton’s collapse at the Sept. 11 memorial in New York City on Sunday. While her health is a serious matter, the real story is how this debacle happened in the first place and how we learned about it.

This isn’t about the Democratic presidential nominee “powering through” pneumonia as the campaign, her surrogates and the media (but I repeat myself) have insisted; it’s about a woman wrapped so tightly in lies that every sequential decision is being made to hide the previous lie. The only reason we now know of this impossible vice is through the work of a citizen with a cell phone camera and the existence of social media.

The Clinton campaign and the legacy media are probably shocked you know the truth of what happened with Mrs. Clinton because they had, once again, worked in unison to keep the truth from the American people.

Don’t forget, the American people were assured of Mrs. Clinton’s health when she opened a jar of pickles on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” We now know Mr. Kimmel should have asked her to cough into a Petri dish instead.

Then enter the pesky, ubiquitous citizen with phone and a camera, daring to go where others have been told not to. In this case, it was Zdenek Gazda, who is a 50-year-old Czech immigrant and Clinton supporter, according to Wired.

He filmed Mrs. Clinton as she left the memorial and captured what is already becoming one of the most viral videos in election history — the collapse of Mrs. Clinton off of a curb and into an awaiting van. Mr. Gazda’s video has now been viewed 10 million times just on Twitter alone.

As Mrs. Clinton was being spirited away, it was Fox News’ Rick Leventhal on-site at the memorial who was the first and only person reporting on the seriousness of her departure. His description on Twitter and Fox News ultimately matched what the video eventually exposed.

Mr. Leventhal’s report was important as the attempted media blackout was already underway. Todd Starnes, also of Fox News, tweeted, “From NBC Pool Report: We are told by the campaign that we are no longer allowed to shoot anything from the ceremony.”

Yes, you read that right, “allowed.”

Despite throwing in their lot with one candidate, there are many in the news media who do their job. This newspaper is one, Fox News another, and the New York Post doesn’t hesitate to challenge the status quo. That newspaper was the first to answer why an obviously very ill Mrs. Clinton was taken to her daughter’s apartment instead of an emergency room.

The answer? To maintain the secrecy of Mrs. Clinton’s health issues. The New York Post reported, “Secret Service protocol called for the Democratic presidential nominee to be rushed to a state-designated Level I Trauma Center in the wake of her Sunday morning health crisis. … But a campaign operative decided to change course to avoid having Clinton seen by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who could leak details to reporters, according to a source.”

Little did they know that detour, which could have put the seriously unwell Democrat nominee for president in even more danger, would not help them.

Nicco Mele, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, told Wired, “For decades the mainstream media and the political establishment fought over a narrative for the campaign and delivered that narrative for the public. There’s now a third player.”

The lack of consideration of that third player, the citizen, was evident when Mrs. Clinton finally emerged from her daughter’s apartment. The press was waiting, and as she strolled outside, someone asked how she was feeling. “I feel great,” she shouted. “What happened?” she was asked. Mrs. Clinton shrugged and then said, “It’s a beautiful day in New York.”

Apparently unaware of the video, which was now beginning to circulate widely, Mrs. Clinton believed the “overheated” narrative was prevailing. She was wrong.

In an effort to further prove how everything was normal, she greeted a cadre of fans outside the apartment, as a little girl then rushed over. Mrs. Clinton, now we know an active pneumonia patient, then bent over, talked to the little girl, touched her and posed for a picture.

When operatives finally had to admit that Mrs. Clinton was seriously ill, the agreed-upon narrative was that she was “powering through” the illness because there was so much to be done.

Actually, no. The “Hillary is healthy” lie and denigration of those who questioned it had to be maintained, so when she finally collapsed, more lies had to be implemented. Managing the secrecy and cover-up was of such paramount importance it manifested by possibly putting the candidate’s life at risk by refusing to take her to a hospital even in the face of physical collapse.

How desperate is the liberal establishment with this collapse of both the candidate and her campaign? On Monday, The Washington Post covered as news the tweets of a Nigerian-born doctor, known for his work on concussions, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump may be poisoning Mrs. Clinton.

First Mrs. Clinton’s problems were dismissed as allergies. Then the heat. Then pneumonia. Now poisoning? Her supporters are perhaps now becoming aware of the fact that Mrs. Clinton’s biggest problems are herself and the smug, clueless band of enablers with whom she surrounds herself.

• Tammy Bruce, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk show host.

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