Democrats are their own worst enemy.

Instead of protecting the fundamental integrity of our democracy by allowing Bernie Sanders and the grass roots a fair shot at challenging establishment pick Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, they engaged in dirty dealings at both the Democratic National Committee and Barack Obama's FBI, handing the presidency to Donald Trump.

You read that right.

It wasn't Russia that swayed the outcome of the election — as farcical as that conspiracy theory is; it was the Democratic deep state that did.

Look no further for evidence than bombshell revelations this week that it was former FBI Director James Comey's right-hand man, the bureau's deputy head of counterintelligence, Peter Strzok — a Clinton supporter — who softened the language Comey used from "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless," thereby exonerating Clinton of criminal culpability in the email investigation. And by holding Clinton above the law — despite mounds of evidence warranting an indictment — Democratic elites kept their chosen queen on the throne.

The corrupt deep state not only has caused widespread distrust in our justice system, as many Americans now believe that the FBI is dangerously politicized, but also screwed over Sanders — and itself — by keeping the beatable candidate in place.

Had Obama's FBI held Clinton accountable for the reckless mishandling of classified information and destroying evidence that was under congressional subpoena — the wiping clean of rogue servers and the hammering of electronic devices — she would have received tremendous pressure to vacate the race, and Sanders, a populist candidate who had a better shot at beating Trump, would've been next in line.

After all, it was an outsiders race.

Trump was a major outsider, proved by the fact that during the GOP primary, he trounced 16 well-established political opponents with party support and hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal.

How tone-deaf Democrats were to not have noticed.

Instead, they protected the highly flawed establishment candidate, who not only was saddled with decades of unseemly baggage but also lacked a compelling campaign message, was devoid of charisma and, perhaps most importantly, lacked the trust of millions of voters of all political stripes. Polls taken during the election reflected an inconvenient truth the elites chose to ignore: Democratic voters trusted Sanders over Clinton by a 3-1 ratio.

Add to all this the fact that the Democratic National Committee stacked the deck against Sanders by allowing the Clinton campaign to take over the DNC's finances early in the primary — long before the Democratic Party chose its nominee — giving her a seismically unfair advantage. Had the power brokers who were involved possessed an ethical compass, engaged in fair play throughout the election process and respected the vital notion that we're all equal under the law, Democrats could've been celebrating Christmas this year at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

But it's clear that Obama's Chicago-style politics poisoned the well. And now Donald Trump is not only our president but also ripping up eight years' worth of "hope and change" policies faster than a speeding bullet.

A bullet Democrats inflicted upon themselves.

So the next time a liberal friend starts screaming from the rafters about how Trump is the leader of the Free World, tell him this: Corruption has consequences.

Adriana Cohen is a syndicated columnist with the Boston Herald. Follow her on Twitter @AdrianaCohen16. To find out more about Adriana Cohen and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.