There has already been a lot of excitement surrounding the Democratic field of candidates as it continues to grow and each of them hits the campaign trail.

Right now, there are 17 Democrats who’ve thrown their hats into the ring, and former Vice President Joe Biden, the polling frontrunner, looks ready to do the same.

Yet, despite a great field of candidates – each of whom would make a more competent, effective and decent president than the one we currently have – the media and even some liberal purists look poised to let Donald Trump win a second term.

The biggest priority should be retaking the White House

We all remember the endless coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 campaign – all while Trump slimed his way to the White House – but we’re seeing that this style of news coverage isn’t specific to Clinton.

While Trump continues to do his damage both at home and abroad, the media and hardcore progressives think the top priority – again – is to gin up phony controversies about each of the Democratic candidates.

PoliticusUSA contributor Robert Franek laid out some of the silly things the media has already been fixated on:

Unfortunately, I’m not too optimistic about the media asking any of the right questions in the coming year.

Does Beto have enough experience? Is Amy a good boss? Does Kirsten know how to eat fried chicken? Kamala was a prosecutor, oh my! And on on it goes. https://t.co/Vg7yFVN3Ka

— Robert Franek (@robertfranek) March 16, 2019

None of this is to say that we shouldn’t hold our potential presidents accountable and make sure they have what it takes to be the commander-in-chief. But there is a difference between basic human flaws and a campaign-ending scandal.

Ginning up phony controversy about each of their shortcomings for the sake of “balanced coverage” isn’t doing the country any favors, especially when none of the so-called “red flags” about the Democratic candidates even comes close to matching those of the terrible president and human being that currently occupies the Oval Office.

The more the both-sides media focuses on Beto O’Rourke’s harmless comments about his wife, or Amy Klobouchar’s tough management style, or the fact that Kamala Harris was a big bad prosecutor (and so on), the less we are focusing on the damage this president does every single day – and the issues that matter to voters.

We cannot allow a repeat of 2016

We saw some of this play out in 2016 after Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders and secured the Democratic nomination – even though Clinton adopted many of Sanders’ policies and Sanders himself campaigned for her.

Not only did many of the Vermont senator’s supporters spend the remainder of the campaign attacking Clinton or saying there’s no difference between her and Trump – a suggestion that looks more ludicrous every day we have to live through this national nightmare – but many of them even voted for Trump.

According to NPR, 10 percent of Sanders supporters crossed over to support a man whose policy proposals and worldview was completely antithetical to the Clinton-Sanders platform.

One would hope that a lesson was learned after the 2016 campaign, but I’m so far not convinced that’s the case.

The country cannot afford another four years of Trump

Yes, holding each of these candidates accountable is important. But throwing them through the meat grinder for the sake of both-sides coverage, or because they only agree with you on 90-95 percent of the issues, is irresponsible. It’s why the country is in this perilous position to begin with.

While the media is in search of a campaign-ending scandal and liberal purists look for small blemishes to magnify, Donald Trump continues to say and do about 10 incendiary, offensive, embarrassing or corrupt things per day.

If we continue on this path, a repeat of 2016 is more likely. This country cannot afford that.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter