If anything, a dragged-out Republican primary season helped Trump immensely. It kept him as a top story in the news for months, and in defeating all those Republican political figures it demonstrated that he was a much more formidable candidate than most people in Washington and the media ever realized.
Adversity builds grits and character.
Hillary wanted a Rose Garden glide path to the presidency.
It was so unfair for her to have to face Trump!
The media covered trumps every move on the campaign early on as a joke, but the joke was on their butts. Ha ha ha!