WHO RUNS THE WORLD?

jailing, hanging and execution, in scenes unprecedented in modern US history. Later in the campaign, her health has come under scrutiny like no other male candidate.

However, as Traister, like some academics including Jennifer Lawless, the author of Women on the Run: Gender, Media and political campaigns in a Polarized Era, contend, a lot of the vilification isn’t consciously gender-based.

“Lots of people loathe Clinton because they view her as untrustworthy, as unlikable or slippery,” Traister says. “Some of this is for fair reasons, although a lot of it is tied to her gender in unconscious ways.”

The feeling that Clinton is uninspiring is connected to her approach to politics, which runs contrary to the typical male progressive politician who “did the speechifying and the inspiring from the pulpits and the podium”.

“Like many women who have come before her, she is a worker more than a speaker,” Traister explains. “So much of the misogyny is obscured by, or tangled with, perfectly fair criticism of her actual record, or of some of the genuinely poor choices she’s made strategically.”

One thing is for sure, if Clinton does manage to vanquish Trump on November 8, there are plenty of detractors who will say she only made it for reasons other than her own efforts and talent.

“If she wins, analysts will say it is thanks to Trump’s terrible candidacy, to Bernie Sanders pushing her left, or to Bill Clinton’s lingering appeal to voters,” Traister comments.

“If she loses, analysts will say that it is all her fault. No- one is ever going to credit this woman with being a strong candidate or a talented politician, even though all available evidence – the fact that she beat Bernie Sanders by three million votes, that she’s polling against Trump, a man who couldn’t be touched by his Republican opponents, and that after 20 plus years of frenzied vilification, she remains one of the most popular figures in the country – says she is a remarkably tough and successful politician.”