Fighting Sexism
Plenty of the attacks levelled against Clinton over the years have been policy-oriented and substantive, stemming from her mishandling of health-care reform during her husband’s first Administration, or from her initial support for the war in Iraq, or from her use of a private e-mail server while she was Secretary of State—criticisms that could have been lobbed in the same terms at a male politician of similar ambition. But much of what Clinton has had to battle, for decades, is sexism. She has not, as Trump noted, given up, but the fight has been a wearying spectacle, and one that may explain, at least in part, why people complain of Hillary Clinton fatigue.
Hillary has fought her past embarrassment as Talbot wrote:
Clinton’s reputation has also been prone to another unfortunate pattern: she was often more popular when she was seen to be suffering a traditionally feminine humiliation. As First Lady, her approval ratings rose after the Monica Lewinsky revelations and during Kenneth Starr’s investigation of them. In 2008, many people rallied to her after she was excoriated for seeming to tear up at a campaign event. Trump was clearly seeking to humiliate Clinton by inviting women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or assault to be his guests at the second debate. But this time it felt like she was long past embarrassment of the sort he was trying to induce—the stakes were too high, and Trump’s insults to women too categorical