In the United States there has never been a woman president.

It’s not because we have never had a qualified candidate, it’s because we live in a male dominated world where the rules as well as the rewards favor men.

For a woman to succeed in a forum where men have conspired - for centuries - to marginalize or silence her is a thing to marvel at, especially if it’s never been done before.

So I don’t Hillary Clinton’s adversaries have ever given her nearly enough credit, and as a matter of fact I don’t think many of her supporters have either.

When you’re in a game where the rules pointedly work against you and you still succeed, your victory is twice itself.

But in Hillary’s case the victory is actually ten times itself: after a hard-fought campaign she has secured a historic nomination for president of the United States - and very soon she may well be the first female commander in chief.

By now her critics have spent so many years fighting her that they have forgotten how to acknowledge her courage and determination. That’s their most enduring political mistake.

For decades they have consistently underestimated her and for decades they have been stunned when she eludes every one of their carefully laid traps.

Meanwhile women, like gay people and like black people and anyone who has been put to the side by the traditional power dynamic, see her rise as an act of sheer brilliance.

They plainly see her grit and resilience. And if you don’t know how much it means to them then you may not know what hit you on November 8.

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We haven’t really seen much written about the history that Hilary has made because the truth is we have all been riveted by the dumpster fire that is Donald Trump’s campaign (if campaign is what you could call the thing he’s currently running).

In July, Trump actually asked the Russians to find Hillary’s emails. But they have apparently gone one better, last night they revealed the phone numbers and password of all the Democratic members of Congress.

Clearly the Russians want Trump to become president of the United States even more than the Republican Party.

This was the week when Trump claimed Obama and Hillary were the founders of ISIS, then walked it back.

This was the week he asked so-called 2nd Amendment advocates to consider stopping her if political efforts to failed, then walked it back.

This was the week he told his supporters the election would be rigged, and has not walked it back yet.

Recall that the last time Hillary was subjected to white hot political rhetoric was in 1994 when Republicans called her health care reform plans a “Communist takeover.”

On the advice of her security detail she reluctantly agreed for the first time to wear a bulletproof vest.

Now thanks to Trump’s breathtaking irresponsibility that moment may have returned. America has a terrible history of gun violence in politics and so calling for 2nd Amendment people to stop Hillary is reckless in the extreme.

Observers say her new reliance on boxy suits could well be to hide her bullet proof vests. If that’s true - and we have ample reason to imagine it is - then this bizarre election cycle really has become be the most odious in living memory.

Michael Hayden, the former Director of the CIA and the NSA, appeared on CNN this week to address Trump’s shocking remark and he stated that if any private citizen had spoken the same words they’d be under investigation and in the “back of a police wagon.”

Meanwhile Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis called Trump's 2nd Amendment comment 'horrifying.’ Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, called the comment ‘distasteful, disturbing, dangerous.’

And William Kennedy Smith and Jean Kennedy Smith said “it was with a real sense of sadness and revulsion that we listened to Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, as he referred to the options available to “Second Amendment people,” a remark widely, and we believe correctly, interpreted as a thinly veiled reference or “joke” about the possibility of political assassination.’

The lessons of American history didn’t stop Trump or make him reconsider, so for the time being we hope that Hillary is taking every precaution to ensure her own safety.