A lively question and answer session with Rebecca Traister quickly devolved into commentary on the current political scene in the U.S., with both Traister and the audience expressing concerns about the impact of a Trump administration on women’s issues.

One of the first questioners asked Traister to comment on “hate Hillary derangement syndrome.” Traister responded that Hillary Clinton has been subjected to decades of aspersions, going back to when she was First Lady. And the criticism of her has not come only from the right. She said she heard chants of “Lock her up!” at Bernie Sanders rallies at the Democratic Convention. Yet, she said, she heard former New York Times editor Jill Abramson say that despite extensive investigations into Clinton over the years, nothing substantial was ever found.

She suggested that as the first First Lady with a post-graduate degree (since then there have been two more – Laura Bush and Michelle Obama), Hillary aroused fears, mostly on the part of white men, that their power was being threatened.

Traister said, however, that she is much more optimistic since the election about the prospect of a woman president in the future. Among the names she mentioned were senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Republican Nikki Haley, who is now ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration.

On the other hand, she said if Hillary had been elected, there probably would have been an anti-feminist backlash. Instead, events like the Women’s March and subsequent resistance events are a backlash against Trump’s election and could have long-term effects. She compared the current mood among women to what happened after Anita Hill’s testimony in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In reaction to the way Hill was treated during those hearings, an unprecedented number of women ran for public office.

Since the 2016 election, she said, some 10,000 women have signed up to run for office at some level.

“We’re living through the death rattle of the old minority rule,” she declared, calling Trump “a garbage fire.”

But in the meantime, she said, the Republicans could take actions that could have a long-term impact, starting with appointments that could shift the philosophy on the Supreme Court for 40 years. They could also make policy decisions that could eventually reverse Roe v. Wade. “We see it already” in the actions Republicans have taken to reverse access to contraception, even though that access has reduced unintended pregnancies among teens by 40 percent.

Protections against sexual harassment and unfair employment practices could also be taken away, she said.

But she said she believes there are ways independent women can make a difference in society, if in no other way than familiarizing their friends and co-workers with a positive view of working women. Their examples can demonstrate that “fulfillment in life is not confined to the marital sphere.”