Since at least the 2016 election, centrist Democrats have had a ready tool to fend off left-wing challenges.

Make an honest criticism of Hillary Clinton’s record — whether on war, criminal justice reform, trade agreements, or campaign finance — and they’d decry it as sexist or conflate it with online misogyny. Express distrust in Clinton, and they’d chalk it up to latent sexism — even if the critics were avowed feminists.

During the primaries, Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright appeared to admonish young women for favoring Bernie Sanders over Clinton. Numerous liberal feminist writers insisted on the importance of getting Clinton into the White House, regardless of how centrist she may be. “Not electing a woman, again,” warned Rebecca Traister, would be “much more than symbolic.” In a now-deleted post on David Brock’s Blue Nation Review, Clinton loyalist Peter Daou explained that, “[Sanders’] views notwithstanding,” he was “a white male who has been in Congress for over a quarter century,” making him the “definition of establishment,” while Clinton, solely by being “a woman attempting to break the ultimate gender barrier” was “the definition of anti-establishment.”