Back in mid-March—when Americans could still operate in healthy denial regarding the political tragicomedy to come—Dr. Ben Carson, fresh off of endorsing Donald Trump for president, delivered a somnolent yet strangely chipper performance on MSNBC’S “Morning Joe.” Trump’s Chicago rally had just been canceled after rounds of fisticuffs between his supporters and protesters. Carson was there to assure America, or at least Republicans, that all was well.

“Donald Trump will come to the realization that this is a golden opportunity for leadership,” Carson said, appearing, as usual, as if he might nod off right then and there. “I think you’re probably going to see him pivoting more in the direction of everybody, rather than just those who are angry.” This magical and inevitable “pivot,” Carson assured the audience, would come “very shortly.”

I now invite readers to join me in a short yet hearty belly laugh, followed by a brisk bout of wheezing, followed by the wiping of tears from one’s eyes, either from hilarity or despair. The long-fabled Trump “pivot,” of course, never came.

"Everything is great. Trump's campaign is going tremendously great. In fact, we think it's just fantastic. Trump is probably running the greatest campaign that you have ever seen. We are winning bigly. We are winning bigly, and we are winning and winning and winning".

THE FACTS: Trump is wrong about Clinton's involvement. The $400 million payment -- plus $1.3 billion in interest to be paid later -- is a separate issue from the Iran nuclear deal that Clinton initiated.

In the late 1970s the Iranian government, under the U.S.-backed shah, paid the United States $400 million for military equipment. The equipment was never delivered because in 1979, his government was overthrown, revolutionaries took American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran were severed.

In 1981, the United States and Iran agreed to set up a commission at The Hague that would rule on claims by each country for property and assets held by the other. Iran's $400 million claim was among many that had been tied up in litigation before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, and interest that the U.S. would have to pay for holding the money for so long was growing.

Litigation over these claims has continued intermittently for 35 years, with some being settled and others going to the tribunal for judgment. All private U.S. claims before the tribunal have been resolved with Iran paying more than $2.5 billion to American people and businesses. Some claims remain unresolved.

It’s the kind of thing that people joke about — how women in politics always have an extra set of challenges that men don’t face. As President Obama said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention, (paraphrasing Ann Richards):

Eight years ago, you may remember Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a year and a half. Let me tell you, it was tough, because Hillary was tough. I was worn out. She was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels.

I loved watching our president’s speech. And I say that as someone who is not a fan of big, over-hyped events in stadiums and sports arenas. I prefer goal-oriented activities like organizing a group of activists to meet with their legislators, or setting up a phone bank or a door-to-door canvass. Still, even I couldn’t miss being there, in the moment, when Hillary Clinton made history by accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Hillary Clinton’s accomplishment is all the more striking considering how the political system in the U.S. is monumentally stacked against women political candidates. According to a 2012 report by American University’s Women & Politics Institute called Men Rule: The Continued Under-Representation of Women in U.S. Politics,

Study after study finds that, when women run for office, they perform just as well as their male counterparts. No differences emerge in women and men’s fundraising receipts, vote totals, or electoral success. Yet women remain severely under-represented in U.S. political institutions. We argue that the fundamental reason for women’s under-representation is that they do not run for office. There is a substantial gender gap in political ambition; men tend to have it, and women don’t.