Last December, during Politico’s annual Women Rule Summit, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, was asked if she thought women can have it all.

“I think it would be a true disservice to every woman in the country if we ever believed anything differently,” Sanders answered. “I want my daughter to see that if she wants to do anything in this world, she’s capable of doing that … she’s capable of having and raising a family and doing that in a powerful way.”

If there’s a person who can speak with authority on “empowered women,” it’s Sarah Sanders, who’s been able to balance her grueling job in the administration with being a wife and mother of three young children.

Few women could have survived such a pressure-packed job.

When first asked by the press to describe her boss, the 45th president, Sanders answered that he’s not going to hold back, adding that Americans elected Trump “because he’s a fighter.”

Sarah is cut from the same cloth. Faced often by a liberal media, she’s managed to take criticism in stride.

One of the most egregious personal attacks on Sanders came at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an event which the president has chosen to boycott since his election in 2016. Sanders was sitting just feet away when comedian Michelle Wolf began hurling insults, calling her a “liar,” disparaging her looks and that she was “disappointing white women.”

Wolf also attacked presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway and even made light of aborting a fetus.

Most felt the ugly insults crossed the line, even by left-wing standards. Amazingly, Sanders walked into an after-event party wearing a smile. When asked about the personal attacks, she simply said they didn’t bother her and that she was praying for the comedian.

What Wolf did accomplish that night was to galvanize Trump supporters and throw gas on his negative press argument.

While Sanders showed a resilience in the face of personal attacks, her mother has not been as forgiving. In November 2017, Janet Huckabee wrote a letter to Los Angeles Times columnist David Horsey after he mocked Sarah’s appearance, calling her a “slightly chunky soccer mom” and stating that she “does not look like the kind of woman Donald Trump would choose as his chief spokesperson.”

The columnist said Sanders’ mother was mad but dignified, and Horsey apologized, removing the offending paragraphs.

At an Indiana campaign rally on the eve of Election Day last November, President Trump invited Sanders and Conway on stage with him. After the crowd roared their approval, Sanders joked: “You have to forgive Kellyanne and I, we are a little speechless. We’re not used to friendly crowds.”

Sanders then explained how it was a great honor to serve in the administration and one of the most important jobs she could ever have, but that the greatest title she could ever hold is that of a mom.

After recently learning that Sanders would be leaving her post as White House press secretary, talk began circulating that she’s seriously considering a run for governor of Arkansas.

One thing for certain is that Sanders is no novice and can play political hardball.

She met her future husband, Bryan Sanders, a Republican pollster and strategist, in Iowa, before the 2008 caucuses and worked on all seven of her father’s political campaigns before coming to Washington.

Going toe-to-toe with an often hostile and liberal media has earned Sarah Sanders the respect of millions who loved seeing the Trump team on offense and scoring points when she was on the field.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com