Perhaps more than any other political family in history, the Clintons have been beset by conspiracies theories. This piece focuses on the conspiracies surrounding Hillary Clinton, as there are simply too many to write about in any great detail in relation to the Clinton family. It then focuses on the main Hillary Clinton conspiracies.
Email Conspiracies
It should be noted that there are two types of scandals involving the word email about Hillary Clinton. First is the Wikileaks release of 30,000 emails and attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton’s private email server. The documents range from June 2010 to August 2014. The emails were made into PDF’s at the request of the US State Department as a result of the Freedom of Information Act. The PDF’s were made available in February 2016.
The FBI issued a separate investigation into Hillary’s use of email for personal purposes during her time as Secretary of State. 33,000 emails were deleted from Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and the decision by the FBI not to prosecute Hillary Clinton led to a rift within the FBI.
Hillary Clinton Conspiracies
1. Body Double
One Clinton Conspiracy gaining traction is that Hillary Clinton has a body double. This conspiracy exploded on the internet after Hilary stumbled/collapsed during a 9/11 memorial. This is not an allegation and has been caught on the footage. Hillary Clinton’s doctor responded by saying that this occurred as a result of heat and dehydration. The footage does clearly show her having a medical episode of some sort, and while she did not fall had to be helped into the security van. Clinton Conspiracy proponents have been saying for years now that Clinton has had a body double and has not been well for some time. Alternative Youtube media channels such as the Young Turks point out that this is a “conspiracy theorists dream come true” . The stumble was cited as proof by Hillary Clinton Conspiracy Theorists that she is definitely ill and most definitely has a body double. It is true that she was diagnosed with pneumonia by her doctor and was on a regime of antibiotics. This, coupled with heat, dehydration and an intensive election campaign resulted in Hillary fainting during a 9/11 ceremony. While this is somewhat serious, this does not mean she is dying and most certainly does not mean that she has a body double. She was 68 years old during a very intensive campaign. After the collapse/stumble Clinton was rushed to her daughter Chelsea’s apartment where she emerged a short time later, telling the Media she “felt great”.
All this seems in line with what a prospective Presidential candidate would do, keeping the illness quite and powering through. After the collapse, the illness had to be revealed. Theorists have claimed that after she had emerged from her daughter’s house, she had bigger earlobes, implying that this was a double and not the real Hillary Clinton. Her nose was also held to look different and her index finger bigger than her ring finger. One theorist has named the impersonator/Clinton double as Theresa Barnwell, who has been practicing for the past twenty-three years. Theresa Barnwell responded to the allegations on Twitter by tweeting that she was actually in Los Angeles at the time of the alleged impersonation. She also explains that she had to field questions from multiple newsagents and other sources after the conspiracy theory took off on social media. Summing up the reaction to the Clinton body double conspiracy, Barnwell had this to say: ”Three little words. People are crazy”.
There are large of amount of photos online which are used as evidence by Hillary Clinton Conspiracy Theorists that she has a body double. References are made to Hillary’s facial structure, such as her cheeks, smile, eyes, jaw and forehead. This is then compared to other pictures of Hillary, the differences allegedly being proof that she has a double. Other features noted are her legs and waist, held to be different at different times. This loses credibility on the ground that the pictures are not dated and people’s weight changes over time. It is also worth noting that Photoshop can be used to edit photos. In sum, Hillary Clinton is ill. That does not indicate she has a body double.
2. Brain damage
This theory was floated by Right Winger Karl Rove on Fox news after she fainted in 2012, and follows the previous body double theme that she is deathly ill. The statement was swiftly retracted but still took off on the blogosphere. It is not surprising that Donald Trump seemed to agree, stating that “She took a short-circuit in the brain….She’s got problems. Honestly, I don’t think she’s all there”. A picture released by Drudge Report titled “Hillary conquered the stairs” showed a frozen picture of Hillary being helped upstairs to a house by her aides. The context of the photo was left out, taken in February and released at a time when it was trending to showcase pictures which present Hillary Clinton as an individual with serious health problems.
On August 2016, a Twitter account published apparent medical records which indicated that the “Patient shows signs of advancing Subcortical Vascular Dementia after an MMSE was performed. The patient scored significantly lower on today’s test than when tested in 2013. The patient is also showing signs of having more frequent Complex Partial Seizures”. The account was deleted but the theory took off on Twitter. In 2015 TIME magazine published an article where Hillary was in “excellent physical condition” to serve as President. The doctor who said this,
Lisa Bardack was the same doctor in the leaked medical records made available on Twitter. The “leaked” document on Twitter is widely regarded as a forgery. They did not remotely resemble anything like medical records, did not contain a signature, did not contain a letterhead and there are significant formatting differences between the standard records Bardack uses with other patients. Dr. Lisa Bardack has publicly stated that the leaked documents are forgeries not produced by her. Another Media personality, Dr. Drew Pinsky, stated in a radio interview that he had grave concerns about her health and her health care, after reviewing her released health records. He also noted that she wore prism glasses to treat the double vision induced by the concussion-induced by the fall in 2012, stating this to be brain damage which was affecting her balance. He was widely criticized by health professionals for his claims.
3. Parkinson’s Disease
Another healthcare professional claims that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson’s disease. Respondents to this claim point out the fact that while Dr. Noel may have 36 years of experience in medicine, he is an anesthesiologist and not a neurologist, the area which specializes in Parkinson’s disease. Other responses are that Dr. Noel has never conducted a physical examination on Hillary Clinton and that his assertions appear to be dominantly partisan and not objective in the slightest, describing Hillary as “a politician who lies about everything”. Dr. Noel is also used as a source on sites such as Infowars, a notorious conspiracy theory blog. Alex Jones, the producer of the channel, stated with regard to Hillary Clinton
“ She is an abject, psychopathic, demon from hell that as soon as she gets into power is going to try to destroy the planet,…I mean, I was told by people around her that they think she’s demon-possessed, okay ”
Dr. Noel does seem to be a straight conspiracy theorist, leaving the chance of an objective medical analysis quite slim.
Other evidence cited by Parkinson proponents is that Hillary’s head nodding is a clear sign of Parkinson’s, as are her other odd physical movements. The head nodding has been countered as a facial tick which she has been doing for years when listening to people talk, as evidence on video. Her hand postures are said to be used to cover up tremors relating to Parkinson’s, and the response to this is that her hands are used to emphasize verbal statements and that the movements seem quite natural.
Hillary Clinton Counter Conspiracy
One of the Hillary Clinton Counter Conspiracies is that all the Hillary Clinton Conspiracies simply stem from an ugly and deep rooted anti-feminist agenda. Counter Conspiracy proponents cite the fact that from the moment she stepped foot into the national spotlight in 1992 she has been the subject of criticism from the press, who are far too focused on how she appears in terms of dress code and fashion sense. Comparisons were often made to Barbara Bush. As a front runner in the worldwide evolution of women in politics, she was often analyzed in terms of how she looked instead of what she stood for, which might seem to be somewhat cruel. She was described as underweight, malnourished, in need of sunlight, badly dressed and someone who had definitely undergone plastic surgery by newspapers such as the Washington Times and USA Today. Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing outlets did multiple pieces as to how Hillary could allegedly not cross her legs. The health concerns are cited as anti-feminism in another form. In today’s world of political correctness, it would not do to be openly sexist. So instead of publicly calling Hillary ugly anti-feminists, who are predominantly male, criticize her for her health issues as a way of expressing their anti-feminism.
4. Child Sex Scandal
The New York Police Department found files on the laptop of Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin (Hillary Clinton’s top aide) which show evidence of a political pedophile ring which Hillary Clinton is allegedly a part of. Anthony Weiner was caught sexting with a 15-year-old girl. NYPD sources also state that the emails contain evidence linking Clinton and her associates to Money Laundering, Child Exploitation, sex crimes with minors and perjury. It has also been alleged that the emails include travel documents relating to the travel itinerary of the Clintons and other members of Congress, who travel to the private island of convicted pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. This revelation caused major upset to the Clinton campaign. FBI Director James Comey had previously told Congress that the investigation into Hillary’s email server was finished but later reopened the investigation due to the findings on Weiner’s laptop. There have been suggestions of a conspiracy within a conspiracy. The FBI have a history of caution near election day, and to release it so near the day showed a lack of character and an implication of foul play. Donald Trump tweeted that the system ”might not be as rigged as I thought”. There has been to date no proof or even concrete evidence of Hillary Clinton’s link to a pedophile Ring in Washington. What is evident is the usual power struggles between dominant forces which are now more visible and transparent due to the rise of alternative media.
5. Spirit Cooking
This Clinton Conspiracy has taken the internet by storm. And it is one of the more graphic of the Clinton conspiracies. The emails released by Wikileaks are particularly ominous and disturbing. One email sent by Marina Abramovic to Tony Podesta states
“ Dear Tony, I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking Dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina. ”
Another email shows Tony Podesta asking his brother John if he is available for dinner, saying Marina is asking whether or not he will be able to attend. John Podesta was the chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign. He had previously served as chief of staff to Bill Clinton. Another email sent from Hillary Clinton to Huma Abedin asked if Marina is still going to the dinner. Marina Abramovic was the author of a spiritual cookbook in 1996, titled “Spirit Cooking with Essential Aphrodisiac Recipes”. The book mentions meals consisting of “blood, sperm and breast milk” to be consumed on Earthquake nights. Another cooking recipe specifies fresh morning urine.
To conclude, most of the Hillary Clinton Conspiracies are false when investigated. The most likely Clinton conspiracy at present is actually the Spirit Cooking. While this may seem strange given the nature of the conspiracy itself, it is actually the only one where there is real tangible information from a reputable source – Wikileaks – and there does not seem to be a logical explanation other that Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin and John Podesta seem to like Spirit Cooking, a very bizarre ritual.