International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9, Issue 2 2026 24
Now: Politics, Religion, and Gender—Again
Several centuries later, the persecution of women as
witches and the inherent misogyny therein thrive in
public realms, including politics. Consequently, the
concept of the witch hunt also retains its significance
(see Brisini, 2019 Frederici, 2010 Germaine Buckley
Jensen, 2007 Lim, 2009 Sherwin, 2023 Vasby
Anderson, 1999 and Wood et al., 2017)15 Wood et al.
(2017) propose ten conditions for determining whether
an “investigation or prosecution”16 (p. 900) constitutes
a witch hunt, noting that these conditions apply to both
historical and contemporary contexts. This connection
is significant because it illustrates the remarkable and
horrifying ways in which the modus operandi have
remained constant. Offering an interdisciplinary
approach that is especially mindful of sociological
and legal research, the authors identify nine criteria
that focus on the processes involved in witch-hunt
accusations, while the tenth outlines the requirements
for the content of the accusations. This last criterion
is further subdivided into eight specific allegations
made during the witch hunts in Europe, which are also
essential to current standards of assessment.
According to the authors, to qualify as a witch-hunt,
allegations must include at least four social and legal
processes from criteria one through nine and at least
three subpoints of the tenth criterion. Moreover,
the accused must face significant negative social and
personal consequences (Wood et al., 2017). The nine
social-legal criteria are as follows: (1) Accusations
Against the Innocent, (2) Unlikely Perpetrators, (3)
Bizarre Accusations, (4) Blatantly False Accusations, (5)
Contamination, (6) Unreliable methods, (7) Unreliable
Experts, (8) Mischaracterization of Evidence, and (9)
Intimidation. The tenth criterion, Classic Witchcraft
Accusations includes eight features that we later outline
when discussing this category.
15 See Frederici (2010) for an overview of contemporary witch hunts
targeting women in various regions of the world. Other groups are also
subject to witch hunts. Sherwin (2023) identifies that racialized groups
and members of the LGBTQ+ community experience them in the United
States (and elsewhere). Moreover, the author proposes that very powerful
men often claim that they are subject to witch hunts. These claims of male
victimization often obscure the witch hunts that are actually taking place
against target groups that have less social and political power. For example,
Donald Trump frequently claims that he has endured witch hunts across his
political career (Sherwin, 2023).
16 Wood et. al.’s article discusses the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and
1990s.
In the following segment we apply the five most pertinent
criteria:1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 to the witch hunt against
Clinton. Following those analyses we adopt five of the
eight features included in the tenth criterion (Classic
Witchcraft Accusations) as well as discuss some of the
numerous other ways that many of Clinton’s detractors
have portrayed her as a literal witch. Consequently, we
identify more than is required to meet the benchmark
for the label of witch hunt.
Creating the Witch: An Analysis of Hillary Clinton
Conspiracy Theories
Criterion 1: Accusations Against the Innocent: The
Clinton Body Count and Pizzagate Conspiracies
Accusations against the innocent are allegations
made against at least one person who is undoubtedly
innocent. Such accusations may emerge from a variety
of significant sources within numerous contexts: for
example, the media, alleged victims, professionals,
investigators, and other important sources (Wood et al.,
2017). Our discussion of Clinton includes some of the
aforementioned examples, specifically politicians, legal
figures, and people with significant media influence
(both alternative and mainstream).
We begin with one of the earliest conspiracy theories
about Hillary Clinton—one that equally targeted
Bill Clinton. Moreover, it was certainly the very first
conspiracy against them that appeared online. The
Clinton Body Count conspiracy started with a single
source but evolved over decades to include numerous
contributors prior to becoming a part of the prominent
and widely shared Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
In 1993, during Bill Clinton’s first term as president,
then attorney Linda Thompson17 set up a website to
share her theories, claiming that the Clintons had killed
dozens18 of people, including political opponents and
others who impeded their political goals (D’Antonio,
2020 Matthews, 2019). Despite the unfounded nature
of these accusations—and Thompson admitted that
she had no evidence to support her claims—and the
subsequent findings identifying the actual causes of
17 Thompson was the Chairman of the American Justice Federation.
The publication represents the beliefs of a group “dedicated to stopping the
New World Order,” and to exposing how the “government murdered the
Branch Davidians” (Thompson, 1993).
18 With the addition of new claims, the precise number changes over
time.

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Susan Raine, Kilian LaBonte-bon |Witch Hunts and Gendered Politics
death in each case, the Clinton Body Count conspiracy
gained traction within Republican circles, especially
with those on the far right of the political spectrum
(Matthews, 2019). The original theory continued
and continues to evolve as conspiracists—including
Trump—reignited interest in it by linking the Clinton
Body Count conspiracy theory to political events and
high-profile individuals.
Accusations were numerous and varied. For example,
the Clintons arranged for the deaths of Bill’s opponents
in Arkansas during his term as governor of the
state. Another alleged that they were responsible
for the murder of federal agents during the violent
confrontation between the Branch Davidians and
federal law enforcement in Waco, Texas, in July 1993. A
variation on the Waco accusation asserted that Hillary
Clinton specifically was the instigator of the deaths.19Yet
another allegation stated that the Clintons ordered the
murder of some of Bill’s campaign workers in addition
to military members who had served as part of the
Clintons’ security detail. Although the original catalog
of accusations is too lengthy to discuss here, their most
prominent alleged victim, Vince Foster (1945–1993), is
worth a deeper investigation.20
A childhood friend of Bill Clinton’s, Foster became a
prominent attorney during Bill’s time as governor of
Arkansas. He hired Clinton to work at the Rose Law
Firm, and when Bill Clinton became president, he
appointed Foster as deputy White House counsel. In his
role, Foster helped screen applicants for administration
positions. Following the withdrawal of two applicants
for the position of attorney general due to disclosures
that they had hired undocumented immigrants,
Foster felt a sense of failure that he had let down the
president. Furthermore, Foster was implicated in
other subsequent White House scandals, resulting in
punitive, humiliating, and unforgiving press coverage
19 Thompson shared her conspiracies in the video, Waco, The Big Lie.
Moreover, she, Rush Limbaugh (1951–2021) and others would flood the
AM airwaves with blatant lies and false accusations, often embedded in anti-
feminist rhetoric. Limbaugh was one of the most prominent conservative
commentators of the 1990s, hosting radio and television shows. He wrote
several books and continued his highly successful broadcasting career
through the 2000s. He was critical of feminism, environmental movements,
and other ideologies that were at odds with his brand of conservatism.
20 He was, at least, the most renowned until serial sexual predator
Jeffrey Epstein (1953–2019) was added to the list in 2019. Within a few
hours of reports of Epstein’s death, Trump retweeted claims (by sharing
the #ClintonBodyCount) that the Clintons were involved in Epstein’s death
(Timm and Johnstone, 2019).
(Matthews, 2019 Yglesias, 2016).
Foster had a history of depression and committed
suicide in July 1993. Immediately, right-wing conspiracy
theorists accused the Clintons of being behind his
death (D’Antonio, 2020 Yglesias, 2016). Republican
televangelist Jerry Falwell (1933–2007) accused Clinton
of having a sexual relationship with Foster before his
death. Moreover, he offered VHS tapes for sale that
purported to show evidence of Bill Clinton’s complicity
in the mysterious deaths of several Arkansans (Kurtz,
1998 Hitt, 2007), further confirming to conspiracists
the legitimacy of the Clinton Body Count accusations.
Several investigations into Foster’s death—including
those conducted by the US Park Police and the FBI—
repeated the original findings that Foster had taken his
own life when he shot himself in the head (Yglesias,
2016).
When Hillary Clinton announced her presidential bid
in January 2016, the Clinton Body Count conspiracy
gained traction once again, and online conspiracy
theorists widely shared the story. Moreover, this time
it was incorporated into a much larger and more
complex narrative. During the twenty or so years
since the Body Count theory emerged, the nature of
conspiracy theories had changed quite dramatically:
following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,
conspiracy theories garnered more public attention as
they started entering mainstream media and politics
(Barkun, 2013).
Furthermore, a shift occurred from event conspiracies
with a narrow focus and systemic conspiracies that
incorporate larger plans for domination by a particular
group to the dominance of super conspiracies, in
which numerous conspiratorial narratives are linked
hierarchically. Thus, “[e]vent and systemic conspiracies
are joined in complex ways, so that conspiracies come
to be nested within one another. At the summit of the
conspiratorial hierarchy is a distant but all-powerful
evil force manipulating lesser conspiratorial actors”
(Barkun, 2013, p. 6). The rapid growth of super-
conspiracies—greatly facilitated by the rise of the
public internet—resulted in an increasingly fraught,
unpredictable, and unreliable political landscape
in the United States, as political and other figures
capitalized on the dissemination of false information