International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9, Issue 2 2026 30
of the most well-known and persistent narratives.
Hence, we cannot, for example, say with any certainty
(or dismiss outright) that some conspiracies about her
incorporate features of classic witchcraft accusations
category (e): “feces, urine, or oral contact with anuses.”
We can identify, however, at least—and indeed, more
than—three features, not only in the conspiracies
that we have discussed thus far, but also in some of
the representations and discussions of Clinton that
intersect with key conspiracies about her.
Accusations of orgiastic, group sex are often a feature
of the Pizzagate pedophile ring allegations and its
variations cannibalism and the drinking of blood
are evident Pizzagate offshoots, including the kuru
and adrenochrome conspiracies. Moreover, themes
of sex, the consumption of human flesh and blood,
the sacrifice, torture, or murder of a variety of
innocent victims of all ages, permeate a wide variety
of conspiratorial statements made by QAnon, Alex
Jones, Donald Trump, and other conspiracists. Indeed,
for many conspiracists, these behaviors are taken-for-
granted standard fare of anti-Clinton narratives. Prior
to Twitter banning him early in 2021, Trump was the
principal promoter of QAnon material, including the
endless narratives alleging Clinton’s child sacrifice
rituals (Sommer, 2023). Similarly, claims that Clinton
is an agent of Satan, possesses supernatural powers,
and engages in Satanic rituals to extend her power
flourish in conspiracies about her. Clinton’s detractors
alleged she possessed “extraordinary powers ” that Bill
Clinton was her ‘familiar’ 30
1
and that she could morph
into an otherworldly and nefarious “man-woman
called ‘The Clintons’” (Bordo, 2017, p. 30). Together,
these aforementioned examples meet classic witchcraft
features a, b, c, f, and g: two criteria more than required
to meet the standard for a witch hunt.
Beyond Wood et al.’s thesis, numerous conspiracists
explicitly depict Clinton as a literal witch. Furthermore,
the witch is considered the worst form of what Lim
(2009) identifies as the Unruly Woman—one who
breaches societal norms and gendered expectations—
and is despised for it. Furthermore, deception is central
to the “woman as witch”: she is a deceiver who can
30 Historically, witches were understood to have a familiar –their own
personal demon. The nature of the familiar varied regionally across Europe
but in some areas often were small animals such as lizards, toads, cats,
insects, or dogs (Goodare, 2016). Mice, hares, ferrets, imps, and even claims
of shape-shifting animals all have been recorded as examples of familiars
(Winsham, 2025).
transform herself. Clinton’s ability to reinvent herself
when Bill Clinton ran for governor in Arkansas stoked
suspicion amongst political and religious conservatives.
To them, she was a liberal feminist wolf in conservative
sheep clothing: a witch capable of calculated deception.
Moreover, her political engagements and tours were
questioned in ways that her male counterparts never
were (nor their makeovers). Casting her as a witch, her
critics felt compelled to unmask her, to reveal the true
Hillary Clinton (Lim, 2009).
As Brisini (2019) notes, historically, not only were
those accused of being witches associated with
disrupting existing hierarchies of power, but they
were also considered cannibalistic. Conspiracies
claiming Clinton is infected with kuru do not merely
use metaphor— they identify her as a literal witch who
is both biologically and socially troublesome (Brisini,
2019, p. 209). The consumption of children parallels
the claims of the Malleus Maleficarum (1486), which
identified that witches were responsible for butchering
babies and eating them (Brisini, 2019, p. 211).
In addition, Clinton has long faced accusations of
occult practices, ranging from using Voodoo for
political gains to membership in a Los Angeles coven
(Brisini, 2019). Clinton’s detractors have depicted her
with stereotypical witch imagery: on a broomstick
(Bordo, 2017), wearing a cape and pointed hat, etc.
(Miller, 2018). Images of Clinton as the stereotypical
ugly witch, laughing with demonic glee, flying through
the air, saturated anti-Clinton online media content.
Some opponents have even scrutinized her laugh
itself as an indicator that she is a witch. As Lim notes,
“Witches are frequently identified by the shrillness of
their voice and the deviousness of their laughter” (Lim,
2009, p. 263). Kuru is also known as the “laughing
death,” because as the disease progresses to the second
stage, associated neurological deficits may result in
uncontrollable hysterical laughter. Moreover, as Brisini
(2019) remarks, while the kuru conspiracy focuses a
great deal on Clinton’s alleged cannibalism, “it is the
associated gendered claim that Clinton is literally a
witch that underwrites the conspiracy’s broader appeal
(p. 209).
Clinton’s laugh has been the subject of much discussion
and derision, both in connection with the claim that

31
Susan Raine, Kilian LaBonte-bon |Witch Hunts and Gendered Politics
she had kuru and as part of broader attacks on her
character. Political commentators, journalists, and
countless others outside of conspiratorial narratives
have scrutinized and often deviantized her laugh,
sometimes calling it the Clinton cackle. The word
“cackle” frequently invokes associations with evil and
witches. Furthermore, her laughter seems to be a threat
of sorts: a woman laughing—rather than being laughed
at—appears disruptive within patriarchal settings. The
danger might be that when one woman/witch laughs
in such a setting, others may follow, thereby posing a
greater challenge to patriarchal norms.
Defending Hillary Rodham Clinton: Concluding
Discussion
Any woman may experience misogyny, but women
such as Hillary Clinton, who dare to challenge the
established and inequitable order, those who choose
to pursue positions of power within deeply patriarchal
circles and call out men for their bad behavior, may
face extreme levels of it (McDowell, 2018). Perhaps
it should not be surprising then that Clinton’s openly
misogynistic opponent in the 2016 election, Donald
Trump, demonstrated no fear of rebuke for his
behaviors—no fear when he lurked menacingly behind
her during the second presidential debate, and none
when he spoke over her in the final debate, calling her
“such a nasty woman.” He faced no consequences when
he declared, “The only thing she’s got is the woman
card”—an absurd statement given her extensive
accomplishments and experience (Bordo, 2017).31
As dreadful an account of contempt, misogyny,
disrespect, and outright horror our article provides with
respect to the witch hunt that Clinton has experienced
for much of her life, we have covered only a portion
of the full catalog of disgrace. Clinton’s marriage, her
sexuality and gender, her feminism, her body, her
defiance, her success, her determination to just get
work done, and her existence itself: everything about
her has been scrutinized, dismantled, and demonized
by those opponents who could not and cannot stand
to witness a self-proclaimed liberal feminist succeed to
such a degree in politics in the United States.
31 To claim a highly qualified female politician, such a Clinton, is using
her gender as the primary reason that one should vote for her was a desperate
move coming from Trump. Unforgivably, it is one that fellow Democrat,
Bernie Saunders, implicitly supported (Bordo, 2017).
Social media allowed the narratives surrounding her
to take on a much darker quality. Individuals like Alex
Jones, groups like QAnon, and political figures such as
Donald Trump reaffirmed their patriarchal identities
and goals through their persecution of Clinton and the
Democrats. Growing populism and disenchantment
amongst the population buoyed the growing
conspiracies and witch hunt against her. Clinton was
a particularly tempting target for persecution precisely
because of her long list of accomplishments and her
often polarizing public persona. Moreover, Clinton’s
desire to have both a family and a career has always been
at odds with certain factions of the American public and
the American political milieu. Her insistence on living
a public life in service of her country will likely always
be viewed with derision and suspicion simply because
she is a woman daring to live a life outside of strict and
archaic gender roles and expectations. That she did not
seek to integrate a conservative Christian worldview
with American democracy was unforgivable to the
growing body of extreme religious conservatives.32
1 Hence, those who seek a scapegoat for the perceived
decline in the values they hold dear found meaning
in targeting and persecuting Clinton as a witch, both
metaphorically and literally.
Like the claims made against women (and some men)
during the European witch hunts, those made against
Clinton appear absurd. This does not matter to those
who spread and consume conspiracy-fueled narratives.
The “displaced anxieties” (Jensen, 2007, p. 228) and the
larger goal of nurturing a deeply patriarchal political
system guided by Evangelical values appeared to make
Clinton worth burning. Clinton, arguably one of the
most qualified presidential candidates in American
32 Christian fundamentalists insist that women maintain the
family and the home by contrast, men work outside of the home and are
authoritative on all matters. Thus, conservative forms of Christianity are
deeply and inherently patriarchal. As such, conferring rights to women
and children poses a direct threat to perceptions of ‘traditional’ culture and
society. Indeed, denying human rights to them is understood as central to
the preservation of Christian family and culture (Rose, 1999). The bias,
discrimination, and violence that women have experienced in American
society has significant foundations in religious discourse where women and
children are considered the property of their fathers, brothers, husbands,
and other male relatives. Theological foundations often allow for the physical
punishment of women, including violence that results in their deaths. As
such, conservative Christians regard male members of the family—and all
men more generally—as superior to women (Westenberg, 2017). This legacy
is embedded in many conspiratorial narratives, making them especially
appealing to many conservative evangelicals whose literalist approach to the
bible affirms power and authority as the purview of male members of society.
And, of course, religious approaches to sex and gender have also stymied
women’s attempts to acquire full equality across social institutions.