The hashtag #ClintonBodyCount skyrocketed in popularity on Tuesday, rising to third spot in the US, shortly after Jeffrey Epstein, who faces 45 years behind bars if convicted, was alleged to have tried to commit suicide or even to have survived an assassination attempt.
The purported suicide attempt came in its turn hours after The Daily Beast published a story on Wednesday that looked into financial ties between politically connected socialite billionaire Epstein and Bill Clinton, who is among the politicians he regularly rubbed shoulders with. Shortly thereafter, netizens witnessed the comeback of a notorious hashtag - #ClintonBodyCount.
Coined by author and conspiracy theorist Danny Casolaro in the late 1980s, the now trending phrase “Clinton Body Count” has since been used by right-wingers to link the mysterious and at times bizarre deaths of people connected in one way or another to the Clinton couple. Many have allegedly committed suicide, while three Secret Service men fell out of a helicopter to their deaths, etc.
The most recent case was the unproven armed robbery of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich in 2016, which turned fatal as the man died in hospital 1.5 hours after getting shot twice in the back.
Netizens couldn’t help chewing over the trending phrase, with many bringing up the mainstream rhetoric that “Russian bots” had flooded the Internet to have their say. Many suggested that it was to dilute the “knockout” effect of, for instance, former US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony in front of Congress, which turned out to be a dud.
Others cited another trending hashtag - #MuellerReportdisaster, in addition to the above, to underpin the claim.
Some noticed that such a distraction by means of a conspiracy theory is hardly needed – taking into account Mueller’s slippery and ambiguous answers, as he struggled to remember key details from his report and refused to answer anything beyond the scope of the document.
“Wow. Robert Mueller changing the job of a prosecutor from proving someone ‘Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt’ to ‘Not being able to exonerate someone accused of a crime’. Dangerous and ridiculous”, Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted. Meanwhile, Trump chose to repost a statement from his personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow:
“This morning’s testimony exposed the troubling deficiencies of the Special Counsel’s investigation. The testimony revealed that this probe was conducted by a small group of politically-biased prosecutors …” Sekulow’s tweet read, adding that it was also clear that the special counsel conducted his probe “unimpeded”.
Many, however, argued that the accusations against “Russian bots” promoting the anti-Clinton hashtag are utterly stupid and far-fetched, but also made room for hilarious remarks:
Others struck back in seriousness: