The modern conservative movement has long embraced a host of outlandish and nonsensical conspiracy theories. To its most diehard supporters, nothing is ever quite what it appears to be, but at the same time, the “explanations” defy common sense, logic, and sometimes even the laws of physics. And those outlandish beliefs have had a very real effect at the ballot box.
Here are just five of the many, many, many, many conspiracy theories that far too many people on the right actually believe.
Conspiracy No. 1: The Clinton body count
According to this conspiracy, there are a pair of serial killers that have been cutting a path across America from Arkansas, to Washington, D.C., to New York and back—and they have been on a spree for probably 50 years. Oddly enough, the two killers are two of the most well-known people not just in the country but in the entire world: President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“The Clinton Body Count” is a list that has circulated since at least the mid-’90s, around the time when Bill Clinton was first elected president, in 1992. Starting from his time as an up-and-coming politician in Arkansas, the list essentially includes every person who ever came into contact with the couple and who later died. Considering the number of people whom the Clintons likely met just during their time as the first family of Arkansas, it should probably be clear to you that many of those people were going to die regardless, and not because the Clintons operate like Hannibal Lecter.
The outlandish list took on a new life when anti-Clinton Republicans in Congress began to consider it seriously, and tragic events like the death of Clinton aide Vince Foster were used to bolster the nonsensical allegations.
Beyond the rigorous debunkings of the conspiracy, its logic fails when one considers the fact that, despite supposedly murdering so many people, the Clintons didn’t kill their way to victory in either the 2008 Democrat presidential primary or the 2016 presidential election. Why, all of a sudden, after their cross-country murder spree, did the duo stop when they could kill their way to the most important position in the world? Maybe because the conspiracy was nonsense?
Conspiracy No. 2: Obama’s “hidden hypnosis” of voters
After eight years of George W. Bush in the White House, the right had a hard time reckoning with Barack Obama’s massive win in the 2008 presidential election. How to explain it? One word: hypnosis.
During that election cycle, a document titled “An Examination of Obama’s Use of Hidden Hypnosis Techniques in His Speeches” circulated, claiming that Obama used advanced hypnotic techniques to seduce millions of people to vote for him. The document alleged that Obama used incantations like “change is in the air” and “turn the page” to control minds.
But if Obama won in 2008 and 2012 due to his dastardly powers of suggestion, why didn’t he use the power of mind control in elections where Democrats lost? Why didn’t Obama cloud minds in the 2010 or 2014 midterms, to say nothing of 2016 and 2024? Hmm.
Conspiracy No. 3: A weather weapon exists—but only Democrats can use it
In the real world, meteorologists understand how weather forms and often make educated predictions—based on data—about what will happen (though sometimes the predictions are wrong!). But in the right-wing world, that is an archaic way of thinking because the U.S. government has access to the type of weather weapon that is usually in the domain of The Avengers or Justice League.
Back in 2013, right-wing conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump superfan Alex Jones floated the idea that the federal government, then led by President Obama, had supposedly deployed a weather weapon to create a tornado in Oklahoma.
Just a few months ago, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia alleged that President Joe Biden had directed the nefarious weather weapon at the southeast. Discussing the allegation, Biden said, “It’s so stupid.”
But it’s even dumber than that. If a weather weapon exists (it doesn’t), then why is it that only Democratic presidents use it? Why didn’t Trump use it against The New York Times or against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California? Or why didn’t former President George W. Bush wield the weather weapon to silence critics of the Iraq war beneath a layer of snow and/or rain?
Conspiracy No. 4: Obama’s United Sharia States of America
When he took the oath of office, Obama was very different from every previous president in American history. As the first Black person to be elected president, the right went hog wild with every sort of conspiracy, with perhaps their favorite for eight years being that Obama would implement Sharia law.
This lie was based on the unfounded notion that due to his family’s background in Kenya, Obama was a secret Muslim. And purportedly, as a secret Muslim, he intended to twist American laws to become a version of extremist Sharia law, like in Afghanistan under the Taliban. The right had a very hard time explaining how Obama would do this, though, because the president does not have a magic wand to convert all laws to religious orthodoxy.
The bigoted roots of this sort of thing are further undermined by the fact that Kenya, the birthplace of Obama’s father, is not a Muslim-majority nation but is mostly Christian (nearly 86%, according to 2022 data from the State Department). Also, Obama is a practicing Christian and, as president, repeatedly urged religious coexistence and tolerance.
Not very Sharia law of him.
Conspiracy No. 5: The Clintons’ sexual Christmas decor
In the 1990s, there was a lot of money to be made in the world of conservatives by saying the craziest things possible about the Clintons (see the murder spree above). Enter disgruntled former FBI agent Gary Aldrich.
In his 1996 book, “Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House,” Aldrich claimed that the team decorating the White House Christmas trees put up ornaments resembling “drug paraphernalia” and a gingerbread man ornament with a “cock ring.”
Keep in mind, these were the trees on display for White House visitors and media—highly photographed objects that are seen every Christmas season under both Democratic and Republican presidents.
Needless to say, reporters covering the White House said they saw no such display—but the people who always believed the Clintons were dastardly hippies destroying the White House (when they weren’t doing murder) bought the lie.
The right is predisposed to believing the worst, and conservative media sells it to them on a daily basis. No matter how easily debunked or how out there the conspiracy is, the right will believe it.
And they vote.
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Written by Oscar Willis, a member of Daily Kos staff. Cross-posted from Daily Kos.
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