Infowars.com, operated by Alex Jones, sometimes dubbed “Trump’s Favorite Conspiracist,” has been the source of countless conspiracy theories since he began his career in the 1990s. With articles and podcasts discussing conspiracy theories as diverse as mind-controlling fluoridated tap water, the documented existence of three-foot-tall saucer flying aliens and political subliminal messages infiltrating our televisions, Infowars has recently been a never-ending contributor to the thousands of conspiracy theories circulating the current presidential election. Most recently are the conspiracies surrounding Hillary Clinton’s health.
In an Infowars article from August, a writer suggests that Clinton’s campaigners “know something is seriously wrong with Hillary and that the pressure to have her health independently assessed is building.” They are talking about the recent videos and reports regarding Clinton’s health, which have been eaten up by conservative media which portrays it as proof of her “failing health.”
In December 2012, Clinton’s physician Dr. Lisa Bardack, MD, Chair of Internal Medicine at CareMount Medical, released a statement confirming Clinton had suffered a concussion due to fainting from dehydration. This sparked the conspiracy theories, later inspiring an unknown Twitter user to release a series of fake medical records in February of 2014. The documents contained a diagnosis of Complex Partial Seizures and early onset Subcortical Vascular Dementia. The user also shared a photo of what was said to be a magnetic resonance angiogram of an abnormality in Clinton’s brain tissue. However, these documents incorrectly titled Dr. Bardack in the letterheads and the Twitter account was soon deleted.
The aftermath of these fake documents were enough to propel Clinton opponents to continue the conspiracies. In August, Sean Hannity aired a segment surrounding the video that surfaced earlier this year of Clinton speaking to supporters at an event. Hannity says, in regards to the movement of her head, “it almost seems seizure-esque to me.” He then consults two doctors, neurologist Dr. Fiona Gupta and Fox News Medical Contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, both of whom dispute Hannity’s claims, concluding that the video does not exclusively rule in a seizure as a possibility.
In an attempt to put all the speculation to rest, Dr. Bardack, who has served as Clinton’s physician since 2001, released an official statement in September as a follow-up to her 2015 statement. The document states that Clinton had been seen by Dr. Bardack consistently throughout the year to treat sinusitis, ear infections, and to improve the dosages of her current medications. Dr. Bardack then described her most recent visit on September 2nd, explaining that Clinton has been experiencing symptoms related to seasonal allergies and later suffered from pneumonia, causing her to leave a 9/11 Memorial event early. Dr. Bardack concludes her statement by explaining that “she continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States.”