You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. For over thirty years, the same word has been lobbed at one of the most recognizable women on the planet.
Evil.
It’s a heavy word. Most politicians get called "liars" or "flip-floppers." That’s standard fare in the DC swamp. But with Hillary Clinton, the vitriol is often visceral, bordering on the supernatural. In a 2016 YouGov poll, a staggering 83% of Donald Trump’s supporters used the word "evil" to describe her. Not "unqualified." Not "mistaken." Evil.
Why?
Does she actually have a body count hidden in a basement, or is she just the victim of the most effective, decades-long branding campaign in political history? Honestly, the answer depends entirely on which rabbit hole you decide to fall down. If we're being real, looking at her career is like looking at a Rorschach test. Some see a tireless advocate for women’s rights; others see a Machiavellian power-seeker who’d sell her soul for a polling bump.
The "Body Count" and the Architecture of a Conspiracy
Let's address the elephant in the room first. You can't talk about whether Hillary Clinton is evil without talking about the "Clinton Body Count."
This is the stuff of internet legend. Names like Vince Foster, the White House lawyer who committed suicide in 1993, are always at the top of the list. Then there's the more recent "Frazzledrip" nonsense—a conspiracy so dark it involves ritualistic murders that never actually happened.
Here’s the thing: investigators, many of whom were Republicans looking for any excuse to nail the Clintons, looked into these deaths. Multiple times. Robert Fiske and later Kenneth Starr investigated Vince Foster’s death. They concluded it was a suicide. But in the world of political mythology, facts often take a backseat to a good story.
The "evil" label sticks because it’s a convenient bucket for every grievance. If you didn't like her healthcare plan in the 90s (the infamous "Hillarycare"), or if you hated her "basket of deplorables" comment in 2016, calling her evil makes the opposition feel moral rather than just political.
The Real Controversies (No, Not the Vampires)
Stripping away the "blood ritual" memes, there are plenty of real things that make people uneasy. These aren't conspiracies; they're documented history.
- The Email Server: This wasn't just a "tech oopsie." Setting up a private server in a Chappaqua basement while serving as Secretary of State was, at best, incredibly arrogant. It bypassed transparency laws and, as then-FBI Director James Comey put it, was "extremely careless" with classified info.
- The Wall Street Speeches: It’s hard to play the "champion of the middle class" when you're pulling in $225,000 for a single speech to Goldman Sachs. This fed the "evil" narrative not through malice, but through a perceived lack of soul. To many, it felt like she was part of a global elite that viewed regular people as mere data points.
- Libya and the "Hawk" Persona: Clinton has often been more interventionist than even some of her Republican colleagues. Her push for the 2011 military intervention in Libya left the country in a state of chaos that persists even now. To some, that’s not just bad policy—it’s a moral failure.
Why the Hate is So Personal
Why does she grate on people so much? Conservative consultant Craig Shirley once noted that she has a habit of "talking down to people" with a specific smirk. It sounds trivial, doesn't it? But in politics, tone is everything.
There's a fascinating pattern in her approval ratings. When she’s doing a job—whether it’s being a Senator from New York or the Secretary of State—her numbers are actually pretty high. In 2011, she was one of the most popular figures in the country, with a 66% favorability rating.
But the moment she starts asking for a job (running for President), those numbers crater.
This suggests the "evil" label isn't about what she does, but what she represents: ambition. For a generation of voters, a woman who was that openly ambitious, that calculated, and that unwilling to stay in the "traditional first lady" lane (remember the "I could have stayed home and baked cookies" comment?) was inherently suspicious.
The Gender Double Bind
We have to talk about the "Bitch" vs. "Witch" dynamic. If a male politician is calculated and cold, we call him "presidential" or "strategic." Think of Nixon or even LBJ. They were notoriously tough, often mean, and deeply secretive.
When Hillary showed those same traits, she wasn't seen as a leader. She was seen as "unnatural."
Political science professors like Kathleen Hall Jamieson have pointed out this "double bind." If Hillary was too soft, she was "weak." If she was too tough, she was "evil." There was no middle ground where she could just be a person.
The "Crooked Hillary" Branding
Donald Trump didn't invent the dislike of Hillary Clinton, but he perfected the marketing of it. By using the nickname "Crooked Hillary," he tapped into thirty years of "scandal fatigue."
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Think about it. Since 1992, the public has been bombarded with:
- Whitewater (the failed land deal).
- Travelgate (firing White House travel office employees).
- The Lewinsky Scandal (where she was ironically criticized for staying with her husband).
- Benghazi.
By the time 2016 rolled around, even people who didn't believe the specific conspiracies felt like where there's that much smoke, there must be a fire. The "evil" narrative became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Is There a "Middle Path" for Understanding?
Is she evil? Probably not in the way the memes suggest. There's no evidence of a secret cabal or a trail of bodies.
Is she a deeply flawed politician who operated within a system of "pay-to-play" and made massive errors in judgment for the sake of power? Most objective historians would say yes.
The "evil" tag is a shortcut. It saves people from having to engage with the actual, boring complexities of policy or the messy reality of how power is maintained in Washington.
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What You Can Actually Do to Cut Through the Noise
If you want to move past the "good vs. evil" binary, here's how to look at the legacy of Hillary Clinton—or any polarizing figure:
- Audit the Source: When you see a "breaking" story about a new Clinton scandal, check if it’s coming from a primary source (like a court filing or a declassified memo) or a site with a history of "pure bunk" misinformation.
- Look at the "Doing vs. Running" Gap: Compare her legislative record with her campaign rhetoric. Usually, the "evil" version of a politician lives in the campaign ads, while the "boring" version lives in the Senate transcripts.
- Acknowledge the Polarization: Recognize that for many, hating Hillary became a part of their identity. It’s "negative partisanship"—the idea that your side is good because the other side is "evil."
Understanding the "Is Hillary Clinton evil?" question requires looking at the person behind the decades of lacquer. She is a woman who spent forty years in the most intense spotlight imaginable, making mistakes, winning battles, and becoming a symbol for everything people love and loathe about American power.
Instead of chasing ghosts, look at the legislation she supported, the foreign policy she enacted, and the way the political machine actually functions. That’s usually where the real truth hides.
To get a clearer picture of how public perception is shaped, you might want to look into the history of the "Arkansas Project," a well-funded effort in the 90s specifically designed to find (or create) dirt on the Clintons. It’s a masterclass in how modern political narratives are built.