#HackingHillary

Submission 17,072

Part of a series on Hillary Clinton. [View Related Entries]

About

#HackingHillary is a hashtag launched by critics of Hillary Clinton to mock her frequent coughing fits, which many have speculated are signs of the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate's failing health.

Origin

During a rally in Cleveland, Ohio held on September 5th, 2016, Clinton began coughing repeatedly while delivering a speech, during which she joked "Every time I think about Trump, I get allergic" (shown below, left). Later that day, the Fox 10 Phoenix news station posted footage of Clinton having a similar coughing fit while being interviewed on a plane (shown below, right).

Precursors

On February 16th, YouTuber Shelly Dankert uploaded a video montage featuring various clips of Clinton coughing (shown below).

On August 10th, Breitbart^[1] reported that the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons speculated that Clinton was unfit for office based on media circulating on the internet, in which the presidential candidate appears confused and makes "strange head movements." Additionally, Orient used the hashtag #hillaryhealth when expressing concerns that Clinton may be suffering from an "organic brain syndrome."

"There are some very concerning things on Twitter #hillaryhealth. For example, that she naps at 5 p.m. and can’t be aroused, or that her Mini-Mental State exam – which you use to screen patients who might have an organic brain syndrome – has deteriorated since 2013."

On August 26th, the Rebel Media YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Hillary's Heath," which questioned Clinton's health based on videos of her coughing and shaking her head erratically (shown below).

Spread

After the footage of Clinton's coughing fits began circulating on September 5th, 2016, the hashtag #HackingHillary^[2] became the top trending topic on Twitter in the United States, where many of her critics questioned the presidential candidate's health (shown below).

The following day, The American Mirror^[3] published an article highlighting earlier videos of Clinton coughing on camera. Also on September 6th, the #HackingHillary became a trending topic on Facebook. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the hashtag, including Mediaite,^[4] The Next Web^[5] and The Daily Dot.^[6]