Americans waking up to check Twitter were greeted with the trending hashtag “#ClintonBodyCount.” Referencing a long-running conservative conspiracy theory, its re-emergence has of course been blamed on ‘Russian bots.’

The hashtag is familiar to anyone immersed in the murkier ends of American right-wing culture: think late night talk radio and dog-eared copies of ‘None Dare Call it Conspiracy’ passed around backwoods militia meetings.

Coined by writer and conspiracy theorist Danny Casolaro in the late 1980s, the phrase has since been used by conservatives to link the mysterious deaths of people in some way connected to Bill and Hillary Clinton, like the 1993 suicide of White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster, and the fatal armed robbery of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich in 2016.

Also on rt.com Jeffrey Epstein found ‘injured & semiconscious’ with suspicious marks on neck in jail cell

Adding to the mystery, Casolaro himself committed suicide in 1991, while working on a story supposedly involving an international cabal.

The hashtag broke into the mainstream on Thursday, trending at number three in the US. Its emergence came after millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was found“injured and in a fetal position” on the floor of his New York jail cell just hours before. An associate of Bill Clinton, Epstein is currently facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking, with some of his alleged victims as young as 14.

Twitter sleuths joined the dots:

When #ClintonBodyCount is trending on Twitter as a reaction to the story that Epstein "attempted suicide" you know people are hip to the game. They need him gone at all costs. 😱 pic.twitter.com/uFKsLk3EFu — BlondeAnon (@miss_jordon) July 25, 2019

ANYONE denying the concrete connection, between Epstein and the Clintons, better look at themselves in the mirror and ask:Am I really defending a criminal family who has been testified against by victims of sexual assault? #ClintonBodyCount — Antonio Villanueva (@tangentsreveal) July 25, 2019

I also believe that someone tried to murder Epstein. He needs to be under high security for his safety, and do bad people will finally be punished. #ClintonBodyCount — Mary Elizabeth (@MaryElizabeth73) July 25, 2019

To some, the hashtag had nothing to do with a decades-old right-wing horror story. To an army of establishment bugmen, its sudden reappearance was the work of, surprise, surprise – “Russian bots.” The Democrat version of the conspiracy theory goes that Russian President Vladimir Putin was so incensed by the knockout testimony given by former special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday that he cranked up the output of his “troll farms” and swamped Twitter with the hashtag as a distraction.

Russia didn't wait long to prove Mueller 100% correct about Putin interfering in our politics today with the #ClintonBodyCount trending hashtag. — Grant Stern (@grantstern) July 25, 2019

#ClintonBodyCount and #MuellerHearingDisaster are trending right now. The Russian bots are out in full force.They would be a great day for @realDonaldTrump to resign. — David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) July 25, 2019

Troll farms earning their living already & it's only 4 a.m. #Clintons#ClintonBodyCountFix your fucking trash app @Jack — Kno (@Kno) July 25, 2019

Except the hole in that theory is that no amount of sneaky Russian meddling is needed to distract from Mueller’s testimony. Stammering through answers, seemingly forgetting key details from his report, and declining to answer any questions outside its scope, Mueller did a pretty good job deflating the expectations of Democrats hoping for some new ‘Russiagate’ revelations.

With the left and the right fighting an infowar forcontrol of the hashtag, one commenter summed up the state of the debate. “#ClintonBodyCount is trending… Watch for people trying extra hard to convince you they know things they don’t today.”

#ClintonBodyCount (decades-old conspiracy theory) is trending. Apparently sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was injured in jail on Tuesday. Watch for people trying extra hard to convince you they know things they don't today. — David Emery (@debunker) July 25, 2019

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