Many of the barbs directed at Clinton revolve around her husband's well-publicised sexual transgressions in the s and 90s. Last year, Trump himself retweeted the comment, "If Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?
But some critics focus on her alleged role in the scandal, as a co-ordinator of attempts to keep the women involved quiet and to blacken their character. This attack and others like it show a determination to cast Clinton as a "co-perpetrator" in her husband's wrongdoings, says columnist and author Michelle Goldberg.
In the decades that the Clintons have been in the public eye, US politics has become increasingly polarised - a process partly fuelled by the proliferation of radical voices on talk radio and the internet.
The election of Barack Obama - the first black president, and one of the most liberal for decades - also proved to be a red rag to some, including D'Souza. In one of a series of controversial books and films, the man described in the liberal media as "America's premiere conservative troll" argues that the president wants America to be "downsized" as punishment for the "sins of colonialism".
In his latest film - alluding to the Clintons' ability to turn political success to financial advantage - he goes so far as to accuse Clinton of being a gangster who plans to "steal America".
But Donald Trump himself has also done much to put about conspiracy theories regarded by many commentators as devices to whip up hostility towards Obama and Clinton. He began his journey to the Republican nomination by reviving the long-debunked "birther" claim that Obama was not born in the US and is therefore ineligible to be president, only to disavow it last month.
He has warned the November election could be "rigged" in Clinton's favour, and alleged that Clinton and Obama were co-founders of the so-called Islamic State group. Obama, he has long suggested, is Muslim, and in Sunday's debate he referred to Clinton, not for the first time, as "the devil".
According to Alexander Zaitchik, author of Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America, Trump's candidacy has made conspiracy theories "shockingly accepted" among people who believe mainstream politics has failed. Of all the Hillary haters, one of the most vitriolic is Texan radio host and Trump supporter Alex Jones, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America". In a shouty performance on the BBC's Sunday Politics in he reduced host Andrew Neil to twirling a finger around his temple, saying, "We have an idiot on the show today.
During the same show, Jones played a video comparing the former first lady's laugh to a hyena. Posted on the internet by a comedy network, the video had been taken down after complaints. But if some found it entertaining, Goldberg says mockery of Clinton's appearance and her laugh represent "misogyny at its most elemental".
Kenneth Starr's vast investigations into the Whitewater land transaction had stalled, with several prospective witnesses being uncooperative. Starr thought the White House was involved in efforts to buy silence. When a disgruntled White House employee, Linda Tripp, approached Starr's investigators with evidence of the President's hidden relationship with Lewinsky, Starr believed he saw the pattern being repeated once again: Lewinsky was protecting Clinton because she was being bought off with promises of employment.
Thus Starr expanded the investigations to include not just the President's financial affairs but also his sexual behavior. Starr's investigators questioned Clinton under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky. This testimony—and subsequent efforts by the White House to deal with Lewinsky-related evidence, which bore some signs of tampering—formed the basis for Starr's subsequent charge of illegal conduct by Clinton and were thus at the core of Clinton's impeachment.
Starr was convinced that Clinton had lied in trying to cover up the affair, and that he had instructed others to obstruct justice by lying on his behalf.
To many observers, impeachment or resignation seemed to be the only resolution. The next seven months found the American public consumed by the Lewinsky affair, following every nuance of the investigation by Starr and debating the merits of the case.
Nothing like this had so captured the attention of the American public since Watergate and Nixon's resignation from office. Startling revelations came out, including taped interviews in which Lewinsky described details of the affair as well as a dress that contained samples of the President's DNA.
On August 17, , following his testimony before a federal grand jury on the matter, Clinton acknowledged in a televised address to the nation his "inappropriate" conduct with Lewinsky and admitted that he had misled the nation and embarrassed his family. But he did not admit to having lied, having instructed anyone else to lie, or orchestrating a cover-up involving anyone else.
Starr then sent his report to the House of Representatives alleging that there were grounds for impeaching Clinton for lying under oath, obstruction of justice, abuse of powers, and other offenses. After a vitriolic series of televised House hearings and the release of thousands of documents—many in graphic detail—the House Judiciary Committee, on a strictly partisan vote, recommended that an impeachment inquiry commence.
The House adopted two articles of impeachment, charging the President with perjury in his grand jury testimony and obstructing justice in his dealings with various potential witnesses. The Senate, charged under the Constitution with judging the evidence, opened its trial in mid-January Read More. Clinton, herself, has acknowledged this fact. When I'm secretary of state, I have [a] 66 percent approval rating.
And then I seek a job, I run for a job, and all of the discredited negativity comes out again, and all of these arguments and attacks start up. So, what explains the fact that Clinton's numbers haven't improved since the end of the race -- and, in fact, have dipped further downward? Like with all poll findings, it's impossible to pinpoint a single reason that explains it.
But, here are 4 theories that might explain Clinton's poll problems. The race has never really ended. On Monday, President Trump saw fit to mention his victory while laying out his national security strategy for the country. Trump talks about his "electoral landslide" on an, at least, weekly basis -- ensuring that people never forget about what all sides agree was an incredibly nasty campaign.
It's a living, breathing example of William Faulkner's famous line: " The past isn't dead. It isn't even past. Clinton isn't sorry. The publicity tour around Clinton's memoir of the campaign -- "What Happened? But, it's wasn't entirely or even close to entirely my fault. Time and again this year, Clinton made the point that if not for then FBI director James Comey's decision to re-open the investigation into her private email server a little more than a week before the election, she would have won.
Ditto for Russia's attempted meddling in the election. The American public tends to like their losers to acknowledge their role in the loss.
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