(Frontpage) — Vladimir Putin’s hatred for Hillary Clinton is one of the foundational myths of the election rigging conspiracy theory. Why else would the Russians risk a war to rig an election?
The origin story of the myth has appeared in a thousand media narratives. It was born in a media echo chamber in late July 2016 from overlapping stories in Politico, NBC News and Time Magazine. The stories all claimed that the Russian leader hated Hillary Clinton because she questioned his election results.
“When mass protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin erupted in Moscow in December 2011, Putin made clear who he thought was really behind them: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. With the protesters accusing Putin of having rigged recent elections, the Russian leader pointed an angry finger at Clinton, who had issued a statement sharply critical of the voting results,” Politico informed readers.
