The conspiracy theory involving a creepy Donald Trump animatronic at Walt Disney World explained — and why people are talking about it once again

• In 2017, Walt Disney World unveiled an animatronic of then-President Donald Trump.
• People online said they believed the robot was initially built as Hillary Clinton.

The internet was a fascinating place in 2017: "La La Land" became a cultural touchstone (mostly for the infamous Oscars gaffe), the first human embryo had been genetically edited with CRISPR, and Walt Disney World in Orlando unveiled the animatronic of former President Donald Trump, a year into his controversial presidency, for their Hall of Presidents attraction.

At the time, people described the figure as "horrifying" and "nightmare fuel," but some took it a step further, saying there was no way it could ever accurately look like Trump because the frame holding the animatronic's skin in place was built for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Because Clinton was favored to win, according to polling at the time, the theory goes that Disney simply refashioned the robot after Trump's victory, according to posts on Reddit and Twitter. Conspiracy theorists mainly pointed to fake Donald's smaller, rounder head and wider eyes compared to the non-robotic Trump's features.

Walt Disney World eventually updated the animatronic to look more like Trump in 2021, but journalist and former host of the Reply All podcast Alex Goldman reignited the conversation last week on Twitter — and may have gotten an answer in the process.

"The conspiracy theory I believe with all my heart is that Disney made a Hillary animatronic for the Hall of Presidents fully expecting her to win and then hastily modified it to look like Trump when she lost," Goldman said in a now-deleted tweet viewed by Insider.

Goldman told Insider he doesn't remember exactly why the thought of Trump's animatronic came back to him years later, but said that it remains his favorite conspiracy theory.

"If you look at the image, it touches something really primal. It's like very uncomfortable to look at. It just looks wrong in a way that doesn't make any sense to my brain," Goldman told Insider. "But then, of course, once someone says, 'oh, it's because it's actually Hillary,' it resolves right away."

Goldman said the appeal of the Clinton-Trump animatronic conspiracy lies partially in its harmlessness but also its humor.

"There's something about the hubris of a huge corporation like Disney feeling certain that Hillary is gonna win the election, that they probably spent tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, on a very expensive piece of technology, and then were sort of caught with their pants down — I always find that sort of like back room intrigue very fascinating."

Goldman posted on his Substack, The Cool Dude Zone, on Wednesday saying he had gotten in contact with someone claiming to be a former Imagineer who confirmed the conspiracy theory was true.

"Everyone was positive that Hillary was going to win so much so that they created her animatronic, then they got caught with their pants down when Trump won," the alleged Imagineer told Goldman on his Substack. "It can take months if not years to design a new animatronic. I remember seeing the facial designs for the Hillary animatronic at least six months before the election and an intern asked the 3D artist what would happen if Trump won, and he laughed and just said, 'Then, we're screwed.'"

The anonymous Imagineer also told Goldman that Ellen DeGeneres animatronics used in a '90s attraction at Epcot, known as Ellen's Energy Adventure, were repurposed for other park attractions.

Goldman clarified to Insider that the person he spoke to may not have been who they said they were (although he went to lengths to check their identity online, including verifying their name and social media presence). He also said he's been contacted by people who say they don't believe the story adds up but believes they don't have a compelling case.

One person, Goldman said, claimed that the Imagineer who came forward with this information referred to the name of the Ellen DeGeneres attraction in a way that other Imagineers would not. Another believed that if Disney were to have created a Clinton robot, they would have had the former Secretary of State sit in for a 3D scan of her face, and surely those would have leaked by now — although there isn't reliable information available as to whether or not presidents even go through such a process, he said.

"I don't know that it's gonna go much further, but oh, man wouldn't it be wonderful for someone to go like, 'Oh, and by the way, we repurposed Hillary's head and now it's part of one of the Star Wars rides' or 'it's in Pirates of the Caribbean' or something. I would love for that stuff to come out. I don't imagine that there's much more that people are willing to tell, but who knows," Goldman told Insider.

Walt Disney World and Disney Imagineers did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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