It is odd but nowadays even inquiries into possible crimes give evidence of the wide reach of the mess of information in (dis)information society.
The Mueller investigation is not specifically a “witch hunt” into Donald Trump as should be clear by its terms of reference.
The Mueller investigation was appointed to:
“investigate Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential Election, and related matters”
This does include “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” (because evidence suggests that the Russians aided the Trump campaign).
The Special Counsel is also “authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters”
You will note that there is no special mention of Donald Trump, or ‘collusion’, as a subject of interest – despite Trump’s assertions to the contrary, and despite Trump’s evident attempts to stop the investigation and slur the investigators.
The investigation is primarily into “Russian interference,” which seems absolutely real. Consequently, it is of no concern if Trump and his campaign is not implicated at all. In fact it is perfectly acceptable, as long as Mueller finds something out about Russian techniques of interference and helps the US protect itself from such interference.
So we can only speculate as to why Trump has made it about him and about ‘collusion’ (he could easily distance himself from the investigation). Possible answers include:
We know people in his campaign were involved in soliciting information and aid from Russia and they lied about it. There is no doubt of this – the Trump tower meeting for one. We also know the Russians interfered with the campaign. While many Republicans take the view that this interference is unimportant, it still needs to be investigated, and they would probably favour investigation if there was evidence that Russians aided Democrats.
Trump’s behavior is evidence suggesting the corruption reaches to the top… or it suggests a deliberate ploy to make it about him, so as to help his followers see Mueller as hostile to their own interests. In this case portraying Mueller’s job as attacking Trump, shifts us into social category rhetoric. Mueller becomes an exemplar of an outgroup, attacking the exemplar of an ingroup, and is therefore less persuasive to ingroup members, who can dismiss anything he finds immediately without listening to it….
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