Trump Tweets ‘Witch Hunt’ Has ‘Destroyed Young Lives’

On Sunday morning President Donald Trump continued his unprecedented and alarming attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, tweeting that the investigation has “destroyed” and “devastated” lives.

“Who’s going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt?” Trump wrote in an early morning post on Twitter.

“They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation…They went back home in tatters!” 

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This morning’s tweet is a continuation of his ranting yesterday as he is going to new lengths to try to discredit the FBI, the Department of Justice and the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.  While yesterday he said that the Russia probe is rigged against him and is being secretly run by Democrats, today he tried a different tack.

Although, as usual, Trump’s tweet didn’t make logical sense, it appeared that he was appealing to the sympathies of his readers.  He didn’t say what he meant, exactly, by referring to “young and beautiful lives (and others).” Who is he talking about?  And what does he mean by “others?” Who has gone home in “tatters?”

There will be a lot of speculation about this tweet.  It almost seems like he has knowledge of something that has not been made public.  Does he know something we don’t know about new targets of the Mueller probe?

For example, one “young and beautiful” person who followed Trump to Washington, perhaps with stars in her eyes, was former model Hope Hicks who became White House Communications Director despite her lack of experience.  Under controversial circumstances, Hicks resigned her post last winter and returned to New York City.  We haven’t heard about her for several months but perhaps she is now back on Mueller’s radar.

Hicks, like many others in Trump’s orbit, could be both a Mueller witness and possible target of criminal investigations.  And, like many others, she may be pressured to make a deal to cooperate with Mueller in exchange for lenient treatment for herself.  If faced with many years in jail she might be convinced to testify against her former boss, and it is widely thought that she knows a great deal about what happened in Trump’s White House.

Other “young and beautiful” people whose lives may be in “tatters” due to Mueller would include Trump’s children, Ivanka and Donald Jr..  Certainly if they were to be indicted on criminal charges Trump would flip out, and perhaps he knows this will happen and he has already flipped out.

As always with Donald Trump’s presidential reality show we’ll just have to stay tuned to see what happens next.  But there is no doubt that this morning’s tweet is very revealing.  For the first time he actually seems to be concerned about people other than just himself.  And for Donald Trump that is a big step.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.