ELECTION/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “News that special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has put President Donald Trump in his favorite position as he heads into his 2020 re-election campaign: the victim, fighting against an establishment that has tried to take him down…It’s unusual for a president to run for re-election against a Washington establishment that he purportedly leads. And it is striking for one to be so willing to keep the focus on a wide-ranging investigation that led to criminal convictions against his former campaign manager, national security adviser and personal lawyer, among others, and that still could turn up more damaging information when additional details are released. But for Trump and his allies, the report — which they and the public have yet to see — is nonetheless being wielded as a rallying cry for the supporters they need to return to the polls in November 2020 and as a weapon against Democrats and the media, whom they accuse of driving a false narrative in order to delegitimize Trump’s presidency.”
–Associated Press, “Mueller Inquiry Over, Trump Plays Favorite Role: The Victim,” The New York Times online, March 26, 2019