THE FACTS

This requires context.

President Trump’s complaints of unjust persecution are a matter of opinion — or, at the very least, a premature conclusion. But by quantifiable measures, the investigation of Russian election meddling to benefit Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign is not the longest, least fruitful or most harmful inquisition in American history.

The largest literal witch hunt in American history was, of course, the trials and persecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Salem, Mass., from 1692 to 1693, said Robert Thurston, a historian who wrote the book “The Witch Hunts.”

The Trump-Russia investigation led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, “is nothing like a real witch hunt,” Mr. Thurston said. “No, no, no. Twenty people were executed at Salem. Nobody’s been executed in Mueller. It’s all hot air.”

The Salem trials and witch hunts became popular metaphors for unjust political persecution in the 1930s, during industry purges in the Soviet Union and accusations of communism in the United States.