I find President Trump's tweet on the FBI's "phony and dishonest Clinton investigation," as described in the Dec. 25 front-page article "Mueller criticism grows to a clamor," to be a symptom of the increasing denigration of government. For more than 200 years, we have been proud to be a democratic republic. Proud of our Constitution, which sets the framework under which we are all entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Proud that our voice as a people elects our president and our Congress. Proud that those we elect reflect our range of views. Proud that they serve our interests as individuals and collectively through consensus policies reached through compromise. And proud that over the years these policies have produced the best- ­ functioning government in history.

But now our president and too many of our members of Congress seem to have forgotten that they are sources of pride and instead denigrate not only many of their fellow elected members of government but also the institutions of government and even the career people of government. Our greatness has been our confidence in government of the people, by the people, for the people. We as citizens must now rise to remind those we elect to bring honor to our vote and restore confidence in our government and our country.

To make America great again, we must remember what made it great before, and it was not the denigration of differences but the building of consensus.

Patrick V. McGregor, Millersville

I have not read of a single instance in which special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or his team subverted the rule of law in pursuing their investigation into vital matters. The clamor does not include even a scintilla of evidence of a "conspiracy" to undermine the Trump administration. In fact, I would argue that agitprop snipers desperate to pick Mr. Mueller off are the real conspirators, particularly because they are not playing by the rules of decency.

How much this tactic echoes the terrible past of World War II, when those who violated the rule of law accused the opposition of any and all crimes. Mr. Mueller's prosecution is not made up out of whole cloth. His systematic digging for facts does nothing but honor the rule of law.

If he goes, protests will be well and good, but the rent in the fabric of our democracy will leave us all vulnerable to the march of events.

Robert E. Honig, Potomac

I continue to read with amazement about the growing number of supposedly smart people who believe special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is on some kind of witch hunt.

The Dec. 25 front-page article "Mueller criticism grows to a clamor" noted that Tom Fitton and the conspiracy theorists at Judicial Watch are driving the bandwagon.

I spent 27 years as a special agent of the FBI and worked with agent Peter Strzok and for Mr. Mueller, both of whom I would trust with my life. We all have political opinions, but political opinions do not prevent FBI agents from doing their jobs.

Jay C. Manning, Centreville

Regarding the Dec. 27 news article "Trump, on vacation, criticizes FBI in tweet before hitting links":

It appears incontrovertible that Russia conducted information operations to influence or discredit our 2016 election results. We need to know how Russia did it and who (if anyone) provided assistance. It now appears very clear that someone (or some organization) fears the facts enough to try to pervert the special counsel's investigation. We need to know who and why.

Facts have no motives; they just exist, artifacts of human activity. Why would any American (and in particular our elected representatives, who have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution) not want to know who, if anyone, helped the Russians to interfere with our "sovereign" elections? The stakes could not be higher. Let's get to the bottom of this and sort it out after we have the facts.

Tom Baxter, Columbia

Let me see if I have this right. If you are a Black Lives Matter activist or supporter, you are anti- ­police, anti-American and a threat to the nation. But if you are a conservative and obsequious supporter of President Trump, you have every right to attack the premier law enforcement agency in the United States, if not the world, and you are just a true-blue, red-blooded American.

Did I miss something?

Dexter A. Cashwell, Harpers Ferry, W.Va.