“... if Trump were to actually meet with Mueller it would be because he had devised a way to literally take Mueller down and bury him permanently.”
Take down yes, but not necessarily permanently.
It’s a strategy our high school wrestling coach taught us. You get 2 points for a takedown, 2 points for a reversal, a single point for an escape, and of course a pin ends the match.
There are substantial risks of attempting a pin on some opponents, because you expend a lot of energy and in order to gain leverage you need to momentarily put yourself off balance, exposing yourself to a reversal.
So, if you size up your opponent and figure you can take him down, but not pin him, what’s the best strategy? You score a takedown, let him go, rinse and repeat. We would build up insurmountable scores of say 12 to 6 by purposely releasing our opponents in order to score another takedown.
That is very likely what Trump is doing - Mueller’s case against Trump is weak, so in a one-on-one encounter, Trump could score a takedown, but Trump can’t risk firing (pinning) him without opening himself up to charges of obstruction.
So, in that situation (as with Schumer and many other opponents) Trump relishes the one-on-one encounters and skirmishes. He comes out a point ahead each time and thus racks up the points without risking trying to score a pin.
I've already heard some of the honest "on air" pundits saying, "Trump willing to testify under oath is going farther then Hillary ever went."
I'm with you.. I'll settle for TAKEDOWN POINTS.