A rhetorical question is meant to make a statement or point, in the form of a question. But that is different from a question that is asked with the intent to cause doubt. For instance, a lot of conspiracy theories are communicated this way, by asking for instance "How can jet fuel melt steel beams?" or "Is the Covid vaccine safe?" Sometimes these are asked sincerely, sometimes they're asked rhetorically. But a lot of the time they are asked merely to plant a seed of doubt, and not necessarily to ask or assert anything--the questioner only wants to accomplish a kind of psychological manipulation. Basically causing the listener to subconsciously think "Well if they're asking the question, it must be because there is cause to have doubt." There is some kind of pragmatic context that the listener is meant to infer.
The broad phenomenon seems to currently be understood by the popular phrase "just asking questions". But I'm wondering if there is any more official linguistic name for this kind of expression.
