Merrick Garland has dropped any pretext of the DOJ being anything other than the enforcement thugs of the Democrat party.  He is showing us the depth of his department's corruption and daring us to do something about it.  His hubris may be shortsighted.

Have you ever heard the Friedrich Nietzsche aphorism, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"?  Does Donald Trump look like a dying man — or one invigorated by the prospect of combat?  Have Joe Biden and Merrick Garland thought this indictment through?  Have they not learned that when attacked, Donald Trump emerges stronger?  Was turning Donald Trump into a martyr for the cause of freedom and justice their best idea to keep him away from power?

I've come to believe that many of God's blessings are not immediately recognized as the gifts they are.  I had a serious heart problem that went undiscovered until I caught COVID.  The disease didn't cause the problem, but it did reveal it — before it killed me.  My unpleasant dance with the bat-flu was a blessing that saved my life.

Has the persecution of Donald Trump been a blessing in disguise?  Has the last seven years of misery focused Trump — and us — on the work that lies ahead?  Was it not a curse, but necessary preparation?

Prior to his removal from office, President Trump did not understand the depth of government corruption.  He would have been unlikely to take serious steps to address it in a second term — had that second term arrived without an intervening four years of tribulation.

Trump thought the FBI had a James Comey problem.  So he fired Comey and appointed Christopher Wray.  He didn't see that the bureau's culture had been corrupted over decades of poor leadership.  Its motto of fidelity, bravery, and integrity had become a bad joke.  Another swamp creature was not going to fix that.

Trump thought the CDC and NIH were staffed with professionals dedicated to the welfare of Americans.  He accepted their advice during the pandemic.  Now we're learning that the COVID pandemic couldn't have happened without the research funding provided by Anthony Fauci and the NIH.  Further, our "public servants" used emergency pandemic protocols to hide the truth from us.

Trump thought the military was staffed by nonpartisan patriots.  He began to see its problems when Rear Adm. Collin Green defied his commander in chief's orders and Lt. Colonel Vindman triggered the first impeachment.  But Trump didn't understand that the corruption extended to his choice for chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley.  Milley initiated his own private foreign policy with the Chinese, without his president's knowledge.  If trespassing on Capitol grounds is insurrection, collaborating with the enemy to undermine the president is surely treason.

I could continue with the IRS, CIA, HHS, DHS, and so on.  You get the idea.

After two bogus impeachments and multiple criminal prosecutions, Donald Trump understands the problem.  More importantly, so do we.  Our government has been turned against us.

Perhaps the Biden administration was necessary for us to see that.  Would we have ever understood the depth of criminal justice corruption were it not for the blatantly obvious actions of Merrick Garland?  Did we need Joe Biden to teach us how fragile our founding principles are — that our gifts from God must be defended by us?  We have experienced dishonorable men who

• canceled our freedom of speech — calling it disinformation,
• attacked freedom of religion — for social distancing,
• sought to deny our right of self-defense — because something must be done about the violence,
• ignored our right to be free from unreasonable search — if we display anti-government icons like a Betsy Ross flag,
• undermined our parental rights — to protect the gender preferences of our children,
• canceled our property rights — because the wealth needs to be spread around a bit, and
• denied us justice — because unequal application of the law may be legal, but it is not justice.

Did Donald Trump need his time in the wilderness, suffering every possible persecution, to strengthen his resolve?  Has his time out of office focused him on the real fight that must happen — nothing less than the preservation of America as founded?

I'm a huge fan of Ron DeSantis and hope he becomes president someday.  But we need an encore election of President Trump in 2024.  It's important for America that the overthrow of a duly elected president fail.  That is what the Deep State has attempted to do — overthrow the elected Trump and deny him any return to office.  America is experiencing a multi-year coup, to deny us our choice of leadership.  But that coup fails when Trump returns to office.

After the coup fails, the punishment must commence.  Perhaps that's what James Comey was crying about to Jen Psaki when he said, "Well, think about what four years of a retribution presidency might look like."

I'm not just thinking about it.  I'm praying for it — retribution against the wrongdoers.  Holding those who would take our freedom from us accountable for their actions is essential to the republic's ongoing viability.

The best way to punish the traitors (not the January 6 ones, but the ones who worked to subvert the will of the voters) is to ensure that their target (Donald Trump) returns to office.  That event would signal the failure of their attempt to overthrow our government.  Would there be anyone better prepared to address the corruption than the man who suffered its attacks for eight years and survived — and won't ever run for election again?

During his next term in office, Trump needs to remember that the job is bigger than punishing wrongdoers and implementing "America first" policies.  He also needs to defend his legacy.  That's not about ensuring he looks good in the history books.  It's about making his accomplishments durable.

When Joe Biden ascended to the Oval Office, he summarily undid much of what Trump had accomplished — and did it in a shockingly short period of time.  Trump needs a successor, to keep the country moving in the right direction, until his accomplishments are stabilized — become American expectations.  Donald Trump needs to win the Republican nomination, and he needs to do it without destroying the party's bench — the next generation of small-government patriots.  He needs to leave his office in the hands of a successor who will continue to advance his achievements for another eight years.  Without that, a future President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will simply cancel his advances by executive order on day one, and Donald Trump will become a footnote in history.

I ask again: are the Trump tribulations a curse or a blessing?  Trump's polling and campaign funding are both up.  He is energized.  Our enemies are exposed in all their depravity.  Patriotic Americans are enraged about what has been done to our "shining city on the hill."

The pundits always claim that the next election will be the most important in our lives.  Has the Biden/Garland show convinced us that 2024 really will be?

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho.  He has written for American Thinker and American Free News Network.  He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.