Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential bid last Tuesday. Republicans then retook the House as key races were finally called, whereupon they immediately announced a probe of Joe Biden for corrupt influence-peddling schemes involving his son. Thus, Team Biden found the timing perfect for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint another special prosecutor to investigate Trump. Anything to keep the Bad Orange Man front and center.

Haven’t we seen this movie before?

Yes and no. Whereas Robert Mueller and his crack team of Democrat prosecutors exonerated Trump of the whole Hillary Clinton-fabricated Russian-collusion hoax, John L. “Jack” Smith, the man Garland has appointed as special prosecutor 2.0, may manage to pin something on the former president.

Smith is a registered independent and reportedly has no past connection with Garland prior to this appointment. Garland and the deep state machine will certainly try to make this look as above board as possible, but make no mistake — it’s every bit as political as House members going after a president of the opposite party, whether Trump or Biden. Smith will surely follow Mueller’s lead in building a team of Democrat sleuths to nail Trump, and he answers to Democrat Garland, who answers to Democrat Biden.

Garland is “a political activist with an axe to grind after his 2016 Supreme Court nomination was thwarted by the man he’s now pledged to prosecute to the ends of the Earth,” as political analyst Tristan Justice points out.

“Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said. “Such an appointment underscores the [Justice] Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”

It also underscores the Democrats’ overwhelming desire to run against Trump in 2024.

What will Smith be looking into? First, Trump kept a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, claiming to have declassified them and to have done nothing his predecessors hadn’t done. Second, Smith will take over “the ongoing investigation into whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021, as well as any matters that arose or might arise directly from this investigation.” Yep, it’s “January 6 Inquisition: The Sequel.”

There are other matters for which Trump is under investigation elsewhere, and it’s quite possible that Smith will become the clearinghouse for all things Get Trump.

Trump likely violated the Presidential Records Act, though penalties for doing so are minor. It’s also true that Trump was not an admirable character after the 2020 election, refusing to concede and even trying to coerce then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results based on incredibly dubious legal justification. Trump did not “incite an insurrection” — the idea that animated the Democrats’ second impeachment is preposterous. Neither, however, did he comport himself as a president should.

But what’s a special prosecutor going to do about that? And whose mind will change? Nothing and no one, especially given that Democrats will want this to drag out for, oh, about another two years.

Predictably, Trump says he “won’t partake” in what he calls “the worst politicization of justice in our country.” He has indeed been “proven innocent for six years on everything,” and this latest probe is just as “unfair” and “political.” That’s how Democrats roll.

“Hunter Biden is a criminal many times over and nothing happens to him,” Trump said. “Joe Biden is a criminal many times over — and nothing happens to them.” Once again, he’s right. Yet Garland will never appoint a special prosecutor to look into the current president of the United States, who is almost certainly compromised not just mentally but financially and otherwise, thanks to the dealings of his son in which he was a participant.

Is it too much to ask that America have a president who isn’t and/or shouldn’t be under investigation for criminal activity? We’re a nation of 330 million people. Surely we can do better than Clinton, Trump, and Biden.