The midterm elections did not go well for Donald Trump as several of the candidates he backed went down in flames. But the former president is tone-deaf to this and despite the fact that Republicans are increasingly asking him not to run for president in 2024, he’s ignoring this. Tuesday evening he announced his 2024 bid for the presidency.

As Newsweek notes, now that Trump has announced a presidential bid, which he’s been hinting at for ages, many speculate he’s using this as a way to potentially stave off prosecution due to the spate of investigations mounting against him.

“His hope had purportedly been to ride a wave of midterm GOP success into the announcement, but with the Democrats posting historically strong results over the last week, Trump’s future as a Republican figurehead and his 2024 candidacy have been cast into doubt,” Newsweek reports.

The Daily Beast also published a report Sunday that included interviews with numerous current and former attorneys and other experienced legal eagles. Most say that if he’s trying to avoid criminal prosecution by running again, he’s barking up the wrong tree. The lineup of investigations against him is too far along. Plus, reports indicate that Attorney General Merrick Garland may indict Trump after the midterms, in an obvious effort to keep from swaying voter opinions. Hopefully, he’ll act before the 2024 election cycle gets underway.

One of the experts the Daily Beast interviewed, retired attorney and noted conservative Eric Owens said the former president’s situation is even worse than he may think because Republicans now have a possible motive to see him convicted and removed from the political stratosphere.

“I do think Trump believes he can avoid prosecution by running for president and causing delays,” Owens said. “That’s another Trump strategy: Delay and run out the clock. But many Republicans simply have a selfish and practical interest in seeing Trump prosecuted and convicted  — for anything, really. They want him out of their way either for their ambition or because he is clearly dragging the party down with bad candidates.”

The GOP’s much-anticipated “red wave” during the midterms fizzled out as the Democrats held fast and possibly strengthened their hold in the Senate and as control of the House goes down to the wire (per Newsweek.) This has led many Republicans to blame Trump’s virulent toxicity for the devastating outcome since so many of the candidates he backed failed to win office.

Now that Trump has announced his presidential intentions, this could turn out to be good news for Georgia Democrats (especially Sen. Raphael Warnock), Newsweek reports.

“With the Georgia Senate race set for a December 6 run-off, pundits in both parties predict that Trump’s presence and influence could once again sway the race to the Democrats, as it is believed to have done early last year.”

It’s good to know that Trump could still face criminal prosecution. That said, I wish Attorney General Merrick Garland would get going on this. I have to wonder how much more evidence he needs.