There is a reason the art of war tells you to leave your enemy an escape. So they fight less intensely.

I think there was a reasonable chance after Trump lost the last election, if he was allowed to go fallow in the field peacefully, he probably would have.

However, the absolute avalanche of litigation, and prosecutions against Trump basically compelled him to run for president as the only way to get a respite or peace. I honestly thought Biden was going to pardon Trump for all possible crimes, just to let things settle down. it was petty that he didn’t, letting a lot of prosecutors build their names by taking a bite out of Trump. Who, quite frankly, doesn’t have his shit together, can’t keep his mouth shut, always involved in comically bad low level fraud, and is an easy target.

Therefore, Trump had to run, had to win. Put 100% of his future into it, because that was his only escape.