Why the raid? Simple. It was a game of chicken, and the gov called his bluff

Trump and the gov had been going back and forth for over a year. Trump returned a bunch of documents, but the gov new some were missing. They have been patiently trying to get them back. But. this is who Trump is. He's the kind of guy who will push until he says, "No. What are you going to do about it? You going to call the FBI? I"m the former President." Trump knows if they call the FBI, he's going to holler 'victim' 'nazi' "decline of America" blah blah blah, there will be considerable blowback from the right, all over the place and the gov knows this and he knows they know it, so that's why he does it. He does whatever he thinks he can get away with. He doesn't think the gov has the guts to stand up to him. Why? Because he's been getting away with crap all of his life.

That's what bullies do. He actually thinks he is above the law. Hell, if I had been getting away with all that Trump has gotten away with, maybe I'd be that way, too. No, actually, I wouldn't. I learned years ago, 1. Never lie to the government, 2. never play chicken with the government.

IN short, he played chicken with the government, and the government called his bluff.

That's all it was. In this circumstance, what good would a subpoena do? Trump defied them in the past and got away with it. No way would that work, here. No, an FBI search warrant signed by a federal magistrate, that's the solution. That is the only solution, in this circumstance, and know that there is evidence the FBI believes is at Mar-A-Lago and that evidence are documents of national security importance Trump is withholding. There is no way in hell the gov would have gone to this length if this wasn't true, nor would a federal magistrate signed a warrant and if the FBI didn't have above and beyond probable cause is this wasn't true.

Garland, Wray, and the magistrate these are not stupid people, they know what the blowback will be, but they obviously reasoned that it would far more damaging, potentially, to the country if they didn't send in the FBI than if they did. So y'all can climb down from your high horses and lofty perches and curb the pontificating. At least wait until all the facts are in. And no whataboutisms, you know, 'hillary' 'obama' 'holder' blah blah blah. It doesn't negate the current situation and the facts thereon. No one on the left, by many orders of magnitude, is the kind of lawless bully that Trump is.

And now the right is playing what Trump thinks is a hand, they are calling "Nazi, out to get him, defund the FBI, America is in decline, thugs" blah blah blah. Let them. Why? Because Garland is on the right side of the issue, and in time, the truth will prevail. Garland, who I, and many on the left, criticized, I now see, very clearly, his patience is just what is needed, he is the right man at the right time in history, for the job. Steady, A-political, firm in his conviction, he knows what is right, what is wrong, and he knows what 'the right side of history' means. He is the essence of gravitas. I think Biden's choosing Garland for the job was a brilliant move.

Trump would never be smart enough to have appointed a guy like Garland, a centrist, instead, he chose Barr, a right wing hack, who gets it right at times, but gets it wrong too many times. Trump thought Barr would do his bidding, well, he did, for quite a spell, but, that last month, when Trump was shouting 'Dems rigged the election', that was, for Barr, the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. At least Barr got that one right.

And the sad truth is, excluding the Lincoln repubs, on the whole, the right can't see it.