Former Attorney General Eric Holder wants to become a leader of the anti-Trump resistance and Yahoo News suggests he may even be considering a run for office in 2020:

“Up to now, I have been more behind-the-scenes,” Holder told Yahoo News in an exclusive interview about his plans. “But that’s about to change. I have a certain status as the former attorney general. A certain familiarity as the first African-American attorney general. There’s a justified perception that I’m close to President Obama. So I want to use whatever skills I have, whatever notoriety I have, to be effective in opposing things that are, at the end of the day, just bad for the country.

“Now is the time to be more visible,” Holder added. “Now is the time to be heard.”

Really? Now is the time? Why now? Holder never says he’s running for president in 2020 but Yahoo News takes his sudden desire to become more outspoken as a sign that he’s positioning himself:

Monday’s event was also something bigger: a coming-out party of sorts for a figure who sees his work in California as a springboard to a new role as the key legal architect — and one of the major public faces — of the nationwide progressive pushback against President Trump.

Rarely mentioned as a 2020 contender and controversial while in office, Holder would enter any Democratic primary contest as a long shot. Even his engagement with the resistance is something of a surprise. For most of his career, Holder was seen as a conventional, mild-mannered figure. But he grew more pugnacious as attorney general, in part because Republicans never stopped attacking him, and he wound up pursuing a sharply progressive agenda during Obama’s second term.

That’s not much of an endorsement. It’s all speculation at this point, but here’s my guess about what is motivating this. Given how unpopular President Trump is now (according to most polls), there are probably a few high-profile progressives eyeballing a run in 2020. Holder doesn’t have the profile to make such a run himself but he might serve as a legitimate second in command. He would bring with him some executive experience and the good will of the Obama political machine.

But the job of a VP, at least during the campaign, is to be an attack dog for the candidate. Holder isn’t really known for being that kind of fighter, but by taking a lead in the resistance now he can build up his credentials in that department as we approach 2018. Again, it’s speculation, but it seems to fit better than suggesting he wants to run for President.

Of course, there’s something to be said for a VP who wasn’t held in contempt of Congress. If Democrats want to have that discussion all over again in 2020, I guess we can do that.