That explains why the magazine would prefer someone other than Trump become the GOP nominee two years from now. But why DeSantis? Judging by the series of mash notes former NR editor-in-chief Rich Lowry has penned over the past year or so, the answer is that the Florida governor wins the Goldilocks contest on the right: He has all of Trump’s strengths but none of his weaknesses.

On substance and style, this mainly means DeSantis takes aggressive, pugnacious stands on culture-war issues and appears to relish coming off like a complete jerk in public. He fights just like Trump — and he does it without falling into Trump’s trap of personalizing every battle with flagrant displays of pathological narcissism.

This explains why NR likes DeSantis. But it doesn’t solve the mystery of how he can become the GOP nominee in 2024 when Trump shows every indication of running while continuing to lap all competition in the polls. As Lowry has acknowledged, challenging Trump for the nomination would involve running into “the business end of the Trump buzzsaw,” which could permanently damage the governor’s image in the party. That makes the fixation on DeSantis a fantasy — just a slightly more plausible one than those entertained by conservatives more openly hostile to Trump.