The contrast was perhaps summed up best by The Atlantic’s David Frum, who told me: “Hand Glenn Youngkin a baby and he’ll kiss it; hand Ron DeSantis a baby, and he’ll punch it.”

Perhaps a big tent has room enough for both inclinations? Just as neoconservative Bill Kristol and paleoconservative Pat Buchanan both fit in Ronald Reagan’s “big tent,” Youngkin and DeSantis both reside in the house of Trump. And this is the only place to be on the right. For better or worse, the post-Trump Republican Party will not revert to a Romney-Ryan ethos anytime soon.

Both Youngkin and DeSantis also benefited from their national brands developing after Trump had long been on the scene. That timing means they don’t carry the same embarrassing baggage as Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz (whose political generation will not likely be allowed to carry us into the promised land)…

In my view, either governor would be an upgrade from Trump; however, Youngkin’s hybrid model is clearly the better choice. Youngkin has (so far) demonstrated his ability to hold working-class rural voters who care about culturally conservative issues, while simultaneously performing better than Trump among college-educated suburbanites.