DeSantis bet that Donald Trump would either step aside because of his mounting legal troubles (they’ve only galvanized the former president’s candidacy) or that Republicans were ready to move on to a more stable, competent, and traditional candidate (they are definitely not).

It’s still early, but the uncomfortable truth is that there is probably nothing DeSantis did or didn’t do that really would have mattered. …

The Florida governor was running somewhat close to Trump (still a 20-point divide, mind you) when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted the former president at the end of March. It’s then that Trump really took off. Any criticism of Trump at that point gave the impression that you were rooting for the former president’s persecutors. Trump’s victimhood solidified the belief, not only that he deserved another shot, but that winning would be the best revenge.

Whether general election voters see it that way is another story.

[DeSantis takes a couple of years off and comes back for the 2028 cycle. Whether Trump wins or not, the GOP has to field a new candidate in that cycle, and DeSantis will have more experience and better standing. — Ed]