You have a poor read on the sentiment of the country if you think that the political center (i.e. Independents and moderate Democrats) are going to go for a smarmy conservative like DeSantis over a populist like Trump. Trump reaches out to demographics that DeSantis could never connect with, even if he tried, which he doesn’t.
No, I've resigned myself to the fact that it is very unlikely that DeSantis will be the GOP nominee.
Too many in this country would rather lose with a bloviating liberal circus clown than win with an actual accomplished conservative.
It is what it is.