You make a valid point. DeSantis might have lasted longer if he had done as you suggest. But either way, he was still going to have a hard time convincing people that his performance as governor demonstrated greater executive and leadership ability than Trump’s performance as president. And if DeSantis went too far down that road it would eventually lead to him criticizing Trump for things like not completing the wall, and bad hires etc.
In fact, that’s exactly where DeSantis ended up going, and it was his downfall for a number of reasons, not the least being that it required him to ignore all the obstructionism that Trump faced and that he didn’t. In short, it made him look small (no pun intended) and petty.
Yours is a perfect summation of precisely what happened.
I could see the tide turning against DeSantis when he went after Trump for things that were far beyond his control (DeSantis knew better, MAGA knew better, and it infuriated the base).
Regardless of how this ultimately plays out, I will regard Trump as the greatest President in my lifetime. He accomplished more, against unbelievable odds, than any President in recent memory while staying true to his mission. And like all giants, the ankle biters are trying everything in their power to destroy him.
Trump’s greatest achievement was pulling back the curtain and showing us just how ugly, irrational, and corrupt our institutions had become. Millions of Americans are now wide awake and nothing is putting them back to sleep.