Trump can win the primary, but only Ronald Herbert Walker DeSantis can beat FJB in the general election, or so I have been told by Tokyo Rove.
It is conceivable that Trump’s scorched earth policy of vilifying DeSantis could produce some plurality victories in some primaries, but that remains to be seen. Keep in mind that when the GOP primary process gets underway in early 2024, Trump will be in court explaining why he paid hush money to a porn actress and a Playboy bunny. Not a particularly good calling card, but this doesn’t seem to bother members of the Trump personality cult.
It is obvious the mainstream media wants Trump to get the GOP nomination, but be severely wounded in the process. As Trey Gowdy observed last week, Biden will be a formidable opponent in 2024, but only if Trump is the GOP nominee. Further, nearly half the country despises Trump and there is little to no chance he can flip any of the swing states that abandoned him in 2020.
Granted, Trump has a loyal and enthusiastic group of core followers, but without expanding on this segment of the electorate (as Glenn Youngkin did), he will lose again. Desantis carried areas in Florida in 2022 that had previously been carried handily by Hillary, and he could replicate this across the country, even putting states like Virginia and New Hampshire in play.