It’s real simple. DeSantis is reliant on big money corporate donors and is therefore beholden to them and always will be. Trump is not. Quibbling about “DeSantis is better on this issue or that issue” is meaningless. DeSantis is controlled. DeSantis is managed. And when the donors who own him decide it’s time for him to change course, he will.
His Establishment donors are letting him play a part of a MAGA conservative now in order to position him to be the Trump alternative in 2024. Don’t confuse an act with the real thing.
You have explained this perfectly. Well done.