It was an endorsement in the sense that $0R0$ wants to promote whoever he thinks has the best chance to take the nomination away from Trump, who he fears more than any other potential candidate. In no way does he want either Trump or DeSantis to be president, he hates them both.
We know Trump isn’t Deep State.
I’d argue that the jury is still out with regard to DeSantis.
Nobody fears Trump at this point. Dems and RINOs hate him but they don’t fear him. If you want to see what a second Trump term would look like just review his first.