I think DeSantis has been a great governor and as practically conservative as one can be in his position. Sure wish he had some personal charisma and had held off running until 2028. He’d have been a shoe-in for the nomination then. If Trump picks him as VP he might still have a shot but I think Trump has someone else in mind.
I do not think that RDS hurt himself at all. He took a wrecking ball to Newsom in debate. In any case, JD Vance would help Trump the most.
If Trump picks DeSantis as VP only one of them could win any given FL electoral vote.
If the FL EVs are relevant (hardly unlikely) to the winner of the presidency, enough of them would have to vote Trump in order to put him over the top. Those FL electors would have to vote for someone not a resident of Florida, and if that’s over half of the FL EV total, that would throw the election of the VP into the Senate. Imagine the stink if half of the Electors had to vote for someone other than Trump for POTUS. It would call into question the fatuous assumption that electors cannot be “faithless” to the at-large popular vote in their state.Presumably, given the favorable map for Senate elections this cycle, the Republicans could then select DeSantis but we have been overoptimistic in the past.
The safest way to avoid a media circus would be to have the Trump ticket in FL only contain a name of a non-FL resident. The only really safe approach would be to nominate and elect me to the VP slot - and let me step down after the inauguration so that Trump could then name DeSantis to the slot - always assuming the Republicans hold the House. So that’s not so safe, either.