DeSantis Should Have No Regrets. No One Could Beat Trump and His Indictments

As we close in on the Iowa caucuses and the first time GOP primary voters will cast votes in the 2024 presidential election, the Republican writing seems to be on the wall. It tells a tale of a dominant Donald Trump easily dispatching a field that sought to keep him from a path back to the White House. There were some surprises, thought; former South Carolina Governor and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley exceeded expectations, while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy shattered them–for a while anyway. And then there was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who so many expected to pose a devastating challenge to Donald Trump—only to see him tank in the polls.

Why didn't DeSantis catch on? What did he do wrong? The answer is: virtually nothing.

In the horse-race-obsessed style of modern campaign coverage, conclusions are binary—winners are winners and losers are losers. While that will always be technically true, any head-scratching over the DeSantis performance misses key points.