Actually, I think both men ought to get together and talk things over:
- Trump has a better chance at winning in 2024 and returning the executive branch to the GOP. This is vital and DeSantis ought to run as his VP.
- That would greatly increase the chance that after another four years of Trump, then DeSantis could run and win and have 8 years with HIM in office!
- Instead, if they don't join forces and DeSantis runs against Trump, regardless of who won the primary nomination, it could easily fracture the GOP base with the mostly never-Trumpers and people on the fence / independents switching to DeSantis while Trump's base would stay with him.
- Then if DeSantis wins the nomination, it could sour a lot of republicans into not voting and DeSantis losing to the democrats, or if Trump won the nomination again, those hoping for Desantis could likewise choose to not vote soured on 4 more years of Trump or even switch to voting DNC out of spite and again, the democrats would win.
- The smart money is on Trump running and having a very popular VP like Kari Lake or DeSantis as his running mate to not only ensure a 2024 GOP win, but ANOTHER one in 2028.
I hope both men (especially DeSantis) realize that. Remember, that even after the record voting in 2020, that still left about 75,000,000 eligible voters who DIDN'T vote.