Over time it seems like his extremist lunacy is a coordinated attempt at making Pence look like a moderate and acceptable candidate in comparison. As if they are trying to pull a Biden with Pence, even though Pence is as complicit in everything Trump did as Trump himself.
How can anyone who lived through Trump actually believe this? DeSantis isn't some kind of psy-op to make Pence look good by comparison. That's ridiculous.
Given how Republicans vote these days, DeSantis has a very real chance of winning, and you'd do well not to write him off like that. That's how we ended up with Trump in the first place.