Gov. Ron DeSantis PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

In 2018, when Ron DeSantis, a littleknown Florida congressman, entered the race for governor in a crowded Republican field, he came up with a novel gimmick to gain attention. He made a pitch not to Florida voters but to the man then in the White House.

The DeSantis campaign aired a 30second TV commercial that showed the candidate playing with toy blocks with his then nearly 2-year-old daughter Madison in their home. “Build the wall,” he tells her – an obvious reference to President Donald Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the U.S. Southern border. “Then, Mr. Trump said, ‘You’re fired,’ ” DeSantis says, while holding his infant son, Mason, in one arm and Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” in the other. A screen shot shows Madison in a crib, dressed in a red one-piece bodysuit with the words “Make American Great Again.” Then he says, “Bigly,” repeating an early favorite Trump word.

DeSantis was aware of Trump’s soaring popularity with the Republican base and he wanted an endorsement in the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary race. It worked. “Congressman Ron DeSantis is a brilliant young leader, Yale and then Harvard Law, who would make a GREAT Governor of Florida. He loves our Country and is a true FIGHTER!” Trump tweeted after watching a Fox News clip of the congressman, Politico reported at the time. DeSantis rode the endorsement to victory over Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the primary and went on to defeat his Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum.

DeSantis, re-elected in 2022 with a victory of some 20 points over former Gov. Charlie Crist, felt further emboldened in his ongoing cultural war against his political enemies. It was a move that most observers saw as laying the groundwork to enter the 2024 presidential race. He did so on May 24, 2023. His main contender for the Republican nomination: Donald Trump. The former president, who was seeking re-election, was not amused, calling it “a great act of disloyalty because, you know, I got him in. He had no chance.” Then Trump predicted, “His political life was over.”

Not quite. This past week, DeSantis ended his bid for the Republican nomination after Trump beat him by more than 30 points in the Iowa caucuses and polls showed the Florida governor in the single digits in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. But even days before then, he was critical of Trump, telling a crowd in Iowa, “You can be the most worthless Republican in America. But if you kiss the ring, he’ll say you’re wonderful. You can be the strongest, most dynamic, successful Republican and conservative in America ― but if you don’t kiss that ring, then he’ll try to trash you.”

A week later, he did just that while closing his campaign by endorsing Trump on Sunday in what was a relationship that had come full circle. “It’s clear to me,” he acknowledged, “that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement ….”

But it is not over for DeSantis. The Florida Legislature passed a law last April allowing him to hold onto his job while campaigning for the presidency at a time when he was widely expected to do just that. His term will expire at the end of 2026 as overlord of the state which he claimed to have transformed into a conservative laboratory that he had hoped he would have had a chance to implement nationwide. It is almost inevitable that he will seek the presidency again in 2028.

What exactly is the conservative protype that DeSantis created?

If you are a rightwing conservative, there is much to celebrate. If you are a liberal, an African American, a gay person, anyone committed to Florida as a diverse state, not so much.

So far, abortions are to be banned after six weeks. Schools are barred from teaching sexual orientation and gender identity under a policy that