Be a Trumpist without the racial talk.....
Appeal to Black men in a better way than Trump, and try to win Latino men.
Do better with women
Don't get into the culture wars
Isn't him being a poster boy for Illiberal Democracy (making protesting a legally grey area, censoring the universities and schools, and taking direct control over public varsity and collegiate athletic events) violate that last caveat? He's well into the culture wars.
Colleges are a hotbed for illiberalism with insane COVID restrictions.
Though true, that's not what I was talking about and thanks for reminding me of another illiberal thing he has done- consolidate public health powers. In his defense, he has sold this argument to even some liberals that his Borkian approach of using state power to "promote consumer welfare" is innovative and successful where other policies have failed.
So yeah. He's not staying out of the culture wars. He believes in Illiberal Democracy and has already had success in selling Illiberal Democracy as a way to promote dignity and freedom the way Social Democrats have struggled to do.
His future career depends on him going into the culture wars and being that Leviathan (Illiberal Democracy is what Hobbes was really advocating for).
Back to original question:
DeSantis gets nominated and wins by successfully arguing 1) Trumpism isn't about Trump. 2) Trumpism is indistinguishable from Illiberal Democracy. 3) Illiberal Democracy is a legitimate intellectual tradition and has strong answers to our country, and perhaps the world's problems. 4) He is the vehicle for Illiberal Democracy just as Reagan and W were the vehicles for Intersectional/Bucklean( the "Fusion" of neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and religious nationalism) Conservativism.
