Ron DeSantis started out saying, Here’s me. Here’s Trump. Here’s the difference. But saying ‘I’m Trump-lite’ flopped. Trump-lite didn’t top the real Trump.

It’s an old story: A candidate looks good, sounds good, has a good record, but stumbles. DeSantis stumbled, replaced his campaign manager, jiggered his strategy, but the pieces still haven’t come together.

Is he kaput? No. But on the other hand, in the past, when a candidate stumbled then changed directions, he usually stumbled again.