Dude, of course he is. Why wouldn’t Ron DeSantis run for president? Even the people at his campaign party on Election Night in November knew it, chanting “Two more years! Two more years!”

DeSantis has begun privately planning for his entry into the race, the Washington Post reports, in a stunning development that will surprise literally no one:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has indicated privately that he intends to run for president, according to two people familiar with his comments. …

The public and private movements underline how far along DeSantis and his allies are in their preparation for the 2024 campaign, even as the Florida governor has not said publicly that he will enter the race.

Allies do not expect him to announce a run until after the Florida state legislative session ends in May. But in recent conversations, DeSantis has described his presidential plans without any caveats that would suggest he’s still deciding, according to the two people familiar with his comments who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private remarks.

We’ve covered all of the reasons why DeSantis will get into this cycle’s nomination fight, none of which have changed recently or emerged suddenly. To quickly recap, in no particular order:

• DeSantis won his re-election in Florida by 19 points, and turned almost the entire state red.
• DeSantis has been fighting on all of the hot-button issues in focus in the present political moment, and he’s winning on all of them.
• His opponents have made him into a national figure, and even then he’s besting them. (Don’t forget it was Gavin Newsom who came to Florida first, not DeSantis going to California.)
• Florida governors are limited to two consecutive turns, so DeSantis can’t run again in 2026
• Both of the state’s US Senators are Republicans, so DeSantis can’t run for those seats, even assuming he wanted to do so
• He’s got at least $100 million in the bank and lots of time for he and his allies to raise more
• National and state polls show him in the top two of the GOP presidential field

He’s peaking now, not in 2027. In 2027, DeSantis would be out of office and much less relevant than he is at the moment. It’s the Chris Christie issue; these days, you have to strike while the iron’s hot, or choose not to strike at all. That’s also why we’re likely to see Glenn Youngkin jump in at some point as well, unless DeSantis and Donald Trump really clear the field.

And there’s one other factor, too. Donald Trump’s legal issues may end up kneecapping his candidacy, fair or not, which means Republicans need a strong alternative in the field even if they’re inclined to renominate Trump. That’s a big if, though, and a new poll from Iowa suggests that it’s even bigger than some may think:

Many Iowa Republicans remain committed to Donald Trump, but the former president is seeing his support erode as campaigning begins to heat up ahead of Iowa’s 2024 presidential caucuses, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.

Trump, who launched a third White House bid late last year, has seen his favorability numbers in the first-in-the-nation caucus state steadily decline among Republicans since they peaked in September 2021.

And the percentage of Iowa Republicans who say they would “definitely” vote for him if he were the nominee in 2024 has plummeted by more than 20 percentage points since June 2021.

The DMR poll shows DeSantis with a 75% favorable rating among Iowa Republicans to Trump’s 80%, but DeSantis has more upside. Only 6% have an unfavorable view of DeSantis, while three times as many have unfavorable views of Trump. That’s not a big erosion or gap, but it does show that GOP voters in Iowa consider DeSantis a serious alternative — and as legal matters heat up this summer for Trump, that will become a real problem for him.

As one of my colleagues put it on Twitter, you might personally like Trump and think he got the shaft in 2020. But do you want to spend a general election campaign talking about payoffs to Stormy Daniels and “stop the steal” efforts in Fulton County? Especially if a viable and proven alternative is at hand?

That’s why DeSantis is running, and why he always was going to run in this cycle.