While these are all intriguing reads, the one that stands out is A.G. Gancarski’s distillation of DeSantis’ debriefing with Des Moines-based radio host and unabashed DeSantis supporter Steve Deace, who’d endorsed the Florida governor ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

“I kept running into voters who, when I’m at the caucus sites, for example, speaking, or when my speakers are speaking at the sites on my behalf, running into a lot of voters who are like, ‘The Governor is awesome, he’d be a great President. But we feel like we just have to stick with Trump this time and he can do the future,’ ” DeSantis told Deace.

DeSantis spotlighted a “lack of enthusiasm overall to participate in the caucus” from his targeted supporters.

“We started noticing this in the [f]all, where voters who had caucused in 2016, previous caucus-goers, when they were being polled, they said they’re definitely not caucusing. And it was kind of odd that they would say that because normally they would probably, if you’ve already caucused, you like, well, maybe we’ll see.”

DeSantis’ rueful admission was supported by the failure of notoriously stalwart Iowans to brave subzero temperatures on caucus night, Jan. 15. Instead of setting the tone for a spirited contest to come, they treated the event as though zany outliers were challenging a beloved incumbent.

Not quite 10 days later, even the most stubborn of deniers have to see the inscription on the wall: Barring calamitous outside events, two guys with first-hand recollections of Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World” in 1951 will vie for the keys to the White House in 2024.

It’s the rematch an overwhelming majority of Americans say they don’t want, but it’s the one they keep voting for. Inevitability is a b***h.

But what of DeSantis, now that he’s shed of his national campaign? Assuming Team DeSantis resolves its comeuppance was 90 percent bad timing, making another run inevitable, what will reassembling the pieces that made its guy a Sunshine State juggernaut look like?

Will he be a sore loser? Critics point to his war with the House of the Mouse in the wake of the company’s complaints about the Parental Rights in Education Act, a centerpiece of DeSantis’ anti-woke campaign. Wait. There’s more.

Fears of a vengeful DeSantis aren’t unfounded. He went after Disney after the corporate giant vowed to undo a law limiting the classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity that critics called “Don’t Say Gay.” DeSantis had a falling out with Susie Wiles, his 2018 campaign manager who is now a top adviser to Trump, that led him to advocate for her removal from Trump’s reelection campaign in late 2019. Last year, state Sen. Joe Gruters, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, contended that DeSantis used his line-item veto to wipe out funding for projects backed by Gruters because he endorsed Trump.

Nikki Fried, the former Agriculture Commissioner-turned-Florida Democratic Party chair, who never misses the chance to wax hyperbolic, forecasts the worst:

“It depends on who he blames for his downfall,” Fried said. “If he’s frustrated and he’s angry, he may come back and try to burn it all down.”

She would say that. Meanwhile, we especially like the quote from the unnamed Tallahassee political operative who spoke to Politico: “Will it be the prickly, thin-skinned vengeful guy we have learned to love or can he learn he has to build rather than burn bridges?”

All this speculation misses the point. From the get-go, DeSantis has been mission-oriented. He identifies the objective, drafts a plan, and focuses on the execution. (Small wonder he was so often flatfooted against Donald Trump’s infantile attacks; DeSantis doesn’t squabble in sandboxes.)

Watch not just what DeSantis does in Florida. See if he launches off-year efforts to support Republican voter registration gains in purple states. DeSantis provided time, energy, resources and money to reshape the registration map in Florida.

The ultimate swing state has gone deep crimson; trailing Democrats by 300,000 registered voters just over five years ago, the GOP has surged to an 800,000 registered voter advantage.

Should DeSantis support similar efforts in a handful of key states — Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia — his bona fides could be well-established by the time Republican voters are choosing their next presidential nominee.