In September he spent something like $12 million to fly two planeloads of Venezuelan refugees from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, a wealthy but largely Democratic island in Massachusetts. If he intended to expose Democratic hypocrisy, he failed: once there, the community stood in solidarity with the refugees and helped them find more stable accommodation. There were questions about the legality of DeSantis's actions, that could have been classified as human trafficking. However, DeSantis doesn't have the same kind of carnival energy as Trump. Trump has already begun attacking his potential Republican rivals. His nickname for DeSantis, "Ron DeSanctimonious" isn't among his best creations.
Trump has also threatened to reveal nformation south africa phone number list he claims to have about DeSantis, defining him as an "average" governor who would not have succeeded without his (Trump's) help. For now, DeSantis has kept quiet. But if sections of the Republican elite are taking this election as an argument for the party to move away from Trump, they will have to convince their voters to do so. And Trump supporters have an emotional bond with the former president that will be hard to break.
Finally, these midterm elections confirmed that, despite everything that has happened in the last six years, little has changed. Fear and love for Trump continue to shape behavior. There remains a numerical majority that opposes Trump, as there always has been. But the numbers are even, and the distribution of the vote in favor of Trump and the willingness of elected Republicans to seize every advantage gives that minority wield considerable power. Democracy is possibly "on the ballot," as Biden says, and probably will be again and again and again.