Sure, but Trump was already popular among the voterbase even before he entered politics, mainly on account of his reality shows. His unashamed pathological childish narcissism was seen as charismatic to the voters, a phenomenon that DeSantis can’t really replicate to the same degree.

It is obvious that DeSantis is using the strategy of running a campaign on pure unadulterated hatred as a substitute for his lack of charisma in the eyes of his voters. A frightening testimony to the state of US politics that such a strategy is even seen as viable, but he does face the problem that the GOP has turned into a personality cult by their own design, and a large chunk of their voterbase are already invested in the cult of Trump. Hatred alone isn’t going to make them change their cult leader, especially since Trump isn’t exactly lacking in the hatred department either.

Nothing is out of the realm of possibility at this point. As bad as you think it might get, it will get infinitely worse unless we actively fight back.