Yeah, my belief is that DeSantis going nationally now would just leave him under the thumb of McConnel and the other establishment RINOs. He needs to be able to get his own people in the upper levels of the party before running for president, otherwise it won't actually count for much.
Which given our current politics seems to mean waiting for them to finally die. McCains finally gone several years ago, and that seemed to open up a bunch of space. Mitch is 81, so he shouldn't be holding on for that much longer. More or less the same on the Democrat side to be honest: Nancy Pelosi 82 as well, and I'm not sure how well the "competent" portion of the Democrats can hold onto power and keep everything together once they no longer have the baby boom political class to rally around.
Assuming immortality isn't invented in the next 10 years, there will be a changing of the guards during it. If Santis does want to be a president, that changing of the guards is the time to act by getting his people into that guard change, hopefully getting enough of "his guys" in to allow the GOP to be a unified force, while the Dems hopefully are a divided force falling to inviting as the last of the vaguely moderate generation die off and the various client groups fight for dominance on the grievance totem poll.
He definitely should not run for president before that change of guard occurs, and then only if he can win the guard change.
That's why I'm pro Trump running, I don't think he can win, but I don't think any Republican can win 2024. With Trump though, the left stays a bit crazy making it harder for them to execute any "return to normalcy" where they pretend they're not deranged racist Marxists, and it keeps some pressure and hopefully helps purge the Republicans into a leaner, meaner, more focused and ideological organization. Moderation and compromise are things you do when theres an actual chance for power.