Which is precisely why DeSantis should continue to act like Trump doesn't exist, because doing so means that he can maneuver between getting much of Trump's base on side by never explicitly distancing himself from Trump, while not alienating a larger national constituency by never explicitly acknowledging it. DeSantis is now popular enough in his own right that he can succeed in spite of Trump's support, but one thing's for certain, he's clearly not going to succeed because of it.
Again, look at what the midterm campaigns centered around: DeSantis campaigned on the economy and a variety of contentious social issues and did well, while most of the candidates closely aligned with Trump continued to bleat on about Trump and the 2020 election and did poorly. If you were a GOP election strategist, what would you take from this?
4 years is a very long time in politics. Nixon secured a landslide victory over McGovern in 1972, only to resign in disgrace with the lowest approval rating in a generation less than 2 years later. It would be a mistake to think that the circumstances of DeSantis' election in 2018 bear any relation to the victory he was able to pull off this month, and evidence would suggest that it doesn't. Case in point: DeSantis barely mentioned Trump during the campaign.