Yeah, No

 Chait seems off base here. He's been flogging the DeSantis Warning Bell for over a year now, it's kind of his hobby horse. I agree that DeSantis is dangerous, but the US is (thankfully) not Florida. 

Chait's premise is that if DeSantis beats Trump in a primary (doubtful) then Trump will be OK with that, because DeSantis will promise Trump a pardon, and Trump hates Biden just as much. Trump's "rage at Biden" would be half that as his rage at DeSantis, because Trump struggles with object permanence. The DeSantis wound would be fresher and a greater threat to his narcissism. 

Yes, he denied Biden's win, but he would deny DeSantis' win. He cannot lose. It's fundamental to his personality. Chait says he lashed out at Cruz and Rubio before mellowing on them, because he needed them. No. He mellowed on them, because he had asserted his dominance over them, and they had rolled on their backs and peed onto their own bellies.

I'm never quite sure what to make of the criticism of the media for "normalizing" Trump. There's some merit to it, but it has some holes as a theory. This, however, is treating Trump, once again, like he's a "normal" politician. He's simply not. Trump is a fundamentally broken man, and he cannot countenance losing to DeSantis.