Donald Trump is on his way back to the White House … and the controversy surrounding the death of Peanut the squirrel might have helped … at least that’s what the squirrel’s owner thinks.

Mark Longo told TMZ he was humbled and honored that on Monday, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance was at a rally, talking about how “fired up” DT was over the death of Peanut … which ML is sure helped them at the polls.

Those campaign comments — as ML sees it — showed Trump cares about the little guy … even if that little guy is a medium-sized rodent that took social media by storm with his tricks.

Mark and his wife, Daniela, previously told us … they are already in the process of legal action, but they cannot give too many more details at this point. But ML makes it crystal clear — “Peanut did not die in vain!”

Their story went national after they accused the state of abusing power and wasting taxpayer funds to seize and kill Peanut — all because of some anonymous claims, which ML says were all total BS.

Peanut and one of the couple’s pet raccoons, Fred, were taken away … both have since been euthanized as a result of rabies testing.

As TMZ reported … Mark has been made aware that the Department of Environmental Conservation is conducting an “internal investigation” … and he hopes to learn more soon.