In 2019, Rick Scott rolled into Washington with stars in his eyes. For years, the handsomely wealthy healthcare mogul and former governor of Florida lived a relatively gilded existence. For starters, the guy surfed into the Tallahassee governor’s mansion in 2011 on the Tea Party wave despite running a hospital system that was slapped with a $1.7 billion fine for Medicare fraud. He remained a loyal boy scout for Donald Trump at all costs, encouraging his border wall fantasies, and then claimed his place in the Senate by labeling Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson as a socialist. Last year, he ran unopposed for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a job no one really wants because of the required time, travel, and donor-hustling, but an opportunity that Scott nevertheless likely viewed as a prime flesh-squeezing role, where a canny operator could build both a robust big-money network and small-contribution fundraising operation. For this reason, among others, it’s a useful trampoline to vocations outside the upper chamber.