Welcome back to The Best & The Brightest. I’m Tara Palmeri.

Programming note: Today, Anthony Scaramucci stopped by my podcast, Somebody’s Gotta Win, to discuss the heated jockeying to join Trump’s economic team. And on Tuesday, my brilliant colleague Teddy Schleifer joined me to talk about Trump’s hunt for a white-whale donor, assess the state of the R.N.C., and consider who might be the biggest spoiler this cycle. Finally, if you missed my appearance last week on Real Time With Bill Maher—I had a blast!—here’s a link to the raucous Overtime segment.

Tonight, I’m taking you back inside Mar-a-Lago, where an influx of voices old and new are attempting to exert influence over Trump and his shapeshifting policy preferences while he tries to solve his cash crunch.

But first, here’s Abby Livingston’s inside look at the latest convulsions on Capitol Hill…

Schumer’s Senate oration, which called for new elections in Israel—and featured a brutal critique of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—stunned longtime congressional observers. But it also felt inevitable. His nuanced remarks were critical of both Palestinian and Israeli leadership, which is consistent with how many, many Democratic officeholders, staffers, and consultants express themselves privately. But only Schumer could have had this impact. Here’s what the insiders are saying…

• It’s personal: Schumer, as the Senate majority leader, is at the center of nearly every political decision that relates to the Israel-Gaza war. But perhaps equally significant is the fact that Schumer is the first Jew to hold this high post: He grew up in Brooklyn and represents New York, which has the biggest Jewish population of any state in America. He also represents many constituencies that are critical of Israel, and New York has been an epicenter of debate over the war.

  The speech was deeply personal, and it was a long one. Lasting 44 minutes, it reached back into Schumer’s history with Israel, and at times seemed directed toward an Israeli audience as much as a domestic one. Longtime Schumer watchers reminded me that there has almost never been a sliver of daylight between Schumer and Israeli leadership during his 43-year career on Capitol Hill.

• The long windup: While much of the public anti-Netanyahu sentiment comes from the younger members of the Democratic Party, it’s also been simmering within the Old Guard. This largely dates back to Netanyahu’s 2015 joint address to Congress, in which he left Democrats seething by criticizing President Obama. “There’s not a Democrat who’s still in the House or Senate who will forget it,” a Senate Democratic leadership ex-staffer told me, adding that it can only be compared to the anger Democrats still carry over Mitch McConnell’s decision to block a confirmation vote for Merrick Garland. And while there was widespread Democratic horror over the October 7 Hamas attack, the brutality of the images coming out of Gaza has only exacerbated many Democrats’ pre-existing negative view of Netanyahu.
• Republican counterpunch: The blowback was swift. House Republicans rushed to the mics at their Greenbrier retreat to criticize Schumer, and McConnell took an unusually direct shot at Schumer in his own floor speech. But Schumer didn’t back down. His social media accounts have continued to tweet highlights of the speech through the day, and his press office circulated the speech’s lengthy transcript.

  It’s entirely possible that this speech leads to fissures within the Democratic Party, particularly within its donor class in New York and Hollywood. But on the other hand, some Democrats have wondered whether it will help staunch Joe Biden’s bleeding support from younger people. When I asked that same Democratic ex-staffer how he expected the speech to play politically, he sighed, saying, “That’s the $64,000 question.”

Now, of course, all that has been forgotten. DeSantis, along with a dozen other primary challengers, has bowed out; G.O.P. megadonors have been brought to heel; and all manner of party operatives, frenemies, power brokers, and businessmen are lining up to kiss the ring, write checks, and put their names up for consideration as political appointees or cabinet members in a potential second Trump administration.

The high-dollar favor-trading is unfolding in full view. As I reported last week, hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, who wants to be Treasury secretary, is hosting another fundraiser in Palm Beach next month. And that follows a previous event in which megadonors Woody Johnson, Harold Hamm, Wilbur Ross, Kelcy Warren, Steve Wynn, and Diane Hendricks all committed to donating $1 million to Trump. Others reportedly in contention for the top Treasury job include billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass, a top donor to the Club for Growth; hedge funder and Soros protégé Scott Bessent; and former U.S. Trade Rep. Bob Lighthizer. (Banker-turned-movie producer Steve Mnuchin, who took a reputational hit as Trump’s first Treasury secretary and is currently busy trying to buy TikTok, has indicated that he’s not interested in returning to the job.)

One of the enduring tropes of Trump’s third presidential run is that he would be more liable to stock his second administration with MAGA ideological allies like Steve Bannon or Marjorie Taylor Greene, rather than the so-called “adults in the room” who previously staffed his White House—moderate-ish finance professionals like Cohn, Mnuchin, Dina Powell, and so on. But those who have worked closely with Trump predict he will be drawn once again to this same profile for important cabinet positions, hoping some of their respectability will reflect onto him.

“If Trump wins, he will not just go with loyalists. He’s a name-dropper and a status seeker, so guys like Kevin McCarthy will end up in his administration,” argued Anthony Scaramucci, the former Trump communications director, on my podcast, Somebody’s Gotta Win. “There will be a cavalcade of people that people are not assuming will go into the administration, [and] they will make the same mistake that Gen. John Kelly made, that H.R. McMaster made, and that I made: They will think they can join Donald Trump and that it won’t hurt their careers. And Trump will select them.”

Trump also sees her value to him on the outside, especially given his complicated and occasionally icy relationship with Fox News. Conway still advises him, and has been helpful with corralling the donor class. At one point, Conway was being considered for R.N.C. co-chair (the job that ultimately went to Lara Trump) and may yet join the campaign. On the campaign and inside the White House, however, Conway would serve multiple purposes—including keeping Jared Kushner at a distance. Kushner, for his part, has thus far kept himself at a distance from the Trump campaign, and is not expected to join the administration. Ivanka, too, has been working painstakingly to extricate herself from her father’s orbit.

Wiles or Conway may have the inside track to being the nation’s first female chief of staff. But people close to Trump say that Wiles, even if she decides not to enter the administration, will surely exert her influence over whoever ends up in the role. Nevertheless, that traditionally prestigious post has a somewhat cursed record under Trump: Reince Priebus and Kelly were fired; Mick Mulvaney was demoted and then resigned after January 6; and Mark Meadows was indicted last year as part of the 2020 election racketeering prosecution in Georgia (he has pleaded not guilty).

As for top-tier national secretary and foreign policy appointments, expect a reboot of the last two years of the Trump administration, after the president had alienated or fired most of the officials who disapproved of his isolationist, dictator-friendly realpolitik. Among the true believers who might return: former national security adviser Robert O’Brien and former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe. Another former Trump DNI, Ric Grenell, has been mentioned as a potential secretary of state. There’s talk that Tom Cotton could end up at the C.I.A., and that Marco Rubio, who has signaled he’s tired of the Senate, could get a cabinet posting.

Mike Pence’s former national security adviser Keith Kellogg has been especially interested in returning to the White House. He’s kept close to Trump, joining him for his meeting with Hungarian P.M. Viktor Orbán. Kellogg also recently laid out his vision for “transactional diplomacy” with Vladimir Putin in The Washington Times, which essentially boils down to ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia.

Another question mark is whether Mike Pompeo, who remains in Trump’s good graces, largely on account of his decision to not run against him in the Republican primary, will return to the administration. He’s already served as C.I.A. director and secretary of state, and has seemed reluctant to return when asked in the past. But the lure of power and relevance can be irresistible, even for former officials who should know better…

Then, of course, there are the true MAGA die-hards, often unconfirmable. Devin Nunes, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has made it clear that he wants to lead the F.B.I. to “depoliticize” the organization by rooting out seemingly disloyal civil servants. As with many on Trump’s wishlist, it’s unclear if he’s Senate confirmable. “There’s the people they want, and the people they can get confirmed,” a former Trump official reminded me.

The other unconfirmables include Greene, who told me at Mar-a-Lago that she wants to be Department of Homeland Security secretary. Could Matt Gaetz be attorney general? Kash Patel at C.I.A.? “Can you see Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski voting for them? No, even if Republicans win the majority, they won’t have the votes,” said another former Trump administration official.

As for the ultimate posting, the vice presidency, the whispers about who is up and down change every day. Tim Scott, who Trump worries may be too vehemently anti-abortion, had perhaps the most to gain from Katie Britt’s uncomfortable performance last week. Now there’s talk about how his appeal isn’t limited to African American voters; he could also help bring in Britt’s peers: educated suburban women who fret about voting for a man who has been dubbed a racist.