Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Republican donors about former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, interview Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jacob Steinmetz about being the first practicing Orthodox Jewish baseball player drafted into the MLB and feature an exclusive interview with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema about her views on the situation in Israel and in the broader Middle East. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Judy Blume, Sam Altman and Brandon Uranowitz.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Utah Sen. Mike Lee breaks with his party on foreign policy; Mark Robinson’s run for N.C. governor to test GOP in battleground state; How Montana Tucker’s TikTok series on antisemitism made it to the White House; Establishment Republican donors reckoning with Trump’s staying power; In ‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,’ a fictional crisis of faith at a real-life synagogue; Kyrsten Sinema’s consistency on reform — in the U.S. and in Israel; In Jerusalem, DeSantis teases presidential announcement; In electability pitch, Nikki Haley tests out ‘consensus’ line on abortion; and Herzog unveils new dialogue initiative, ‘Voice of the People,’ at JFNA General Assembly.Print the latest edition here.
One ironclad rule of politics in the Trump era: The preferences of GOP donors and voters are increasingly at odds with each other, JI Editor in Chief Josh Kraushaar reports.
Matthew Kassel’s deeply reported article surveying nearly a dozen top Republican donors, all critical of former President Donald Trump, underscores this growing chasm. Most are gradually recognizing that Trump is a heavy favorite to once again emerge as the Republican nominee. Some are declining to vote for him again, though others are proving that partisanship still is a powerful force.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in the middle of his overseas trip, stopping in Israel yesterday to burnish both his foreign policy credentials and hobnob with backers. DeSantis dined with GOP mega-donor Miriam Adelson, a top backer of Trump in 2020. Adelson has pledged neutrality in the 2024 primary contest.
But if DeSantis’ international travel was designed to shore up his foreign policy credibility, he’s fallen somewhat short of expectations. His comments calling for a Russia-Ukraine “cease-fire” are bound to unnerve GOP hawks, and in Israel he followed in Trump’s footsteps, embracing the former president’s record of support for the Jewish state.
Indeed, Republican voters who approved of Trump’s policies are returning to the former president’s fold. DeSantis will need more than donations to his campaign (and super PAC) coffers — and a timely foreign trip before an expected presidential announcement — to turn his fortunes around.
Back in Washington, the Anti-Defamation League’s three-day National Leadership Summit kicks off on Sunday. White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt are among those scheduled to address the event.
The event will feature panels regarding the Abraham Accords, Israel’s 75th anniversary, online antisemitism, Iran, American democracy, hate and extremism and antisemitism on campus.
And the White House Correspondents’ Associations Dinner will take place tomorrow night at the Washington Hilton. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both expected to attend the dinner, which is being headlined this year by “The Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. Among those in attendance will be Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and several JI reporters. The parents of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich are also expected to attend.
Demand for entry into the sold-out dinner, WHCA President Tamara Keith said, is “painfully high,” with attendees “climbing over each other to get there,” owing in part to Biden’s attendance — Trump notably shunned the annual event during his presidency, and concerns about COVID-19 have kept attendee numbers lower in recent years. “Without a president, there was less demand, as I understand it,” Keith told The Hill. “But we’re definitely back.”
exclusive
Kyrsten Sinema’s consistency on reform — in the U.S. and in Israel

In an exclusive interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch on Thursday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) cautioned that a proposal to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court would be “a complete breakdown of separation of powers” but added that she backs some judicial reform in the Jewish state.
Democratic values: “Most of us who believe in democracy would be concerned about a proposal that would allow the Knesset to overturn the Supreme Court,” Sinema said in an interview in her Senate hideaway, a small windowless room with brightly colored modern furniture that matches her predilection for eye-catching outfits.
Recent events: “I was happy to see that [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi [Netanyahu] stepped back from some of his proposed plans, because it was obvious that the people of Israel did not support those plans. It also seems fairly obvious that judicial reform is needed,” said Sinema. One element of Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reform would allow Israel’s Knesset to override rulings from the Supreme Court. That clause has been targeted in months of widespread protests throughout Israel.
Political evolution: Sinema began her political career two decades ago as an antiwar activist and local spokesperson for the left-wing Green Party. Now, her foreign-policy positions are much closer to the mainstream bipartisan Washington consensus, including support for U.S. aid to Israel and continued military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Despite Sinema’s eagerness to discuss her work on foreign policy, she did not want to say whether she identifies as a hawk or a dove. “I don’t know that I define myself,” she said. “That’s not really my thing.”
Future plans: Since her election in 2018, the Arizona senator has frustrated Democrats by taking a more moderate stance and spurning the party on several major votes, most notably on rolling back the legislative filibuster. Late last year, she formally changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent. Ever since, she has lost her base of Democratic support, and polls show her lagging in third place in a likely three-way Senate race. Sinema has not yet said whether she will run for reelection next year, and declined to comment on her future plans. “I’m not going to answer,” she said when asked whether she will run again.