President Trump — during his triumphal address in Jerusalem yesterday to the Knesset, Israel's parliament — said he may call back his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, for an Iran deal.

• "But first we have to get Russia done," Trump added. "We gotta get that one done. [Laughter] If you don't mind, Steve, let's focus on Russia first. All right? We'll get it, though."

Trump's quest to end the Russia-Ukraine war will be the backdrop on Friday when he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.

Why it matters: The two will discuss what weapons should be supplied to Ukraine, specifically if the U.S. should provide game-changing, long-range Tomahawk missiles to the war-torn country, Axios' Barak Ravid and Josephine Walker write.

• "There are certain issues that can't be discussed on the phone," a source told Axios.

🇺🇦 Zelensky confirmed in a Monday post on X that he will discuss "a series of steps that I intend to propose" with Trump.

• The Ukrainian president said that, as Trump proposed, he would meet with energy companies "because there are pressing needs linked to various formats of attacks, not even the attacks that Russia has already carried out."
• The main focus of the visit, Zelensky said, will be air defense and Ukraine's long-range capabilities.

✈️ Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One that during a phone call, he and Zelensky had discussed the possibility of the U.S. giving Ukraine Tomahawks and additional Patriot air defense systems.

• Zelensky has argued that additional firepower will force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

Trump said he "might have to speak to Russia" about the Tomahawks.

• "Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don't think so. I told that to President Zelensky, because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression," Trump said.

"I might say: 'Look, if this war is not gonna get settled, I may send them Tomahawks.' Russia doesn't need that. I think it is appropriate to bring that up."

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President Trump, who returned to the White House at 2:53 a.m. after his 36-hour whirlwind trip to the Middle East, thanked his fellow world leaders at yesterday's peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for assembling on "this quick, quick notice."

• The ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, he said, "all came together just at one little period — it just came together. ... The greatest deals happen that way. If you [know] anything about deals — it's all I've done all my life is deals. The greatest deals just sort of happen. And that's what happened right here. And maybe this is gonna be the greatest deal of them all — not just nation-building, not just having to do with ... the political whims."

"This will be, maybe, the greatest deal of them all, period."

🔮 What's next: The N.Y. Times, noting that "[r]arely has an American president ... been met with such adulation abroad," reports that "just beneath the surface, there were obvious differences over the future of Gaza, and even over whether the cease-fire that is finally allowing food and medicine to flow into the territory would necessarily lead to a lasting peace."

• "Except for brief references, Mr. Trump did not talk about what it would take to rebuild Gaza, or the future of the Palestinian people, or the trade-offs between creating a Palestinian state and its alternatives," David E. Sanger and Erika Solomon write.

Read the document: "The Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity."

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes:

Never has communicating internally and externally been more important to U.S. companies. Never has it been harder.

• And never have most people been worse at it.

Why it matters: Our minds and attention are so scattered, so hypnotized by our phones — and so atomized across social media, podcasts and web-based platforms — that grabbing them is virtually impossible.

I realized this during a series of recent speeches to CEOs and top executives who are desperate to understand how to communicate in this era. The gap between how they see the world (familiarity with only a few, mostly old-line platforms) and communicate (like it's 1999) is gigantic.

• It's like they woke up in a new world and can't understand how to communicate in languages they can't speak.

Three years ago, we wrote a book — "Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less." A revised edition rolls out today, after the original sold 350,000 copies in hardcover, e-book and audio.

• We've marveled at the book's sustained success, and realized the core thesis — you must write shorter and smarter to grab attention — is more relevant and important than when we first published it.

📚 If you don't already own the book, get the revised version here.

• 🎧 If you're a Spotify subscriber, the audio edition of "Smart Brevity," with a new author conversation, is included — no charge for Spotify subscribers to download it here.

In the three years since "Smart Brevity" dropped, two big things changed:

1. Consumer attention has shattered into hundreds, if not thousands, of shards of different-sized glass. More people are flocking to more information bubbles on more platforms — YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Podcasts, newsletters, private chats and gaming sites.
2. Most businesses are changing at a faster velocity, juiced in part by AI and anticipation of its future automation capabilities. That makes communication with nervous team members all the more important.

To win in this environment, companies need two new superpowers:

1. Super-savvy communicators who understand the demographics and native languages of each shard of glass. This requires fast-twitch instincts and deep understanding of the tactics for moving opinion on each shard.
2. Short, smart, memorable and repeatable ways to communicate what matters most internally or externally. If people are distracted, you can't expect them to engage or remember long or confusing ideas or messages.

This is the magic of Smart Brevity. We hate to raise problems without solutions. So here are five easy steps any person can take to make their writing shorter and smarter. (Buy the book if you want to go deeper!)

1. Stop being selfish! Think about the person you're communicating to, not your own ego or ambitions, when writing. This instantly makes you more respectful of their time and attention.
2. Grab me! Before you write anything for social media, or text, or your boss or your friend group, think about the most important thing you want them to know. Then distill it into one sentence.
3. Write like a human. Most of us are pretty normal in conversation. But there's a defect in our species: For whatever reason, when we sit down to write, we try to sound like Walt Whitman or a Harvard nerd.
4. Keep it simple. Short, tight words and sentences are always winners. Subject, verb, object! Break multiple points into bullet points to juice recall.
5. Just stop. The greatest gift you can give to yourself and others is time. So use as few words and sentences and paragraphs as humanly possible. Then stop!

💡 Get the Spotify edition ... Get the book.

Silver prices are surging, echoing gold's record-breaking run, Axios' Madison Mills reports.

• Why it matters: Like gold, silver is seen as an attractive investment amid economic uncertainty and worries over currency weakness.

Silver's rally is being driven in part by concerns that the metal — which also has a number of industrial uses — could be ensnared in Trump's trade wars.

🧮 By the numbers: Silver futures rose more than 7% yesterday, approaching records set in January 1980 — a time when the Hunt brothers infamously sought to corner the market.

The intrigue: The lack of liquidity in silver, a much smaller market than gold, could be distorting price moves.

• Get Axios Markets.

As President Trump basks in his success in the Middle East, hairline fractures within his Republican base are cropping up on a smattering of domestic issues, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports.

• Why it matters: Republicans have been in near-lockstep with Trump in his second term. So the small pockets of resistance — on the National Guard deployments, free speech, the federal shutdown and more — signal concerns within the GOP as the 2026 midterms come into sight.

Key Republicans who've pushed back:

1. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, once one of Trump's most loyal supporters on Capitol Hill, has been vocal — along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — in calling on the White House to release Epstein records. And Greene has seemed to echo Democrats in chiding GOP congressional leaders over the shutdown. "I'm carving my own lane," Greene posted on X last week, adding that she was "absolutely disgusted" that health insurance costs for millions of Americans would soar if the GOP-led Congress doesn't extend the tax credits Democrats are demanding to end the shutdown.
2. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told The New York Times he disagreed with Trump's decision to send Texas National Guard troops to Illinois. Stitt, like scores of Democrats, called it a violation of "states' rights." Oklahomans "would lose their mind" if Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) "sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration," Stitt said.
3. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox took to X over the weekend to express his unhappiness about the Trump administration canceling North America's largest solar power project: "This is how we lose the AI/energy arms race to China."
4. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas compared FCC chair Brendan Carr's implied threats to broadcasters as mafia tactics, calling them "dangerous as hell." Cruz said he plans to introduce a bill to make it easier for people to sue the government for censorship.
5. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, up for reelection next year, criticized White House budget director Russ Vought over his decision to permanently lay off thousands of federal workers during the shutdown: "Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public."

🥊 White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai dismissed the idea that the president is facing pushback within the GOP, saying it was "more united than ever under President Trump's leadership."

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Visa is prepping for AI holiday shoppers with a new "Trusted Agent Protocol" that helps retailers distinguish legitimate AI shopping agents from malicious bots, the payments giant exclusively told Axios' Kelly Tyko.

• Why it matters: Visa's move helps lay the groundwork for "agentic commerce" — when your digital assistant can safely browse, compare and buy on your behalf.

Jack Forestell, Visa's chief product and strategy officer, told Axios that the new tool is intended for use beyond Visa. He said the system is designed to make AI-driven shopping as seamless as today's online checkout, without forcing merchants to overhaul their systems.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) yesterday signed a batch of bills aimed at protecting kids using chatbots and AI tools online, Axios tech policy reporter Maria Curi writes.

• Why it matters: California has long been at the forefront of regulating tech. And since it's the largest state, policies there can become a de facto national standard.

🔬 Zoom in: The new law requires chatbots to notify minors every three hours to "take a break" and that the chatbot is not human.

• Newsom also signed other tech-related bills focused on age verification, social media warning labels and deepfakes.

Newsom's announcement.

Two Taylor Swift milestones:

1. "The Life of a Showgirl" sold a record 4.002 million equivalent album units (album sales + streaming) in the U.S. in Week 1 — breaking the record set by Adele's "25" in 2015. Keep reading.
2. "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The End of an Era," a six-episode, behind-the-scenes docuseries — chronicling the tour's "development, impact and inner workings" — begins streaming Dec. 12 on Disney+, along with her concert film, "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show."

Watch the docuseries trailer.