Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. are planning to bolster Turning Point USA — the conservative group co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk — by appearing at its events in coming months, Axios' Alex Isenstadt has learned.

• Why it matters: The move further solidifies Vance's alliance with an organization that focuses on young voters ahead of his expected White House run in 2028.

As Erika Kirk, the founder's widow, takes over leadership of Turning Point USA, White House officials want to ensure the group remains well-funded and on solid footing ahead of the 2026 midterms. The organization played a key role in turning out young voters for President Trump last year.

• Besides Vance and Don Jr., other high-profile conservatives are working closely with Turning Point, including podcaster Megyn Kelly and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

Zoom out: Vance and Donald Trump Jr. were close to Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10 in Utah.

• Vance — who has credited Kirk with helping him land the vice-presidential nomination last year — accompanied Erika Kirk on Air Force Two to take the conservative activist's remains to the Kirks' hometown of Phoenix.
• A few days later, the vice president guest-hosted Kirk's podcast. Vance and Don Jr. gave major speeches at Kirk's memorial service.

Vance and Don Jr. "were so personally close to Charlie that they are determined to do right by him and continue to work closely with Turning Point," a source close to Vance and Trump Jr. tells Axios.

• "I would expect to see both of them turn up at TPUSA events over the next several months and long after that," the source added. "They understand that Turning Point is now Charlie's political legacy, and they both want to help grow it to be bigger and more influential than ever."

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When you wake up tomorrow, the federal government could be shut down.

• Prospects look bleak for a congressional compromise to avoid a closure at 12:01 a.m. ET, for the first time in almost seven years.

But if it takes a shutdown to change what's happening to federal agencies, some workers say: Bring it on, Axios' Emily Peck reports.

• Why it matters: These employees say they wouldn't support closing the federal government under normal circumstances, given they'd lose pay. But they feel they've been under siege all year and are just out of options.

🏛️ Federal workers who spoke with Axios — many of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation — shared shades of apathy, or hope that Democrats stand up to the White House.

• "I really don't want the government to shut down," Mark Histed, who works at the National Institutes of Health, tells Axios. "But we're experiencing the biggest crisis in government in our lifetimes, and the only way out of that is for Congress to stand up and reassert its power."

👔 Reality check: There are millions of federal employees, and not all of them welcome more disruption. Many would get sent home with no pay. Others would be asked to work for no paycheck. Many live check to check.

• Federal worker unions have issued statements opposing closure.

There's less certainty that federal workers who would be furloughed will receive backpay, as they have during past shutdowns. And the White House is threatening mass firings.

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⏰ ICYMI: Congressional leaders left a White House meeting with President Trump late yesterday without a deal to avoid a government shutdown before funding lapses at midnight, Axios' Stephen Neukam reports.

• What happens in a shutdown.

The 20-point "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict" that President Trump presented yesterday contained significant changes requested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Arab officials involved in the negotiations, sources familiar with the process tell Axios' Barak Ravid.

Why it matters: Trump presented the situation as straightforward. He said Israel, the U.S. and its Arab partners were all aligned on a final plan, and Hamas must agree or face annihilation. The behind-the-scenes reality is murkier — and the negotiations could just be beginning.

📺 Split screen: While Trump and Netanyahu were discussing the plan on camera at the White House, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was presenting it to Hamas leaders in Doha, a source with knowledge said.

• The source said Hamas leaders told Al Thani they'll study the proposal in good faith.
• U.S. officials say they hope to get Hamas' response before the end of the week, though Trump didn't present a firm deadline.

🤨 The intrigue: The deal now before Hamas is significantly different than the one the U.S. and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed on.

• Netanyahu managed to negotiate several edits into the text, in particular on the conditions and timetable for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, during a marathon meeting on Sunday with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
• Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were furious over the changes, the sources said.

Witkoff told Fox News that the Trump plan has widespread backing in the Middle East and Europe: "We have a lot of buy-in. Do we have some details to work out? Yes. But you know President Trump ... Everyone is going to be pushed by him."

• Keep reading.

80 leaders from top banks and tech companies, AARP and other nonprofits, and federal agencies have worked quietly for a year on a coordinated effort to combat transnational fraud and scam networks, Axios' Sam Sabin scoops.

• The National Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention, with members ranging from Amazon to Zelle, is being launched by the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP).

Why it matters: AI advancements are making it easier for scammers to target even more people.

• "We coordinate much worse than the criminals do," Kathy Stokes, AARP's director of fraud prevention programs, told Axios.

💡 Recommendations include: Modernizing ways law-enforcement databases collect and share data.

• Enacting liability protections for companies to share information about how scams have targeted individuals.
• Applying sanctions and diplomatic pressures on foreign governments and private organizations that aren't cracking down on scam activity.
• Exploring the creation of a U.S. National Anti-Scam Center, modeled after similar organizations in the U.K., Australia and Singapore.
• Encouraging the private sector to develop new consumer-facing tools and technologies that can stop scams as they happen.

Go deeper ... Share this story ... Get Axios: Future of Cybersecurity.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Pulse, released to Pro subscribers last week, seems to speak to overwhelmed moms: It promises a personal assistant that's much cheaper than hiring a human, Axios' Megan Morrone reports.

• "The average U.S. household spends nearly 20 hours a week on domestic work, logistics, and errands," OpenAI's CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, wrote about the release of Pulse, which is designed to tackle some of those tasks.

Why it matters: Busy parents quickly figured out how to use generative AI to offload some parenting tasks. AI makers have taken notice.

💭 Sandy Shakoor, a PR director with two young kids, tells Axios: "ChatGPT has basically become like an extended village of my parenting."

• Sarah Dooley, a mother of three who's the founder of the company AI-Empowered Mom, tells us: "Now there are three of us to do things ... AI is the third supporter, the third leg of the stool in this little household."

♀️ ChatGPT's gender gap also appears to be closing. As of June, 52.4% of active ChatGPT users had typically feminine first names — up from just 17.6% after its launch.

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Vanity Fair is out today with a profile of New York mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani — "The Legend of Zohran" — saying his "Kennedy-like appeal," immigrant and Gen Z coalitions, and focus on affordability have vaulted him to future-of-the-party status.

• "What I've loved about this campaign is that when New Yorkers approach me, they often say the policy that we're fighting for back to me: rent freezes, free buses, free childcare," Mamdani tells the magazine.

Mamdani, 33, would be the city's youngest and most liberal mayor in generations. Many establishment New Yorkers fear his democratic socialism could hurt business and push more wealthy taxpayers to Florida.

• Read the profile.

The inaugural Fortune AIQ 50 List — a ranking of Fortune 500 companies generating significant and measurable impact with AI — was unveiled this morning, spanning sectors from aerospace and defense to retail and transportation. The top 10:

1. Alphabet
2. Visa
3. JPMorgan Chase
4. Nvidia
5. Mastercard
6. Coca-Cola
7. ExxonMobil
8. Amazon
9. Ecolab
10. Wesco International

🧮 By the numbers: Female CEOs lead nine of the 50 companies.

• The companies are headquartered in 40 cities across 20 states. New York City leads with five companies.
• California tops the state rankings with 10, ahead of New York with seven and Texas with five.

See the full list.

On the book cover above is Leland Vittert — a scrappy, aggressive prime-time NewsNation anchor — when he was nearly 2, being cradled by his dad, Mark Vittert, at their lakefront summer home in Leland, Mich.

• In the photo at right, Leland and Mark — now best friends, and decades-long partners in a battle no one outside their family knew about — play golf in Naples, Fla.

The story in between — including painful years when his dad was the young Leland's only friend — is told in the anchorman's memoir, "Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, a Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism," out today.

• Why it matters: Vittert, 43, told me his book's "lessons go beyond autism. It's about giving hope to every parent of a kid having a hard time." He says the lessons "apply to ADHD, anxiety and the general bullying and difficulty growing up, which has only gotten worse with social media."

Vittert — the cable channel's chief Washington anchor, and host of "On Balance" at 9 p.m. ET — tells the story of the day in seventh grade in St. Louis when he and his parents were called into the principal, who said: "Everybody here at this school thinks that your son is quite weird. ... And I do, too."

• Vittert — known in childhood by the nickname Lucky — had been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. He says his dad, a well-off entrepreneur, made the radical decision "that if I wasn't gonna have any friends, he was going to be my friend. He still is my best friend."

After each day of humiliation, his dad was waiting for Leland to put him back together. After a social encounter or a visit to a restaurant, Dad would coach his son on how to act more "normal." He was, as a chapter title puts it, "Learning To Be Me."

• In June, Mark Vittert beamed with silent pride as his son married the woman of his dreams at a lavish ceremony on a Santa Barbara ranch.

🚀 "Born Lucky" has already taken off: Harper Horizon has ordered two new printings after the book marched up the Amazon charts after Vittert told his story in 25 network-affiliate interviews, and when Bari Weiss' The Free Press posted an excerpt.

• More on the book ... Megyn Kelly interview ... Bill O'Reilly special ... Gift link: Vittert op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.