“‘Shalom Hamas’ means hello and goodbye — you can choose,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is over for you. Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted.”

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how American pro-Israel groups are differing from Jerusalem in their views of the new Syrian government, and report on the antisemitic conspiracy theories spread by the Pentagon’s new deputy press secretary.

President Donald Trump takes questions on tariffs, hostages held by Hamas, Elon Musk's role in DOGE and more from the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump told a delegation of freed Israeli hostages in the Oval Office on Wednesday that he was confident that the remaining hostages in Gaza would be released. “We’ll get them out,” Trump told the hostages, who traveled to the United States from Israel to advocate for the 59 hostages still in captivity after a temporary ceasefire.

Volodymyr Zelensky “did exactly what Trump has done on dozens of occasions” during the Oval Office blow-up last week, argues Christopher Caldwell at The Free Press.