This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** There are many famous memorials within walking distance of each other in our nation’s capital, but perhaps none so imposing as the World War I Memorial just steps from the White House. Its 60-foot bronze sculpture known as “A Soldier’s Journey,” installed in 2024, honors the 116,000 men and women who died in the war and uses 38 figures in its depiction of the hero’s journey, beginning and ending with the relationship between a soldier and his daughter. For Memorial Day, The Daily Wire spoke with Sabin Howard, the master sculptor behind the art. We talked about the beauty of the Western artistic canon, the value in memorial artwork, and why our history is something to remember, not reject. The Daily Wire: Tell us about getting veterans to pose for you as models. What was that process like? Sabin Howard: There’s something that distinguishes this memorial from the rest of the memorials that are out there, and I really wanted to show our humanity. My whole process of making art is so reliant on looking at real people. I spent an average of 650 hours per figure. That whole time you’re looking at the person, and you’re diagramming what you see in real life and translating it into art. And I’m using a system of translation that is objective truths and sacred truths. When you look at art and when you depict a human being, that human being needs to be — I’m searching for the word — created. It’s almost like as an artist you’re creating the vision of that human being in the sculptural form. And we’re made in God’s image, so you have to use a voice that comes from the canons of Western civilization, of proportion and anatomy and design, that were used for almost 2,000 years — and then thrown out.   Courtesy of Sabin Howard There’s no way I could have made that monument if I didn’t have a really, really good knowledge of what had preceded me in the figurative art world for the last 2,000 years. Every single figure comes from a source of an artist that has preceded me, and then I use that as a launching point to then evolve it into something that would be modern and contemporary. What can I learn from looking at the Baroque period with Bernini? It’s highly dramatic and like an opera. And what about the structure of Michelangelo? And what about the emotionalism of Rodin? Because I looked at that, I was able then to compose things that are very unique because I would have a starting point. I didn’t go and try to reinvent the wheel. I looked at what had happened in Western civilization, and I took that and I evolved it into a contemporary mindset. And that was by making the figures more kinetic, more action-packed, breaking past the boundary of the frame. And that goes to the art form of today, which is movies. So that sculpture is an evolution of Western civilization. I made a bronze “movie” that the visitor comes and looks at.   Courtesy of Sabin Howard The Daily Wire: You’ve created something visually complex and compelling. Why was it important to create a sculpture in this style rather than, say, some abstract shapes?  Howard: A large segment of our society is not into art, right? They’re not art aficionados. So you need to make something that will capture their attention in a chemical, visceral way. And so by going to the idea of a bronze movie, you’re doing something that’s very dynamic, kinetic, and emotional. It has a life when people look at it. I saw busload after busload of eighth graders and high school kids, and they’re really captured by it because they’re excited by it, by how it looks. The visuals are exciting to them. We got a problem, though, because figurative art today is not exciting. If you do something that’s esoteric and static and quiet, it’s not going to emotionalize the viewer. You got to capture the viewer’s attention. And so I was thinking, how do I design this so I can capture the viewer’s attention and get them engaged? That was it. People want to see what we look like. They want to know, what did it look like to be in World War I? That’s what I did. The Daily Wire: Like you were saying, there’s a little bit of a contemporary element. Viewers can picture themselves in that scenario. It doesn’t feel as far removed. Howard: Yes. That’s exactly it. It’s perfect words that you use, “It doesn’t feel that far removed.” You can relate to it, and you can see yourself in the sculpture because it’s not like gods. It’s very much real people because we sculpted real people.   Photo by Shannon Finney/Getty Images The Daily Wire: Why is it important to have things like the World War I Memorial, this sculpture, pieces of art that are specifically about our veterans or people who have died in combat? What is the value of honoring them in that way, through art? Howard: Two things. Each of us is not an isolated incidence in time. Our DNA strings way back into history. And then if you have children, it goes forward. So we are stewards of our history, and we, in the present moment, must think about how are we going to play that into the future. I’m very averse to tearing down the past and saying, “Oh, it’s old, it’s archaeological, it’s history.” No, it’s our story. Stories unify cultures and countries. And that’s why the Left is so interested in destroying history and destroying values and Western civilization: because then it’s like we’re starting fresh from zero and you have to reinvent everything rather than build off of our heritage of what we’ve been given. History explains to us our virtues and our ideals because we’ve seen men and women who have done things of great courage and stepped into places where we don’t know what will happen. Stepping into the void, I call it. Those soldiers and all history, everything that we honor — these are men and women that have stepped in the void. It’s limbic space, and it’s a space where our faith grows. This is actually what all memorials are about. It shows the virtue and ideals of our predecessors. How can we learn from history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes? And we move forward with greater consciousness.

Can a conference purporting to be a place for “curious seekers,” who want to “stretch [their] minds,” stand any actual intellectual diversity? If the latest lineup at the Aspen Ideas festival is anything to go by, NPR libs aren’t budging any of the stereotypes about their political close-mindedness. Of the speakers listed so far for the famous festival, which is attended by a wealthy, elite, and ostensibly well-educated – or at least credentialed – crowd, not a single one could fairly be described as a full-throated Trump supporter. Those selected to represent the Right are an unusual bunch indeed in a party where the president enjoys historic approval among Republican voters. Mysteriously, nearly every ostensible Right-winger at Aspen falls in the anti-Trump camp. The Davids – Brooks and French – are perennial favorites at the “conservative case against conservatism” game, but even the lesser-known Right-leaning figures invited are of the anti-Trump stripe. Take, for example, Benjamin Ginsberg, a fellow at the Hoover Institution who nevertheless told the New York Times in 2022 that the Right was “destroying itself on the altar of Donald Trump.” Or Alberto Gonzales, a former George W. Bush attorney general, who endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. While politicians from both parties are a staple of the conference lineup, Republican politicians are hardly represented. The governor of Wyoming, who was censured by his own party a few years after they expelled anti-Trump Republican Liz Cheney, and for similar reasons, is widely seen as out of step with the MAGA spirit of the party. The Never Trumper mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, and (former) Republican Senator Jeff Flake are on the roster as well. Maybe they’ll round out the Republican lineup this year by adding the recently ousted Senator Bill Cassidy, who is licking his Trump-inflicted political wounds. Among invited politicians, only the mayor of Dallas, Eric Johnson, a recent convert to the Republican Party, could be considered somewhat more in the party mainstream. The closest thing to someone who might represent the views of the majority of voters in the country who will be speaking at Aspen this year is Larry Fink, the notorious CEO of BlackRock, who has a working business relationship with the president (as he has with Democratic and Republican presidents in the past, like many business leaders) and joined him on his recent China junket. Or perhaps the great Walter Russell Mead, who has shown himself to be a level-headed observer of history. There may be a few more Trumpers among the dozens of speakers, but unlike in Washington, D.C., and the rest of the country, they still seem to be in hiding. No one is a recognizable and consistent defender of the president. While it’s certainly every American’s right to criticize the president, the problem is less with inviting people on the Right who do so constantly and more that they seem to have such a vastly disproportionate voice in venues like Aspen, especially considering they represent such a small percentage of voters. If attendees honestly wish to “hear the other side,” they won’t really be getting it from this lineup. There was a brief window after the 2016 election, when Donald Trump overcame the 99% chance for Hillary Clinton on the New York Times political predictor, when the legacy media thought to themselves, “Huh, we really missed that one, maybe we should figure it out.” Newsrooms prepared to dispatch armies of latte-sipping Columbia journalism school grads (whose dean is speaking at Aspen, of course) to The Boonies, to talk to the elusive and incomprehensible Trump voter much as one would study monkeys scratching their heads in a zoo. I should at this point note that during this crack in the façade, a few of us were invited to make the pilgrimage in reverse and climb the summit at Aspen as emissaries to the liberal elite. Was it the suggestion to read Ann Coulter’s In Trump We Trust we left hanging on your book recommendation tree, or when my co-panelist, Hillsdale professor David Azerrad, elicited gasps from the crowd for calling Ta-Nahisi Coates “one of the greatest charlatans in the country” that was the final straw? I guess we’ll never know. Unfortunately for the country, the elite Left’s short-lived glimmer of interest in understanding their fellow Americans winked out, displaced by the psychological relief of the Russia hoax, followed by recommitment to the principle that half of America was simply irredeemably racist. All jokes aside, politics is, properly understood, a replacement for war, and the fragile wall between the political arena and real combat is crumbling. Surveys show a growing part of the Left, especially the younger Left, no longer rejects political violence. That rejection is not limited to the 20-something Democratic Socialists of America activists who elected Mamdani. It was starkly visible in the huge numbers of professional, “respectable” Americans – doctors, nurses, librarians – who celebrated when Charlie Kirk received an assassin’s bullet to the neck for holding conservative views. The bare minimum – accepting each other’s existence and political legitimacy – is not kumbaya “unity” talk, it’s a flimsy line that’s dissolving in the acid environment created by institutions that would rather shut their eyes while the ship goes down than engage in constructive self-criticism. A decade later and nearly two years into the second Trump administration, the institutional Left’s flagship conference has not yet given up on pretending that the millions of Trump voters they share a country with don’t exist. Well, maybe next year. *** Inez Stepman is a senior legal analyst with Independent Women. 

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump will honor Memorial Day by paying tribute to fallen American heroes at Arlington National Cemetery, the Daily Wire can first report. The president and members of his administration will join Gold Star families and service members at the cemetery on Monday, a White House official shared. Trump will then visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where he will deliver remarks. He will be joined by top members of his administration, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Veteran Affairs Doug Collins, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine. “President Trump will visit Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day to pay tribute to our fallen heroes whose sacrifice has kept our nation free,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told The Daily Wire. “These patriots represent the very best of us, and the President will express the enduring gratitude of our entire nation.” “America’s best and bravest have fought and died for our freedom,” she added, “and President Trump will honor these heroes as he continues making our nation prouder, freer, and stronger than ever before.” U.S. President Donald Trump, JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, and Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp participate in a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on May 26, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images) More than 430,000 men and women are buried in the cemetery, including veterans, their families, and their eligible dependents. The president spent last Memorial Day in a similar fashion, attending a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with key members of his administration in 2025. “In every hour of peril, in every moment of crisis, American warriors have left behind the blessings of home and family to answer their nation’s call,” Trump said last year. “They’ve offered all that they had within them, and given their last breaths to each and every one of us that we might live safe, and breathe free. This morning we pay tribute to their immortal deeds.” “We share in the sorrow of their beloved families. And as one nation, we give thanks for the ultimate gift they have so selflessly given to all of us. These warriors, and that’s what they are, is great, great warriors, picked up their mantle of duty and service knowing that to live for others meant always that they might die for others.” The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits at the top of Arlington National Cemetery and overlooks Washington, D.C. The cemetery sits on property that was originally a plantation owned by George Washington’s grandson, passed down to Robert E. Lee’s wife, seized by the U.S. Army and used as a national cemetery in light of the mass casualties of the Civil War.

Federal officials have subpoenaed left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin as part of a widening federal investigation into activists accused of potentially violating U.S. sanctions laws during a March trip to communist Cuba. According to reports, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued administrative subpoenas, formally known as “Requests for Information,” tied to a trip organized through the “Nuestra América Convoy,” a coalition of left-wing activists, influencers, and pro-Cuba organizations that traveled to the island earlier this year. Federal investigators are reportedly examining whether participants illegally financed travel, coordinated logistics, delivered supplies, or engaged in prohibited transactions involving Cuba’s communist government. Authorities are also reportedly scrutinizing whether activists stayed at properties connected to the Cuban regime that appear on the State Department’s restricted list. The probe is said to be part of a broader Trump administration effort involving the Treasury, Justice, and State Departments targeting alleged foreign influence networks and organizations accused of promoting anti-American extremism or aiding hostile regimes. Piker, the internet’s most prominent Marxist streamers and provocateurs, publicly documented his trip to Cuba in March, posting on Instagram: “I’M GOING TO CUBA.” During the trip, he appeared alongside CodePink activists and organizations tied to left-wing financier Neville Roy Singham, whose network has faced mounting scrutiny over pro-China and pro-Cuba activism. The investigation reportedly extends beyond Piker and Benjamin, with as many as 40 Americans potentially under scrutiny and additional subpoenas expected. Piker responded angrily to news of the subpoena, framing the investigation as political persecution. “the american govt would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’ve starved, than punish the epstein class,” Piker posted online. Benjamin, meanwhile, attempted to characterize the trip as humanitarian relief work. “Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime? Saving the lives of babies is a crime? This administration is beyond grotesque,” Benjamin wrote. Given CodePink’s long history of radical abortion activism — and ideological messaging routinely excusing or sanitizing authoritarian regimes — the statement’s framing is quite ironic. CodePink activists have described abortion advocacy, anti-capitalism, anti-Israel activism, climate politics, and opposition to American military power as part of a singular global feminist struggle. One manifesto argued that “the war machine and patriarchy” are “the same thing,” condemned “western feminists” for failing to prioritize Gaza, and claimed women in Congress who support Israel are perpetuating “racial capitalist patriarchy,” all while pining for a day when “uteruses can’t be legislated.” The same essay praised a future where U.S. military bases are dismantled worldwide, where “the apartheid walls finally came down” in Israel, and where feminism becomes explicitly tied to anti-capitalist and anti-American political movements. The subpoenas mark a significant escalation in federal scrutiny toward activist groups and online influencers accused of operating as ideological allies of authoritarian regimes while presenting their activities as humanitarian or anti-war advocacy. Piker has long generated controversy for inflammatory political commentary, including past remarks that “America deserved 9/11,” criticism of U.S. foreign policy, and repeated defenses of communist governments. More recently, he has faced accusations from critics — including lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — of amplifying extremist rhetoric surrounding Israel and the October 7 Hamas attacks. Benjamin and CodePink have similarly built reputations through disruptive anti-American protest campaigns and vocal opposition to U.S. foreign policy while frequently defending regimes hostile to the United States, including Cuba, China, and Iran. For now, neither Piker nor Benjamin has been charged with a crime. But the subpoenas signal that federal investigators are taking a far more aggressive posture toward activist networks and online personalities accused of helping normalize or materially support adversarial foreign regimes.

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner tried to inject himself into mounting frustration surrounding the Boston Red Sox and was instead shut down by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who accused Platner of being a Nazi over a controversial tattoo and rejected efforts to promote the campaign’s anti-private-equity message. The controversy erupted after Platner released a political advertisement attacking Red Sox ownership and the growing role of private equity in American life. The ad aired during a Red Sox broadcast on NESN before reportedly being pulled during the fourth inning. “Private equity is taking our homes. It’s taking our hospitals. It’s taking beloved local businesses and stripping them for parts,” Platner wrote on X while promoting the ad. “And now private equity is running the Red Sox into the ground.” In a follow-up post, Platner claimed the commercial had been removed midgame because the Red Sox owns the network. “Yesterday we started running this ad during the Red Sox game,” he wrote. “Midway through the game the ad was taken down by the station.” But the story escalated after Portnoy publicly shared emails from Platner’s political team attempting to secure coverage from Barstool ahead of the ad launch. In the emails, strategist Jeff Coote pitched Platner as a populist candidate willing to confront “big bad John Henry” and private equity interests tied to the Red Sox organization. One message described the campaign as “an example of Graham’s populist streak and talking about s— people are pissed off about.” The ad itself framed Platner as a candidate battling corporate consolidation in sports and broader American life. “Private equity is destroying our favorite baseball team, stripping them for parts,” the ad states. “Private equity is buying up our homes, our sports, and our lives. I will reverse the private equity curse.” It closes with a direct appeal to frustrated Red Sox fans: “I approve this message because I miss Mookie Betts.”  Portnoy, however, immediately redirected the conversation away from baseball and toward Platner’s earlier controversies surrounding a tattoo linked to Nazi imagery. “Now this is the Nazi guy right?” Portnoy responded in the email chain. “Yeah I’d be happy to talk to him about that tattoo and him being a Nazi. I’m not as interested in his baseball takes.” After Platner’s team attempted to cool the exchange by saying they would consider it “if we can get to a place where this is a productive convo,” Portnoy fired back again. “You reached out to a Jew to poo poo a Nazi,” Portnoy wrote. “I’m not Bernie Sanders. If your boy isn’t a Nazi and can handle me 1 on 1 in a convo set it up.” Portnoy later posted portions of the exchange publicly on X, adding: “And I’m still wondering why your team thought I’d want to play footsy with a guy who is a Nazi?” And I’m still wondering why your team thought I’d want to play footsy with a guy who is a Nazi? https://t.co/DxPZp0sZSt pic.twitter.com/LItqRDIDjg — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 23, 2026 The confrontation added yet another controversy to a campaign that has already drawn attention for issues far removed from traditional Senate politics. Earlier this year, Platner faced backlash over a tattoo on his chest resembling the Nazi “Totenkopf,” or “Death’s Head,” symbol historically associated with the SS. Platner denied any connection to Nazism during an interview with Pod Save America, saying the tattoo stemmed from a drunken decision while deployed overseas as a Marine. “I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said at the time, describing himself as a “lifelong opponent” of antisemitism and racism. The tattoo controversy was compounded by resurfaced Reddit posts in which Platner described himself as a communist, mocked a Purple Heart recipient, and made inflammatory anti-police remarks. Republicans seized on the posts as evidence of what they argued was a radical political worldview. Against that backdrop, what began as an attempt to channel populist frustration over billionaire sports ownership instead became another flashpoint in the broader debate surrounding Platner’s candidacy, political identity, and increasingly controversial public image.