President Donald Trump warned Sunday that NATO’s future could be at risk if the alliance does not help the United States secure the Strait of Hormuz.  The comment came as Trump said that he had started reaching out to other countries for help keeping the strait safe from Iranian attacks. Iran has vowed to keep the strait, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes, closed while the war continues.  “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the Financial Times. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.” Trump echoed those sentiments while flying back to Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening.  “We are talking to other countries about working with us on the policing of the strait and I think we’re getting a good response. If we do, that’s great. And if we don’t, that’s great, too,” Trump told reporters.  He added that he would like to see NATO step in because of the funding the United States has provided for Ukraine.  “We’re always there for NATO. We’re helping them win Ukraine,” Trump said. “Doesn’t affect us, but we’ve helped them. It’ll be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the strait open.” Trump said asking NATO to step in was “small” by comparison because Iran “has very little firepower left.” “Really I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory. It’s the place from which they get their energy and they should come and they should help us protect it,” Trump said.  European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday the bloc was “discussing” what it could do regarding the strait because it was in Europe’s interest to keep it open.  Iran again vowed Monday to keep the strait closed.  “The Strait of Hormuz will not be open to any country intending to harm Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. “The armed forces are controlling the transit, and no country will be able to use the Strait of Hormuz to strike against Iran.” Trump also said he would like to see China get involved and take a role in securing the strait. He noted that China gets roughly 90% of its oil through the strait. Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.  Global benchmark Brent crude oil rose above $100 per barrel on Monday morning, climbing as high as $106.27. Gas prices across the United States have also risen, with the national average increasing to $3.71 per gallon from $2.92 a month ago. 

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. *** As the resident wino and oenophile in my orbit, I am routinely confronted with the same question: “What would you pair this with?” It is a reasonable inquiry, given wine’s ability to elevate and enhance meals, creating something greater and more memorable than the mere sum of its parts. Yet too often people approach pairing as though they are defusing an explosive — as if pouring a Riesling alongside a steak might trigger a detonation. Terrified of such imaginary calamities, they cling to trite dicta such as “red with meat, white with fish” as though the rule were dictated through decree (it isn’t). Wine pairing is less about dogma than about balance, contrast, and texture. Here are a few principles — and specific examples — to make the exercise more pleasurable than paralyzing. First, let’s talk about why pairings work. Certain structural elements in the wine bind to or cut through elements in the food. There is decidedly some chemistry involved, but we are here to talk drinking. Structurally, wines are composed of acidity, sugar, alcohol, and tannin (for red wines). As a grape develops on the vine and approaches harvest, its natural acidity declines while sugars increase; in general, wines from cooler climates retain more acidity than those from warmer regions. Acidity lends wine its freshness and makes your mouth water — which is why high-acid wines also excel as aperitifs. The next time you take a sip, swirl it, swallow, and tilt your head down. Notice the saliva pooling along the sides of your tongue. The more pronounced the sensation, the higher the acidity. Acidity cuts through fat, salt, and umami, making it a natural partner for food. Sparkling wines rank among the highest in acidity and are astonishingly versatile — equally at home with such ritzy entrées as oysters and caviar, working-man foods like fried chicken or pizza, and everything in between, from risotto to sushi and spicy Thai dishes. Without descending into the technical thickets, think of sparkling wine in two broad camps: prosecco (tank method) and champagne (traditional method). The former tends toward lighter, fruit-driven styles. The latter yields wines that are richer, creamier, and often layered with notes of brioche, butter, and toasted hazelnut. One of the few pairing rules worth keeping is to match the weight of the wine to the weight of the food. A delicate wine such as an aromatic Sauvignon Blanc will be steamrolled by a fatty ribeye, and a heavy wine such as a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon will swallow up something subtle like a halibut fillet. Among my favorite pairings is the high-low contrast of rich, indulgent fried chicken with a powerful champagne. Along the same lines, greasy but simple snacks like Lay’s potato chips or buttered popcorn pair beautifully with a light, cheerful prosecco. “Champagne,” of course, is legally confined to its namesake French region. But the method that produces it is hardly proprietary. Traditional-method sparkling wine is made across the globe — often at a fraction of the cost. In France, it is labeled Crémant (Loire for Chenin Blanc; Bourgogne for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). Spain produces Cava from Penedès. South Africa calls its version Cap Classique. And California increasingly turns out bottles that can hold their own. Beyond bubbly, Riesling is another favorite grape flush with acidity. Its spiritual home is Germany — where the only thing more complicated than the parliamentary system is the wine classification scheme — but excellent examples also emerge from Alsace, Austria, and New York State, which has been producing increasingly compelling bottlings in recent years. Riesling spans the full spectrum of sweetness, from bone-dry to lusciously sweet dessert styles. My preferred pairing is to contrast an off-dry Riesling (just a touch of residual sugar) with a spicy Asian dish. Another common pairing mistake is fixating on the protein (steak, chicken, fish) while ignoring preparation and sauce. The same cut of meat can behave entirely differently depending on whether it is grilled, braised, fried, or bathed in cream. Take Chardonnay. It is one of the world’s most widely planted grapes and perhaps the most stylistically elastic. In cooler climates, it can be high in acidity with notes of citrus, green apple, and salinity. In warmer regions, it turns richer and more tropical. When aged in oak, it takes on baking spice, vanilla, and a creamy texture. An austere, high-acid Chardonnay may complement oysters or roasted chicken. A fuller-bodied, oak-aged expression can stand comfortably alongside cheeseburgers or creamy pasta. What distinguishes red wine from white is contact with the grape skins during fermentation — and if you’ve ever heard hipsters clamour about “orange wine,” that is simply white wine similarly fermented on its skins. Those skins provide color — and, more importantly, tannin. With few exceptions, the thicker the skins, the richer and darker the wines. If you’re unsure what tannin feels like, try this. Take a grape from the grocery store and gently peel away the skin. Eat the skin on its own. You’ll notice a drying, slightly puckering sensation along your gums and cheeks. That’s tannin. When you eat the whole grape, the juicy pulp softens that effect, and the natural acidity keeps everything in balance. Tannins bind to proteins in your food, softening their grip and allowing the savory elements of the dish to emerge. It’s why a tannic Cabernet can feel abrasive on its own yet suddenly supple beside a well-marbled steak. Red wines span a broad structural spectrum. Some lean toward darker, black-fruited intensity — Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, for example. Others are lighter, more red-fruited and translucent in character, such as Pinot Noir, Gamay, or Nebbiolo. In between sit grapes like Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, and Tempranillo, offering varying degrees of weight, tannin, and fruit expression. As always, when pairing wine with food, match the weight of the wine to the weight of the dish. Gamay — most famously from France’s Beaujolais region, though increasingly compelling examples emerge from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Ontario’s Niagara — is a favorite for its affordability and versatility. Bright in acidity and modest in tannin, it pairs effortlessly with pan-seared salmon, roast chicken, most salads, or a decadent cheeseboard. If you’re hankering for something richer to pair with something like barbecue, look no further than the southern Rhône’s Grenache-driven blends. These wines are plush, spice-laced, and comfortably at home beside smoke and char (also delightfully affordable). Southern Italy’s Primitivo — the same grape as California’s Zinfandel — offers a similarly ripe, generous profile, with enough structure and body to stand up to sauce-slathered ribs, brisket, or burgers. And if meat isn’t your preference, southern Rhône reds still shine alongside such vegetarian options as charred eggplant, roasted beets, or sautéed mushrooms. Lighter reds such as Pinot Noir are classic companions for mushroom risotto, where Pinot’s signature “forest floor” and earthy notes complement those of the dish. Another useful technique is to match aromas and flavors in the glass with those on the plate. Whatever red you ultimately choose, be sure to chill it slightly; most people drink their reds far too warm. “Room temperature” refers to the drafty halls of a medieval French castle, not a modern, climate-controlled and insulated house or condominium. Twenty minutes in the refrigerator before serving will bring most reds into the ideal range — around 60°F (15–16°C) — preserving freshness and sharpening acidity. The permutations for wine pairings are effectively limitless. There are countless grapes and styles not mentioned here (forgive me if I omitted your favorite). But the guiding principles remain the same: Think about structure, think about weight, think about balance — though ultimately, drink the wines you love. The only real rule is to experiment, embrace curiosity, and trust your palate. *** Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a software engineer, holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

A Lutheran minister looking for a promotion to Congress once claimed that challenges to the traditional definitions of men and women are “very threatening” to white men and downplayed concerns about the dangers of transgender ideology for women.  Sarah Trone Garriott, a Democrat candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, claimed that Evangelical Christians oppose “GLBTQ” ideology not because of theology, but racial angst, according to an October 2023 speech uncovered by The Daily Wire. Trone Garriott, a former state senator and minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, hopes to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Zach Nunn. During her speech on “Christian Nationalism” at Ames First United Methodist Church, Trone Garriott argued that Evangelical Christians needed “threats” to react against to maintain their identity.  “A new threat that we see today is the GLBTQ movement,” she said. “It’s a challenging of that status quo, of the way that things have been, of who’s a man and who’s woman and how relationships are. It’s very threatening to the idea of the white male, powerful figure, because it muddies the waters and makes things ambiguous and confusing.” Credit: Iowa Conference United Methodist Church “We see all kinds of responses happening in legislation and in community conflicts … a lot more emphasis on, you know, really funding and supporting the separation, the private schools, the parents’ rights,” she said. “And within that, the parents’ rights piece is used to enact book bans, sports bans about who can play and who can compete,” she said.  Trone Garriott then suggested that laws to keep males out of female sports or protect kids from sexually explicit books were motivated by a misguided belief that “white men” are “responsible” for protecting women.  “It’s really couched in the language of there’s a threat against women and white men are responsible to protect women from threats. So a lot of the legislation is about we’re going to protect these feminine, fragile, weak women and girls from a threat to their bodies, their persons, their identity in this way.” During her time in the State Senate, Trone Garriott voted against a bill to keep boys out of girls’ sports and opposed a bill shielding children from transgender procedures.  Republican spokesman Zach Kraft told The Daily Wire that Trone Garriott’s positions were out of step with Iowans.  “Sarah Trone Garriott is a preacher of the woke gospel,” he said. “It is sickening to see her twist Christianity as a justification to force sex changes on young children. That may have been popular with her friends at Harvard, but Iowa voters will reject this radical lunatic.”  Trone Garriott spent much of her speech attacking “white Christian men” and “white evangelical leaders,” an aggressive strategy in a state where white evangelicals compose a major voting bloc. She even attacked famed evangelist Billy Graham for having an “attractive, strong, macho guy persona.”  She also challenged traditional Evangelical Christian understandings of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Her denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is much more liberal than its counterpart, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  “There’s a lot of different ways to think about what Christ did on the cross,” she said during the speech. “There’s not just one way. It makes us wonder, well, who is this Christ?” Trone Garriott said the Evangelical understanding of the Gospel was tainted by the “white patriarchy.”  “What we see more and more is that the good news that a specific variety of Christianity is professing in the world is white patriarchy,” she said. “So white masculine power, violence, dominance, over and against.” She also downplayed biblical writings of the Apostle Paul, calling  him a “great guy and all” but “a product of his time.” 

Last Thursday morning, an ISIS-supporting Islamic terrorist walked into a classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, confirmed he had found the ROTC class, then shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire. Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was murdered. Two other cadets were injured. The attacker — Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guardsman and now radicalized jihadi terrorist — was previously convicted of providing material support to ISIS. When he walked into that gun-free zone, he criminally intended to kill American soldiers-in-training on our own soil. Let’s call this act for what it is: an act of domestic, Islamic terrorism from a naturalized, radicalized jihadi whom President Biden’s DOJ should have already denaturalized and deported upon his felony conviction of “providing material support to ISIS” a.k.a. treason. They failed, and another American hero is dead. Remarkably, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah’s cadets — the ones he trained to defend America — notched their first confirmed kill of an enemy combatant when they rushed the attacker and neutralized him. FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans confirmed that ROTC students neutralized the attacker. “If not for them,” Evans said, “I’m not sure what else he may have done.” I know what else he would have done — continued killing students until a good guy with a gun showed up and put a hole in the bad guy with a gun. Mr. President, these are our people. Future officers in the Army you command. Our soldiers, unarmed by university policy, were sitting ducks in a classroom when an Islamic jihadist walked in and opened fire on our military, in our country. Under fire, the unarmed cadets took action against the enemy. In an active shooting, the FBI says to Run. Hide. Fight. These cadets skipped those first two options and chose to fight — and then went Old Testament on him. Talk about winning one for the Gipper. Lt. Col. Shah was a combat aviator with two Bronze Star Medals and an Air Medal with Valor who returned to his alma mater to build our next generation of Army officers. He was exceptional at it. The proof is in what his cadets did when the moment arrived. No one ordered them to move. No one had time to. They did exactly what Lt. Col. Shah trained them to do: they acted. They moved toward the threat, absorbed the chaos, neutralized him, and stopped the killing — all within ten minutes of the first 911 phone call reporting the shooting. They showed us what true bravery looks like against radical Islamic terrorist threats in America. I am asking you, as a Virginia legislator and as an American, to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Old Dominion University ROTC cadets who stopped Mohamed Bailor Jalloh — and to honor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah posthumously with every distinction a grateful nation can offer a fallen officer. Let the country see, without ambiguity, who its heroes are: those who stand up and fight to take down terrorism, both foreign and domestic. We live in a moment deeply confused about courage. The institutions that produce people like these cadets are under constant pressure to apologize for their existence. This is our moment to say “no” — we will not apologize for our pride and patriotism for our country and Commonwealth. These young men and women did not ask to be tested on March 12, but a terrorist walked into their classroom and made that choice for them. They responded heroically, the way every American soldier is trained to respond — with discipline, with ferocity, and without pause. Lt. Col. Shah taught his cadets that American soldiers move toward the threat, not away. When called upon to neutralize a present enemy threat, these cadets proved they were ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They are worthy of your Medal of Freedom. Lt. Col. Shah is worthy of distinguished honors befitting an officer of his rank and merit. I ask that you please honor each of them with such distinctions. * * * Del. Wren Williams represents Virginia’s 47th House District (Patrick County and surrounding area). He is an attorney and a member of the House Republican Caucus. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

President Donald Trump accused Iran of waging an aggressive disinformation campaign using artificial intelligence during the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel, taking direct aim at the American “corrupt media outlets” that were parroting the same misinformation. In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran has increasingly relied on AI-generated content and propaganda distributed through sympathetic media outlets and social media accounts. “Iran has long been known as a master of media manipulation and public relations,” Trump wrote. “They are militarily ineffective and weak, but are really good at feeding the very appreciative fake news media false information.” Trump specifically pushed back on viral imagery circulating online that purported to show U.S. military losses during the conflict, including claims that multiple American refueling aircraft had been destroyed. The president said those reports, including one attributed to The Wall Street Journal, were false. “The five U.S. refueling planes that were supposedly struck down and badly damaged … are all in service, with the exception of one, which will soon be flying the skies,” Trump said. The president also rejected widely shared images claiming the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln had been struck and set ablaze. “Buildings and Ships that are shown to be on fire are not — It’s FAKE NEWS, generated by A.I. For instance, Iran, working in close coordination with the Fake News Media, shows our great USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier, one of the largest and most prestigious Ships in the World, burning uncontrollably in the Ocean.” Trump went further, suggesting that American media outlets that knowingly amplify false propaganda during wartime should face serious consequences. “The story was knowingly fake and, in a certain way, you can say that those media outlets that generated it should be brought up on charges for treason for the dissemination of false information,” he wrote. His comments come as analysts warn that AI-generated propaganda has become a major feature of the information war surrounding the conflict. A widely circulated video appearing to show a high-rise building in Bahrain engulfed in flames after an Iranian missile strike was later determined to be AI-generated and shared by accounts linked to the Iranian government, according to researchers tracking online influence campaigns. Experts said the video contained several visual anomalies typical of AI-generated content, including vehicles appearing fused together and human movements that defied normal physics. Melanie Smith of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue said state-linked influence operations are increasingly using AI tools to amplify political narratives during wartime. “The content that’s coming from state actors tends to be a little better targeted,” Smith said. “They have a very clear narrative structure and the videos are used to support some kind of statement they want to make about the conflict.” Researchers say pro-Iran accounts have circulated numerous fabricated clips showing air strikes and military successes in an effort to exaggerate damage inflicted on U.S. and Israeli targets. Analysts warn that the growing flood of AI-generated content is making it harder for the public to distinguish real battlefield developments from fabricated propaganda. “The volume of AI content is starting to just pollute the information environment in these kinds of crisis settings to a really terrifying degree,” Smith said. Some social media platforms have begun responding to the surge in misinformation. Nikita Bier, head of product at X, announced that users who post AI-generated content related to armed conflicts without disclosure could be suspended from the platform’s revenue-sharing program. Meanwhile, Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council warned that social media has effectively become another battlefield. “If you’re in these spaces, just understand that this is an extension of the physical battle space,” Brooking said. “Your eyeballs and your attention are an asset.” Trump praised Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, for reviewing broadcast licenses held by outlets he accused of spreading false information. “They get billions of dollars of free American airwaves and use it to perpetuate lies,” Trump wrote, arguing that the Iranian government is attempting to win an information war even as its military suffers setbacks on the battlefield. “The fact is, Iran is being decimated,” Trump wrote. “And the only battles they ‘win’ are those they create through A.I.” As the conflict unfolds both on the battlefield and across social media feeds, the struggle over information is just another front to wrestle public opinion into despair and confusion; over what’s real, what’s fabricated, and who controls the narrative.