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Hong Kong painter draws inspiration from city’s recent history in works at Art Basel

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<div>Hong Kong painter draws inspiration from city’s recent history in works at Art Basel</div>

HONG KONG — At Hong Kong’s Art Basel, painter Chow Chun-fai’s new works transport viewers back to the night in 1997 when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule, displayed in the very exhibition center where one era ended and another began.

That transformation in the city’s post-colonial era has taken a drastic turn since 2020, when China imposed a national security law that virtually wiped out dissent. The law drove many middle-class families and young professionals, including artists, to emigrate to democracies like Britain, Canada, Taiwan and the U.S. from what was once a haven for free expression in Asia.

But others, like Chow, chose to stay and continue to document their home city despite unclear red lines. His works at Art Basel, which opens to the public on Friday, revisit Hong Kongers’ collective memories of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a time many were proud of the Chinese financial hub’s vibrancy and openness.

“While studying art, we’ve learned many artists faced momentous times. Since we are living through such a momentous time ourselves now, I will continue to learn from it,” he said in an interview ahead of the exhibition.

Chow is perhaps best known to those outside art circles for his witty recreations of classic movie scenes with bilingual subtitles that lead audiences to reflect on Hong Kong’s history and identity. He was also in the news when he ran against pro-establishment candidates in the 2012 legislative election and the 2016 election committee race, though he ultimately lost both contests.

At Art Basel, Chow’s paintings revisit significant news events, from the 1997 handover and overseas trips made by former top Chinese leaders to the celebration of China becoming the host of the 2008 Olympic Games.

His works center on some of the biggest news stories covered by Sharon Cheung, a former journalist and now local gallery director.

In 2000, late former Chinese President Jiang Zemin berated Cheung for asking what he called “too simple, sometimes naive” questions. She’d asked Jiang if his support for then-Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa gave the impression of an imperial-style appointment. One of Chow’s paintings illustrates that scene.

Another set of Chow’s paintings that will be shown, titled “Panda,” captures Jiang’s personality from another side, documenting his light-hearted response to a question about pandas during a 2002 U.S. trip. He replied in English with a laugh: “I’m sorry, I am an electrical power engineer.” Zhang said he was not a panda expert and quoted a Confucian saying about the virtue of acknowledging what one doesn’t know.

Chow said he included the work in the exhibition because pandas have become a trending topic in Hong Kong, where twins born last year sparked a bear craze. Jiang’s response shows the characteristics of Chinese leaders back then, he said.

Some 20 years later, Chinese leaders no longer have such open exchanges with Hong Kong journalists. Last year, China’s government even eliminated an annual news conference by the premier, one of the rare times a top Chinese leader took questions from journalists.

In Hong Kong, Beijing has doubled down on its control following 2019 anti-government protests. Many leading pro-democracy activists were prosecuted and jailed under the security law. Apple Daily and Stand News, news outlets known for their critical reports of the government, were shut down in 2021 after their top editors were arrested.

The cultural sector has felt the chilling effect.

In 2021, the government introduced amendments to its film censorship law on national security grounds. Some filmmakers have stopped screening their work in the city. Cultural works that diverge from government positions have lost funding. Booksellers practice self-censorship at the city’s book fair, and local libraries in 2023 pulled titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing and some political figures.

Cheung, director of SC Gallery, said people have become more cautious about expressing their thoughts, but that she and Chow will not let fear stop them. Art’s sense of distance allows room for interpretation, Cheung said.

“We’re not trying to tell people something. It’s more about what people take away when they look at these images,” she said.

Chow said he never planned to leave Hong Kong despite the city’s drastic changes, noting that artists who lived through major changes in the past produced great work.

“Today, finding ourselves in this moment of transformation, how could I, as a creative professional, not be here to witness it personally?” he said.

Detentions of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America

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Detentions of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America

SAN DIEGO — Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship.

But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month.

U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention center. He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany.

Since President Donald Trump took office, there have been other high-profile incidents of tourists like Sielaff being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at U.S. immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.

They include another German tourist who was stopped at the Tijuana crossing on Jan. 25. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks locked up, including over a week in solitary confinement, a friend said.

On the Canadian border, a backpacker from Wales spent nearly three weeks at a detention center before flying home this week. And a Canadian woman on a work visa detained at the Tijuana border spent 12 days in detention before returning home last weekend.

Sielaff, 25, and the others say it was never made clear why they were taken into custody even after they offered to go home voluntarily.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee, a nonprofit that aids migrants, said in the 22 years he has worked on the border he has never seen travelers from Western Europe and Canada, longtime U.S. allies, locked up like this.

“It’s definitely unusual with these cases so close together, and the rationale for detaining these people doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It doesn’t justify the abhorrent treatment and conditions” they endured.

“The only reason I see is there is a much more fervent anti-immigrant atmosphere,” Rios said.

U.S. authorities did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for figures on how many tourists have been held at detention facilities or explain why they weren’t simply denied entry.

The incidents are fueling anxiety as the Trump administration prepares for a ban on travelers from some countries. Noting the “evolving” federal travel policies, the University of California, Los Angeles sent a notice this week urging its foreign-born students and staff to consider the risks of non-essential travel for spring break, warning “re-entry requirements may change while you are away, impacting your return.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in an email to the AP that Sielaff and Brösche, who was held for 45 days, “were deemed inadmissible” by Customs and Border Protection. That agency said it cannot discuss specifics but “if statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal.” The agencies did not comment on the other cases.

Both German tourists were allowed into the United States under a waiver program offered to a select group of countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, whose citizens are allowed to travel to the U.S. for business or leisure for up to 90 days without getting a visa in advance. Applicants register online with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

But even if they are authorized to travel under that system, they can still be barred from entering the country.

Sielaff arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 27. He and Tyler decided to go to Tijuana for four days in mid-February because Tyler’s dog needed surgery and veterinary services are cheaper there. They figured they would enjoy some tacos and make a fun trip out of it.

“Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country that Lucas and I love to visit,” Tyler said.

They returned Feb. 18, just 22 days into Sielaff’s 90-day tourist permit.

When they pulled up to the crossing, the U.S. border agent asked Sielaff aggressively, “Where are you going? Where do you live?” Tyler said.

“English is not Lucas’ first language and so he said, ‘We’re going to Las Vegas,’ and the agent says, ’Oh, we caught you. You live in Las Vegas. You can’t do that,'” Tyler said, recounting what happened.

Sielaff was taken away for more questioning. Tyler said she asked to go with him or if he could get a translator and was told to be quiet, then taken out of her car and handcuffed and chained to a bench. Her dog, recovering from surgery, was left in the car.

After four hours, Tyler was allowed to leave but said she was given no information about her fiancé’s whereabouts.

During questioning, Sielaff said he told authorities he never lived in the U.S. and had no criminal history. He said he was given a full-body search and ordered to hand over his cellphone and belongings. He was put in a holding cell where he slept on a bench for two days before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.

There, he said, he shared a cell with eight others.

“You are angry, you are sad, you don’t know when you can get out,” Sielaff said. “You just don’t get any answers from anybody.”

He was finally told to get a direct flight to Germany and submit a confirmation number. In a frantic call from Sielaff, Tyler bought it for $2,744. He flew back March 5.

“What happened at the border was just blatant abuse of the Border Patrol’s power,” Tyler said.

Ashley Paschen agrees. She said she learned about Brösche from a TikTok video asking anyone in the San Diego area for help after her family learned she was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Paschen visited her several times and told her people were working to get her out. Brosche flew home March 11.

“She’s happy to be home,” Paschen said. “She seems very relieved if anything but she’s not coming back here anytime soon.”

On Feb. 26, a tourist from Wales, Becky Burke, a backpacker on a trip across North America, was stopped at the U.S.-Canada border and held for nearly three weeks at a detention facility in Washington state, her father, Paul Burke, posted on Facebook. She returned home Tuesday.

On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actress and entrepreneur who had a visa to work in the U.S., was detained at the Tijuana crossing. She was released Saturday, her friend Brittany Kors said.

Before Mooney’s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying, “It certainly reinforces anxiety that many British Columbians have, and many Canadians have, about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”

The detentions come amid legal fights over the Trump administration’s arrests and deportations of other foreigners with valid visas and green card holders, including a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza.

Tyler plans to sue the U.S. government.

Sielaff said he and Tyler are now rethinking plans to hold their wedding in Las Vegas. He suffers nightmares and is considering therapy to cope with the trauma.

“Nobody is safe there anymore to come to America as a tourist,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Rob Gillies reported from Toronto.

Trump’s tariff tactics carry higher economic risks than during his first term

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Trump’s tariff tactics carry higher economic risks than during his first term

WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump started the biggest trade war since the 1930s in his first term, his impulsive combination of threats and import taxes on U.S. trading partners created chaos, generated drama — and drew criticism from mainstream economists who favor free trade.

But it didn’t do much damage to the U.S. economy. Or much good. Inflation stayed under control. The economy kept growing as it had before. And America’s massive trade deficits, the main target of Trump’s ire, proved resistant to his rhetoric and his tariffs: Already big, they got bigger.

The trade war sequel that Trump has introduced in his second term is likely to be a different matter altogether. Trump appears to have grander ambitions and is operating in a far more treacherous economic environment this time.

His plans to plaster tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada and to double a 10% levy on China Tuesday – and to follow those up by targeting other countries – would threaten growth, and push up prices in the United States, undermining his campaign pledge to eliminate the inflation that plagued President Joe Biden.

The tariffs would be paid by U.S. importers, who would then try to pass along the higher costs to consumers through higher prices.

Trump himself has warned of possible fallout. “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump said in a social media post last month. “BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”

For a while, most of the hostilities were on hold. Trump, who had said he would hit Canada and Mexico on Feb. 4, delayed imposing the tariffs for 30 days. Now they’re scheduled to start Tuesday. He went ahead with 10% import taxes on Chinese goods — and Beijing promptly retaliated by hitting U.S. coal, big cars and other items — and plans to double them Tuesday.

Trump views tariffs – taxes on imports – as an economic elixir that can restore factories to the American heartland, raise money for the government and pressure foreign countries to do what he wants.

During his first term, Trump put tariffs on most Chinese goods and on imported solar panels, washing machines, steel and aluminum. The tax increases might have raised prices on those items, but they had little or no impact on overall inflation, which remained modest. Nor did they do much to restore factory jobs.

Economists agree that a second Trump trade war could be far costlier than the first.

“That was then. This is now,’’ said trade analyst William Reinsch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

During Trump’s first term, his trade team carefully focused its tariff hit list to avoid or at least delay the impact on consumers. They targeted industrial products and not those “that would show up on Walmart’s shelves,” said Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official. “That tamped down the impact.’’

This time, by contrast, the tariffs are across the board – although the tariffs Trump plans Tuesday would limit hte levy on Canadian energy to 10%, showing that he was mindful of how much Americans in northern and midwestern states depend on oil and electricity from north of the border.

In Boca Raton, Florida, the toy company Basic Fun is preparing to raise prices and absorb a hit to profits when the tariffs land.

Ninety percent of Basic Fun’s toys come from China, including Tonka and Care Bears. CEO Jay Foreman says the price on the Tonka Classic Steel Mighty Dump Truck is likely to rise later this year from $29.99 to as much as $39.99.

Five years ago, the Trump administration spared toys, exempting them from its China tariffs. This time, Foreman said, “we are now just going to forecast a lot of money draining out of the company.”

Also worrying, economists say, is a retaliation clause the Trump team inserted in the tariff orders he signed last month.

If other countries retaliate against Trump’s tariffs with tariffs of their own – as China did and Canada and Mexico have threatened — Trump will lash back with still more tariffs. That risks “setting off a spiraling trade war’’ of tit-for-tat tariffs and counter-tariffs, said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Economists gathered Monday at a conference of the National Association for Business Economics were generally wary of the import taxes and their impact on the economy. Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, estimated that the proposed duties could drag down economic growth by as much as a half-percentage point.

One big difference between Trump’s first term is that he’s likely to get less pushback from his own aides. “This is true religion inside the White House right now, unlike the first term, when many of the president’s advisers were deeply skeptical of this policy,” Strain said.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at the giant accounting firm KPMG, said the impact of tariffs this time would likely be much bigger than in 2018-2019. Among other things, the president is planning to impose what he calls “reciprocal tariffs” — and raise U.S. import taxes to match higher tariffs charged by other countries.

“The breadth and scope are different,” Swonk said. “The goals are different. It’s not just one country, we’re talking about multiple countries at the same time. And the rest of the world is ready to retaliate.”

One of those goals that Trump has cited more often than last time is using tariffs to raise revenue for the government, Swonk noted. Trump and some of his officials have talked about substituting tariff revenue for income taxes. If so, that would mean keeping the tariffs in place even if countries like Canada and Mexico agreed to Trump’s demands on other issues, such as immigration restrictions.

Perhaps the biggest difference is the economic backdrop Trump must contend with this time.

Six years ago, inflation was low — maybe even too low, the Federal Reserve fretted. Trump’s first-term tariffs didn’t make a dent.

Inflation isn’t so benign anymore. Prices surged in the unexpected boom that followed the end of COVID-19 lockdowns. Inflation has come down from the four-decade high it hit in mid-2022, but it’s still stuck above the Fed’s 2% target and hasn’t shown much improvement since summer.

Trump’s tariffs could rekindle the inflationary trend and convince the Fed to cancel or postpone the two interest rate cuts it had anticipated this year. That would risk keeping “interest rates at their current elevated level for a longer period in 2025. That will push up mortgage and loan borrowing rates … and reduce real growth,’’ said Boston College economist Brian Bethune.

Outside a Harris Teeter supermarket near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, Jacobs Ogadi had in his shopping bag an avocado, which almost certainly came from Mexico.

The 62-year-old mechanic said it “doesn’t take a rocket scientist’’ to know that Trump’s tariffs run counter to his promises to rein in inflation. “If it goes up 25%, it’s not the government, it’s not the Mexican people paying for it,’’ he said. “Who pays for it? Us.’’

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AP writers Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this story.

Mushers begin rugged Iditarod race after lack of snow forces major changes to iconic Alaska event

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Mushers begin rugged Iditarod race after lack of snow forces major changes to iconic Alaska event

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The rugged Iditarod started Monday, but a dearth of snow forced the iconic dog sled race to start further north and added a new route that allows mushers to bypass barren land, while lengthening by more than 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) an unforgiving journey often measured in grit and attrition.

The new course reroutes mushers and their dog teams around a difficult stretch of trail north of the Alaska Range, which is treacherous with snow and ice but mostly unpassable in dry conditions for sleds.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is usually billed as a 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race across Alaska. The route change means it’s now 1,128 miles (1,815 kilometers). Mushers began their trek to the finish line in Nome from Fairbanks, the fourth time this century the race has been forced north from the Anchorage area.

A lack of snow in the Anchorage area also caused headaches for race organizers Saturday during the ceremonial start. The parade-like route in Anchorage usually has mushers taking a leisurely course over 11 miles (17.70 kilometers) of city streets and trails with an auction winner riding in their sled.

However, weeks of little-to-no new snowfall and warm temperatures in Alaska’s largest city forced organizers to shorten the ceremonial start to less than 2 miles (3.22 kilometers), run over snow that was trucked in to cover downtown city streets.

There are 33 mushers in this year’s race, tied with the 2023 race for smallest field ever. Among them are two former champions, Ryan Redington and three-time winner Mitch Seavey.

Mushers and their dog teams will battle the worst of what wild Alaska can throw at them — from bad trails, mushing on frozen rivers and sea ice and possible encounters with wildlife with the winner expected in the old Gold Rush town of Nome on the Bering Sea coast in about 10 days.

This year the Iditarod will honor another famous mushing event, the 1925 Serum Run, in which sled dog teams saved Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak.

Illinois man accused of deadly mass shooting at July 4th parade faces trial 3 years after attack

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Illinois man accused of deadly mass shooting at July 4th parade faces trial 3 years after attack

WAUKEGAN, Ill — The trial of a suburban Chicago man accused of a mass shooting at a 2022 Independence Day parade that killed seven people and wounded dozens more is set to begin Monday.

Robert Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each person killed, as well as 48 counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors dropped the less serious 48 counts of aggravated battery before jury selection last week.

The road to the trial has been bumpy, with delays partly due to Crimo’s unpredictability, including his rejection of a plea deal that even surprised his attorneys. As potential jurors were questioned last week, he sporadically appeared in court, at times refusing to leave his jail cell.

Authorities alleged Crimo perched on a roof and fired into crowds assembled for the annual Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Chicago.

Prosecutors have submitted thousands of pages of evidence, as well as hours of a videotaped interrogation during which police say Crimo confessed to the shooting. But the 24-year-old has since pleaded not guilty.

His defense attorneys have declined comment ahead of the trial, which is expected to last about a month.

His father, Robert Crimo Jr., a onetime mayoral candidate, was charged in connection with how his son obtained a gun license. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and served less than two months in jail.

He has attended his son’s hearings, sometimes making eye contact with him during court. He declined to discuss the case in detail ahead of the trial.

“As a parent, I love my son very much,” he said. “And Bobby loves this country more than anyone would ever know.”

Prosecutors plan to call multiple law enforcement officers and survivors of the shooting to testify. They also will show videos of Crimo’s statements to police. Some of the videos already have been shown in court as prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to have them thrown out.

Crimo’s erratic behavior has contributed to court delays.

He fired his public defenders and said he would represent himself, then abruptly reversed himself. In June 2024, when he was expected to accept a plea deal and give victims and relatives a chance to address him publicly, he arrived at the court in a wheelchair and rejected the deal.

Residents in the wealthy Highland Park community of roughly 30,000 set along Lake Michigan have mourned the losses deeply. Some potential jurors were excused because of their connections to the case.

City leaders canceled the usual parade in 2023, opting for a “community walk.” The parade was reinstated last year on a different route and with a memorial for the victims.

“Our community is once again reminded of the immense pain and trauma caused by the Highland Park shooting,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said in a statement ahead of jury selection. “Our hearts remain with the victims, their families, and all those whose lives were forever changed by that devastating day.”

The victims killed in the shooting included Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

Survivors and their families have filed multiple lawsuits, including against the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting and against authorities they accuse of negligence.

Self-taught painter Jack Vettriano dies in France at age 73

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Self-taught painter Jack Vettriano dies in France at age 73

LONDON — Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, known for his works depicting elegant men and women on dreamlike beaches, has been found dead in his apartment in France, his publicist said Monday. He was 73.

British media reported there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death on Saturday.

Vettriano, born Jack Hoggan in Fife, Scotland on Nov. 17, 1951, was a self-taught artist who created some of the world’s most recognizable contemporary paintings.

His 1992 painting “The Singing Butler” — featuring a couple in evening dress dancing on a storm-swept beach as their butler and maid proffered umbrellas — became a best-selling image in Britain.

In 2005, elusive street artist Banksy based a satirical painting titled “Crude Oil (Vettriano)” on “The Singing Butler,” adding a sinking oil liner and two figures lugging a barrel of toxic waste to the composition to send an environmental message.

Vettriano left school at 15 to become a mining engineer but took up painting after a girlfriend gave him a box of watercolors for his 21st birthday. His breakthrough came in 1998 when he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual show. Both sold on the first day.

Although some art critics dismissed his work, he enjoyed commercial success and held exhibitions in London, Hong Kong, New York and elsewhere. Actor Jack Nicholson and lyricist Tim Rice were among those who acquired Vettriano’s work.

“Jack Vettriano’s passing marks the end of an era for contemporary Scottish art,” his publicist said in a statement. “His evocative and timeless works will continue to captivate and inspire future generations.”

They were there, but barely: Celebs embrace naked fashion trend at Oscar after-parties

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They were there, but barely: Celebs embrace naked fashion trend at Oscar after-parties

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — At the Oscars ceremony, they were there. At the after-parties, they were barely there.

Celebrities bared a lot more than their emotions on Oscar night. The naked fashion trend was on full display at places like the Vanity Fair party carpet, where guests clearly bought into the idea that less is more.

Among them: actor-director Olivia Wilde, who wore a sheer, embroidered lace negligee by Chloé, “with metal ends and embroidered lace lingerie panties,” according to the designer.

While Wilde’s outfit had a demure bohemian charm, actor Julia Fox leaned much further toward naked, arriving in a see-through wrap dress where the only adornment seemed to be strategically placed hair extensions.

Doja Cat sang “Diamonds Are Forever” on the telecast during a James Bond tribute segment in what looked like only diamonds, with little fabric in between. Then she showed up at the Vanity Fair party in a custom Balmain strapless gown with fringes, which the designer said “was crafted by 39 artisans over the course of 3,450 hours.” The inspiration: an Oscar statue reflecting the female form — and that form was celebrated, beneath all the hand-threaded glass beads in nine different shades of gold.

Kendall Jenner drew attention at the Vanity Fair fete with a vintage 1992 Mugler number in black lace that was actually made of rubber. “White Lotus” actor Leslie Bibb decided to go with the popular nude-sparkle look.

Although the trend may feel somewhat new — as evidenced by the chatter around the recent Grammys carpet appearance by Bianca Censori and Ye — naked fashion has been in vogue for a number of years, noted Madeline Hirsch, features director at InStyle Fashion.

“Though it originated on the runway, the naked dress trend is fed largely by celebrity red carpet moments — stars and their stylists can’t seem to get enough,” Hirsch said in an email. She added that in 2025, sheer lace is the most prominent expression of the trend — not a surprise since bohemian style is resurgent.

Though many Oscar attendees, of course, opt for much more traditional looks both before and after the ceremonies, it tends to be at the after-parties where the naked look pops up the most, Hirsch said.

“It’s the time when attendees can let down their hair after hours, and generally speaking, it’s a lower stakes red carpet and less formal event than the ceremony itself,” Hirsch said. “Next-to-naked dressing matches that energy.”

America vs. The World: Trump Shows How Far He Is Willing to Take ‘America First.’

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President Trump has frayed alliances across the globe with his words and actions.

Pro-Trump techies enraged by president’s crypto reserve announcement, causing early rift

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David Sacks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s “AI and Crypto Czar”, speaks to President Trump as he signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

The Trump-tech alliance is showing its first real sign of distress. And it’s because of crypto.

President Donald Trump counted on crypto execs and investors for a hefty portion of his 2024 campaign funds. He promised to reward them handsomely if elected by slashing regulations and by turning the U.S. into “the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world.”

The president got off to a quick start, signing an executive order calling for the establishment of a working group on digital assets and pardoning Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. The SEC also dropped its yearslong probe into Coinbase.

While those moves were lauded by the most vocal techies who backed Trump’s candidacy, over the weekend the president took it a step too far in their view. In a post Sunday on Truth Social, Trump announced the creation of a strategic crypto reserve for the U.S. that would include not just bitcoin but several other digital currencies — ether, XRP,  Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA.

For the most part, Trump’s crypto backers all wanted a strategic bitcoin reserve. Such a move would entail using cash to buy bitcoin, which is widely viewed by crypto enthusiasts as a smart way to deploy capital into a decentralized currency that’s an alternative to hard money. As Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on X, bitcoin offers a “clear story as successor to gold.”

By going well beyond bitcoin, the critics say, Trump would be using U.S. taxpayer money to buy much riskier assets that have unproven value and have the potential to bolster the net worth of a select few investors who own the coins. That’s all the more problematic to those who want to axe government spending by trillions of dollars, in support of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting mission at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“Taxation is theft,” wrote Joe Lonsdale, founder of venture firm 8VC and a vocal Trump supporter, in a post on X. “It should be kept to a minimum. It’s wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it’s also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.”

David Sacks, the venture capitalist who was tapped by Trump to be the White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar, took exception to Lonsdale’s comment, suggesting it’s premature to jump to any conclusions. Sacks and Lonsdale are part of the same conservative circle in the tech world, with Musk and Peter Thiel at the center.

“Nobody announced a tax or a spending program,” Sacks wrote, in response to Lonsdale’s post. “Maybe you should wait to find out what’s actually being proposed.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But Lonsdale was far from alone.

Naval Ravikant, a longtime tech investor and early crypto evangelist, wrote after the announcement that, “The US taxpayer should not be exit liquidity for cryptocurrencies that are decentralized in name only.” And Vinny Lingham, creator of blockchain startup Civic and a big crypto influencer, wrote, “Call me old fashioned but I don’t think the government should be pumping our crypto bags with taxpayer money while we are running a near $2trn deficit.”

Agreement across the industry

A major Trump supporter and big name in crypto joined the chorus on Monday. Billionaire bitcoin investor Tyler Winklevoss, who wrote just before the November election that you should vote for Trump “if you care about the future of crypto, free speech, justice, liberty, and democracy,” came out against the president’s crypto reserve plan.

“I have nothing against XRP, SOL, or ADA but I do not think they are suitable for a Strategic Reserve,” Winklevoss wrote. “Only one digital asset in the world right now meets the bar and that digital asset is bitcoin.”

David Marcus, the former head of Facebook’s failed crypto project, suggested that the majority of his peers in the crypto community have the same view.

“Most—if not all—of the non-conflicted industry leaders are agreeing about this,” Marcus wrote, in reposting Winklevoss’ comment.

Marcus, who’s now CEO of payments infrastructure startup Lightspark, declared in July that he was “crossing the Rubicon” and shifting his support to Trump and away from Democrats.

Anthony Pompliano, a loud pro-Trump voice in crypto investing, committed over 1,500 words in his newsletter on Monday to the topic. He says Trump is willing to propose an agenda of buying risky tokens on behalf of the U.S. because the wrong people got to him.

“We watched crypto projects, lobbyists, and special interest groups co-opt the President of the United States,” Pompliano wrote. “They told the President that any crypto-related reserve should hold tokens that were ‘made in America.’ This pitch was the perfect trap for a President who ran on the America First agenda.”

Some of the wrath online was directed specifically at Sacks, who touted and backed various cryptocurrencies as a VC before joining the Trump administration, and whose firm, Craft Ventures, is an investor in crypto index fund manager Bitwise.

A cartoon image of US President-elect Donald Trump with cryptocurrency tokens, depicted in front of the White House to mark his inauguration, displayed at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. 
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Sacks wrote in a post on X that he sold all of his crypto, including bitcoin, ether and SOL, before taking on his new role and “will provide an update at the end of the ethics process.”

By late afternoon Monday, crypto prices had staged a dramatic reversal from their weekend rally that followed Trump’s announcement. Bitcoin fell about 9%, while ether slid 15%. XRP and SOL dropped even more.

The slide appeared tied to Trump’s confirmation of forthcoming tariffs, which hammered risky assets across the board and sent the Nasdaq down almost 3% at the close of trading.

There were some voices in crypto who were less willing to publicly slam Trump’s reserve plan.

Michael Saylor, chairman of Strategy, which has effectively emerged as a bitcoin proxy due to its roughly $43 billion stash, told CNBC on Monday that he wasn’t surprised about Trump’s decision to include additional cryptocurrencies.

“There’s no way to interpret this other than this is bullish for bitcoin and bullish for the entire U.S. crypto industry,” Saylor said. “I believe the best thing for the country is to move forward with an enlightened progressive policy toward digital assets.”

Jonathan Jachym, global head of policy and government relations at Kraken, told CNBC that the crypto exchange is “encouraged to see that announcement” and that it shows the president is “staying true to commitments.”

Even among the skeptics, Trump doesn’t appear to be losing broader support for his agenda just because of this one announcement. Backers like Lonsdale have been quick to post about other matters, complimenting actions taken by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump for pressuring Mexican drug cartels.

But coming just six weeks into Trump’s second administration, the reaction shows how quickly the outrage machine can activate when a proposal touches the nerve of a critical group of supporters. The debate adds interest to Trump’s first White House Crypto Summit on Friday, when investors will eagerly be awaiting more details.

As Sacks wrote on Sunday, in his first post about the announcement of the strategic reserve, “More to come at the Summit.”

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Republicans target 4 ‘sanctuary’ cities as Trump pushes mass deportations

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WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are taking aim at four cities — often called “sanctuary cities” — over their policies limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement with a hearing this week that comes as President Donald Trump presses ahead with his campaign of mass deportations.

Mayors Michelle Wu of Boston, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York are set to appear Wednesday in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

There’s no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help, particularly for large-scale deportations, requesting that police and sheriffs alert them to people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.

But some cities and states say cooperating with ICE means victims of crime and witnesses who aren’t in the U.S. legally won’t come forward. And, to varying degrees, officials argue that they want their localities to be welcoming places for immigrants.

Courts have repeatedly upheld the legality of most sanctuary laws. But Trump administration officials have targeted sanctuary policies right out of the gate in his second term, seeing them as a key impediment to deporting people in the large numbers he wants. The administration has sued Chicago and Illinois as well as New York state over various immigration laws.

Here’s a look at the immigration policies and migration trends of the cities whose mayors will appear Wednesday:

The city’s Trust Act generally restricts how much the police can cooperate with ICE, although it does allow some cooperation with a division called Homeland Security Investigations when it comes to such issues as combating human trafficking or drug and weapons trafficking.

The city also must follow a 2017 ruling by the state’s highest court that forbids Massachusetts authorities from holding a person otherwise entitled to release from custody based solely on a federal request.

Those requests, called detainers, typically ask federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to give at least 48 hours’ notice before suspected immigrants are released from jail — or to hold them for up to 48 hours after they would normally be released so ICE can pick them up. Otherwise, ICE must go out into the community to arrest them.

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, hammered Boston’s police commissioner and promised to go to Boston and “bring hell” with him.

That has not sat well in Boston.

Wu, a Democrat up for reelection this year, said that it was “clueless” and “insulting” for Homan to attack the police commissioner and that she wants Boston be a welcoming place for immigrants.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said handing over defendants makes it harder to gain cooperation from immigrants when investigating crimes.

Chicago has some of the country’s strongest immigrant protections, barring cooperation between federal agents and city employees, including police.

The nation’s third-largest city became a sanctuary location in the 1980s and has amped up its policies multiple times since. That includes a 2012 ordinance that bars federal agents from accessing city resources in assisting with immigration operations.

City officials beefed up protections after Trump first took office in 2017 and again in 2020, when it required police to document requests for assistance from federal agents. Illinois also has protections allowing anyone, regardless of immigration status, to get a driver’s license.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in 2023, inherited a migrant crisis his first year. Short on shelter space, Chicago’s leaders used police station lobbies, airports, parked buses and hotels to house asylum-seekers.

At its height, roughly 15,000 migrants lived in dozens of temporary shelters, although the city has shuttered those as the number of people arriving decreased.

There have been a handful of City Council attempts to weaken Chicago’s sanctuary protections, but they have been unsuccessful in the Democratic-leaning city.

Johnson has defended the policies.

“We welcome all individuals and families who want to work, live and thrive here in our beloved city,” Johnson said in late January.

Denver became a hub for immigrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, with the city seeing arrivals of 43,000 over the last two years.

Mayor Mike Johnston struggled to cobble together the resources to house and feed them, gouging parts of the city budget and pleading with the federal government alongside other mayors for funding, which only partially came.

The spotlight ratcheted up when a video of armed men in an apartment building in the Denver suburb of Aurora went viral, prompting then-candidate Trump to claim that the city of some 400,000 people was overrun by a Venezuelan gang.

The idea was swiftly repudiated by local officials, but the limelight stayed on Colorado.

In early February, heavily armed federal agents in masks and armored vehicles appeared across the metro area. The results of the operation are unclear, and Homan said news media leaks hindered the raids.

The mayor has repeated that he wants Denver to be a welcoming place while drawing the line at those who commit violent crimes.

Last month, Denver Public Schools became the first district to sue the Trump administration over its policy allowing ICE immigration agents in schools.

In New York City, an estimated 231,000 immigrants have arrived since 2022 — at a cost that the city estimates to be more than $7 billion for shelters, food, security and legal support.

Last month, the city sued the Trump administration over $80.6 million in reimbursements for congressionally approved immigrant aid after officials paid the money and then clawed it back.

As in other cities, New York’s immigrant arrivals have fallen dramatically over the past year.

Mayor Eric Adams continues to voice support for policies that ensure all residents have access to social services regardless of immigration status.

But Adams wants to roll back policies prohibiting city employees from working with immigration enforcement, saying he wants to “remove dangerous people from our streets.” He’s also called on the City Council to make changes allowing New York to honor ICE detainer requests to hold people in jails beyond their release dates. And he’s invited ICE agents to work out of the Rikers Island city jail.

Adams’ critics, including those running for mayor, say his desire to work with the White House is an effort to wriggle out of federal corruption charges.

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Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio in New York, Jesse Bedayn in Denver, Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.

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