5 minSociety
Americans Who Moved to Europe After Trump's Win Now Report Regrets
A Wired article profiles liberal Americans who relocated to Europe after the 2024 election and now describe lower living standards, bureaucratic hurdles, and cultural friction, with some returning home.
Americans who relocated to Europe after President Donald Trump's re-election are describing second thoughts about the move, citing lower living standards, difficult job markets, and cultural friction that they say they did not anticipate. A Wired article published Thursday, headlined «They Fled Trump's America. Now They Regret It,» spoke with several people who sought what the magazine called «political refuge in the wake of Trump's second term» and have since voiced frustration with their new surroundings.
One woman identified only as «Annie» told the magazine that social media had sold her on an idyllic life in the United Kingdom, but that the reality differed sharply from her expectations. She said there are «huge misconceptions» about access to quality health care and the standard of living, and that «the quality of life is significantly lower than in the U.S.» She pointed to a significantly lower disposable income and to items considered luxuries in Britain, such as a dishwasher and a dryer, that are common in American homes.
Annie said she had believed she would receive free health care through the National Health Service, but found herself paying «huge amounts of taxes and an immigration surcharge» to access it. «So no, the health care is not free here,» she said. She also described surprise at the anti-American hostility she encountered, including people mocking her accent and culture in workplace settings, and at what she characterized as a more individualistic British culture lacking the sense of charity and helpfulness she associated with American life.
Others described similar adjustments. Sarah Wood González, a journalist and consultant, said she had taken for granted «the American outgoingness and default to action,» in which the operative question is «how can we collaborate?» She said the American work style moves faster and reaches decisions more quickly. Josh, who moved to Germany, said finding work was very hard and that bureaucracy had grown worse, and that he missed friendlier people, freedom of speech, and the ease of daily life in the United States. He said that without being born and raised in Germany, and without looking German, «you'll never be fully accepted.» He has since returned to the U.S. and said he is much happier, acknowledging he may have «overreacted» by leaving.
The magazine also reported that many Americans who shared regrets on social media were criticized by fellow liberals for wanting to return to what commenters described as an «evil» America. Such posts, according to the article, are often met with backlash implying the poster must be right-wing and privileged, and commenters sometimes echo the right-wing notion that the person simply did not try hard enough to assimilate.
Daniel Di Martino, a Manhattan Institute fellow and economist born in Venezuela, told Fox News Digital that some Americans hold unrealistic notions about European life. He noted that Europe is not one thing: living in Greece on an average Greek salary would be considered near poverty in America, while living in Denmark on an average Danish salary is comfortable but still pays much less than the American average. He said some aspects of European life are better, including lower crime and better food, but that on earnings Americans would be worse off moving to Europe. He attributed this to difficulty firing workers, which makes hiring hard, and to high taxes on low- and middle-income workers in most European countries outside Switzerland and the Baltics.
Theo Wold, a former White House deputy assistant for domestic policy in Trump's first term, argued that the European social model American liberals romanticize would undermine the qualities that make the United States prosperous, saying that socialism and mass immigration produce countries that are poorer and less productive.
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