Americans Mull Leaving US If Trump Wins Again, 'I Just Want Peace of Mind': Expats

[appalachiablue]

'I just want peace of mind': Americans mull leaving US if Trump wins again.' It’s not the first time voters have threatened to move abroad – but some appear more serious this year. The Guardian, Nov. 2, 2020.

Ahead of election day, American Gabi Mayers has booked a flight to London. She loves the United States. A lot. But she says life is hard enough without the specter of surging gun sales, extremists plotting to abduct elected officials, and brawls in Times Square amid a caravan of maskless Donald Trump supporters flouting social distancing measures. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is just be happy, and have peace of mind. And I’m not able to do that in this country,” said Mayers, a 25-year-old producer in New York City.

Mayers intends to leave for around a month and a half to begin with, and she’s not the only one with that instinct. Faced with a country that is seemingly losing its democratic ideals, , some anxious Americans are wrestling with the question of whether to flee. “Since Donald Trump was elected president, there are times when I now feel unsafe in this country in a very real way,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender activist, contributing opinion writer at the New York Times and professor at Barnard College.

“Strangers come up to me on the street and threaten me, and I’m looking at a government that has done everything it can to demean the humanity of people like me.”

Although Boylan was mostly indulging a fantasy when she began her research into where she could actually go, the notion sounds less like a joke over time. “I’m not sure that I can take another four years of this,” said Boylan, who penned one of her columns on how a “generation of Americans” is experiencing the urge to “get the hell out” of the US. “I’m far from alone in that,” she said.

After a September presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that was dubbed a national humiliation, surging Google searches hinted at panic among people looking for answers about how to move to Canada or New Zealand. But even as Americans start to plan their escape from Trumpland, they’re doing so with a great deal of guilt, heartache and astonishment. “This seems like something new,” said Inez McGee, a retiree in California. She had never heard other people talk about leaving the US before, much less considered it herself – not even during the craziest days of Richard Nixon’s presidency, which ended in resignation.

Back in 2016, Inez, like many others, joked about getting out if Trump were elected. Most, like Inez, did not follow through with the idea...continued,

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/02/us-election-trump-move-abroad-canada-new-zealand

[Chainfire]

1. Others of us will just have to say here and fight however we can

[appalachiablue]

3. People left earlier too, after 2008 and 9/11 so I hear.

I know one couple that was considering New Zealand 6 months ago, but not so much now.

For those who feel danger here I understand completely.

But many, esp. older have family, other ties here and also lack the resources to move, the way it is.

My family has been here hundreds of years, I would consider NZ or UK but it's likely not possible.

I enjoyed England when I lived there years ago, it would work but..

[mn9driver]

10. NZ wants a lot of money to buy resident status

More than most people can afford. But if you are young and have a work or education background that they are looking for, the cost goes way down. It’s a good option if you fit that category.

[appalachiablue]

11. Highly skilled younger folks & very wealthy I know. NZ

is in a position to do that. I recall 5 or more years ago seeing plenty of articles about the uber wealthy going to NZ or buying there, having their landing strips, organic farms to grow food, safely removed from 'trouble spots' and the worst of nuclear fallout.

[Deuxcents]

2. Where to go?

Nobody wants us.

[appalachiablue]

4. That's for sure. But some lucky folks have dual citizenship,

work experience or ties from living places previously, and parents and grandparents from other countries. It helps.

There's a person around who lived in Germany, their family came from Germany, and they are leaving ASAP.

[appalachiablue]

12. Plenty of expats that are familar w Mexico and

places like Uruguay have relocated there in the last 10-20 years. They know the scene, have visited or worked there before and are familiar with communities. The cost of living in those locales is dramatically less than the US, one of the main draws.

I've been to South America many years ago, and all over the Caribbean, but Mexico only briefly. I don't know the better places and circumstances in Mexico or other Latin American options.

If I could manage a move to the Caribbean area, it would be great, except for hurricanes and rising climate change! Always something...

[Chainfire]

13. My family has been here since the early 1700s; I am American

My ancestors have shed blood for this country since the French and Indian wars. The only way the right will get rid of me is to kill me. I am too old to soldier, but I am too young to run.

**** 'm and the whores they rode in on!

[RainCaster]

5. I know a sheriff who has emigrated to Europe this year

He was a great guy, very outgoing. But over the years he has taken on a PTSD like manner. Missed our 40th high school reunion at the last minute.
He bought a small cabin in a village a few years ago, and together with his wife they have been fixing it up as an airbnb for their retirement. Then they fell in love with the locals and the relaxed atmosphere without the GOP BS. Now they're staying there permanently.

[appalachiablue]

6. Good for them that's cool. Are they in Ireland or Scotland?

[RainCaster]

7. He won't let me say

And I respect his decision.

[appalachiablue]

8. I understand, wish them all the best.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. I'll probably visit some UK dating sites if the nightmare...

... continues.

I have a BS degree in math with a minor in physics, but it hasn't been used for so long that I doubt I'll be in demand occupation-wise.

Maybe some Cockney woman with a half-dozen kids will take me. Lol.