Americans who moved to Europe regret it
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Wired reported that Americans who moved to Europe after Trump's win now regret it.
Conservative outlets widely covered the accounts, fueling debate on life abroad.
Background
Wired, a US magazine, published "They Fled Trump's America. Now They Regret It," gathering accounts from Americans who relocated to Europe — many citing Trump's reelection — and later soured on the move. Post-pandemic digital nomad visas in countries like Spain, Greece and Portugal had made such relocations easier, and the piece landed as US migration to Europe drew growing attention. Most interviewees asked to stay anonymous, with the material saying they feared backlash from liberal Americans on social media.
How it unfolded
- 2023Josh moved to Berlin, partly anticipating the 2024 election and feeling his life had stalled after Covid; he had lived in Germany before and spoke German.
- 2024Annie moved from the southern US to a town just outside London after her husband's unexpected job offer, while pregnant with their first child.
- 2025US migration to Europe rose: US migrants doubled in the first quarter of 2025 year on year, the UK Home Office reported a surge in residency applications from the US, and the FT reported a 63% rise in American applications to Ireland's Foreign Births Register.
- 2026Spain's National Statistics Institute recorded a record high number of American residents.
- Oct 20, 2026Wired published "They Fled Trump's America. Now They Regret It."
- Oct 21, 2026The Daily Caller, Fox News, Breitbart, RealClearPolitics and OAN published stories on the Wired article; Josh was reported back in the US, and Annie and her husband had an exit plan for summer next year.
Who’s saying what
- Public
- Annie, an American expat near London, said quality of life is significantly lower than in the US, citing NHS maternity care and lower salaries, and that she pays large taxes and an immigration surcharge for NHS access.
- Public
- Josh, who moved to Berlin in 2023, said finding work was hard and bureaucracy worse than before, that he missed friendlier people and ease of daily life in the US, and that outsiders are never fully accepted in Germany.
- Caution
- A New York art director who moved to Poland said he feels trapped in Europe with his Polish wife and young child, and is hesitant about what he says online.
- Party
- An unnamed conservative commentator quoted by Fox News said the accounts show that socialism and mass immigration produce poorer, less productive countries.
Still unverified
An American transgender woman from San Francisco reportedly claimed asylum in the Netherlands and allegedly ended up in a fenced-off immigration internment camp, with Dutch customs officers allegedly laughing off the request.