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Posted on 10/21/2026 5:41:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
American liberals have long fantasized about how different life would be in ‘enlightened and tolerant’ Europe instead of having to deal with people they regard as knuckle draggers here at home. Well, a few got their chance and what they say should serve as a dire warning.
Wired magazine spoke to several Americans who fled Trump’s America for the European continent about their experiences.
Let’s just say the fantasy they were sold turned out to be a lie.
A progressive woman going by “Annie” had noticed Americans on TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit bragging about how exciting life was in the United Kingdom’s suburbs. “Annie” was particularly enchanted by the promise of ‘free’ healthcare, ‘excellent’ transportation, and the country’s ‘rich’ culture.
But “Annie” soon received a rude awakening about the liberal ‘paradise’ she thought she was entering.
She was taken aback by Britain’s garbage NHS, lower salaries, and basic items that the country lacks, such as dryers and dishwashers.
Now, she and her husband want to run back home.
From Wired:
But the reality of life in the UK was dramatically different to what she’d imagined. “There are huge misconceptions about access to quality health care, standard of living … the quality of life is significantly lower than in the US,” she says, citing the challenges she experienced with the National Health Service’s maternity care—having moved while pregnant with her first child—as well as the lack of disposable income in Britain, thanks to lower salaries.
“Things in the UK that are considered luxury items are very common” in America, like a dishwasher and dryer, she adds.
Annie says she experienced a high amount of anti-American sentiment straight away. “I found it particularly surprising how people feel so comfortable mocking my accent and culture, even in a workplace environment,” she says. “The UK is very much a place of ‘it is what it is,’ but as Americans we are taught to always improve and strive for better things.”
Annie and her husband now have an exit plan for summer next year, the earliest their employers would allow them to relocate back home.
Kate Glavan, a leftist influencer from New York, had her own unpleasant experience with the U.K.
She fled to London in late 2024 after Trump’s election and quickly found out how difficult it was to perform her job.
Brands were more reluctant to work with her because she was mostly speaking to a much smaller British audience. In the end, she ended up returning to New York earlier this year.
An American named “Josh” who fled to Germany in 2023 fearing that Trump would win the following year also had a less-than-pleasant experience.
Despite speaking German, he had trouble finding work and struggled navigating the bureaucracy.
Moreover, he found the people in Germany far less friendly than those in America and never felt accepted.
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This was a similar reality for Josh, another American immigrant who asked to remain completely anonymous, citing concerns about backlash. He moved to Berlin in 2023, in part anticipating what might happen at the 2024 election, and also because he felt his life had hit standstill post-Covid. He had even lived in Germany before, spoke German, and had friends in Berlin.
But his expectations, particularly when it came to his career, didn’t align with reality.
“Finding work was so hard, and the endless bureaucracy had grown worse since I’d left,” he tells WIRED. “I missed the friendlier people, freedom of speech, and ease of daily life” in the US. He adds, “If you aren’t born and raised there, and don’t look German, you’ll never be fully accepted.
Then there’s “Nick,” an art director from New York who relocated with his wife to her home country of Poland in part because of his disgust with “right-wing populism” in America. Upon arriving, he immediately experienced culture shock as well.
What is happening in the US is also happening everywhere now, to the point I’m even a little hesitant in what I say to you, or anywhere online,” says Nick, an art director from New York who relocated to Poland in part because of right-wing populism in the US. He moved with his Polish wife to Krakow, where they have a young child, but despite these personal ties has found it difficult to adjust to the culture and bureaucracy.
Now Nick feels trapped in Europe where he says the politics aren’t much better—conceding that Poland both politically and culturally has strong right-wing popularity.
These liberals may have learned the hard way that the grass is not always greener on the other side, but still do not appear to have changed their political views.
Sometimes, there is no fixing stupid.
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“right-wing populism in the US”
I guess that’s how Wired describes patriotism.
“Annie and her husband now have an exit plan for summer next year, the earliest their employers would allow them to relocate back home.”
Presuming these employers haven’t ashcanned them by then.
HAHAHAHAHAHA....gasp......HAHAHAHA
Moving to “progressive” Poland?
These people are discovering what any normal person would have figured out after twenty minutes in Europe: Anyone with any “get up and go”, got up and left 400 years ago. The remaining people with any ambition were slaughtered in one of the two world wars on French ground.
Europe is nice and pretty. But you really don’t want to live there.
Now don’t let them back in states... they made their choice!!
I have been watching a lot of videos on YT of the European people who came here for the World Cup and others who were just tourists and they ALL are ‘gob-smacked’ (a little Brit lingo) at the freedoms we have that they do not.
They suddenly realize that they have been lied to their entire lives by their media and governments that America is a bad place full of rude overweight mean people and there’s shootings and dead people on every street corner.
The 2.5 Minutes That Destroyed My European Arrogance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QpZNlkejM
British Tourists Finally Understood Why Americans Are So Proud of Their Country:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HItgUOZsJpg
Europeans Watched 15,000 Texans Stand for the Anthem ‘Our Country Could Never Do This’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b9n4JLMQF8
They should have moved to some commie/progressive place - and discovered that if 'mistakes are made' they won't be allowed to buy a plane ticket. Or park a car. Or own a house ... Progressives in our country are so frighteningly stupid and out of touch with reality that it's scary.
It never ceases to amaze me how deluded Leftists are. 20 years ago, we had the young girls who fell in love with Jihadis and moved to Syria or Iraq to marry them, only to end up on social media in burqas begging their parents and former governments to find a way to bring them back to the West. Now you have petulant US Leftists who decided to take long vacation to Europe while self-righteously claiming to be exiled from Trump’s AmeriKKKa. Now we see them on TikTok crying about how crappy Europe is (no air conditioning, no good indoor plumbing, crime, high costs, etc.) and now they get to experience the riots. Its the exact reverse of what happened during the World Cup over the summer when Europeans came to the US and were amazed at how nice it is.
Post 7 & 8.................
These are the good things based on my personal experiences.
The bad things are the high income taxes. Over 50% in Italy.
The tourists cities are expensive to live in. Mostly now due to AirBnB. The bureaucracy is horrible. Based on podcasts I have watched about Italian houses, I certainly would not want to get involved in remodeling one. Obviously, fuel, electricity and energy in general is more expensive. As is owning an automobile. Plus, parking is almost unavailable in many of the cities and villages. Italians do not have clothes dryers because the electricity is too expensive. Many houses were built prior to electricity or indoor plumbing. In a lot of Italian houses a bathroom was added just in the last hundred years. The idea of a indoor shower was not added until the 1950s or 60s. In a lot of houses that have not been remodeled the shower is smaller than one in an RV. AC is not present at all. Houses are also NOT insulated very well. Single pane windows are the norm. Then you can not make a window any larger in a historic home. You can not change the exterior appearance. So, a lot of the "modern" conveniences we take for granted are considered a luxury in Europe.
Liberalism is a disease with no cure.
I love those but my favorites still are the Leftists who leave the US and then make TikToks about how horrible their new country is. Especially the ones who, for sone unknown reason, think they should move to Africa (the portly young woman who moves to Africa and then makes a TikTok complaining about no snacks, lizards and “big ass spiders” is still my favorite).
No! Liberals in Europe! Just hang in there! It gets better! You need to contact your liberal friends still in America and convince them to move to Europe! Then everything will be hunkydory!
Having lived in 4 European countries in the 90s and early 2000s I could have told them that....but Leftists in America have a ridiculous romantic notion about the high levels of socialism in western European countries and their naive belief that Europeans were oh so much more “sophisticated” (newsflash! They’re not).
They believe all the demoralization the left has pushed about America and are so hopelessly naive they think normal human flaws are not present in foreign countries. Yes Martha, they too have stupidity, corruption, inefficiency, bureaucracy, bigotry, arrogance, narrow mindedness, etc etc.
They really don't understand that while there is a problem with Black inner city drug gangs, vast vast swathes of America are at least as safe if not more safe than anywhere in Europe. The number of counties in America in which there were 1 or fewer murders every year vastly outnumbers the violent Democrat run crapholes.
They don't realize that life is simply much more convenient in the US without all the bureaucracy they have.
They don't understand that the MEDIAN income/wealth in America is significantly higher than in Western European countries. You can SEE IT. Its undeniable.
No, the food is not bad - quite the contrary.
No, the healthcare is not bad. Its expensive and that's a problem.....but look at survival rates for cancer, heart disease, etc etc. The quality of care is higher than in European countries.
Yes we have air conditioning. We damned well need it. Its a lot hotter and stickier than it is in Europe. If you had this climate, you wouldn't be walking everywhere either.
The Establishment there....which has always leaned pretty hard left, has long demonized America. If they did not do that and their people could truthfully compare, they would quickly start to question why they need all that socialism....why they need to let all those petty bureaucrats control their lives. And we CERTAINLY can't have that now can we?
This is the huge difference in the USA vs almost all other countries. The taxes the Europeans pay is 50% to pay for those socialistic societies.
The average person living in a middle class neighborhood in the USA has the same standard of living as a wealthy person in Europe. Even Norway, Switzerland or Lichtenstein(the highest per capita incomes in Europe) still only live in small houses and maybe have ONE automobile.
Only the really rich afford multiple automobiles or houses exceeding 2000 square feet. I remember thinking everyone in Italy was going to be driving a Ferarri or Lamborghini. NOPE, everyone drives a Vespa Scooter and only the middle class/wealthy maybe own a FIAT. I see more Ferraris in NH or MA than I did in Italy.
“Annie and her husband now have an exit plan for summer next year, the earliest their employers would allow them to relocate back home.” WTF? Their EMPLOYER has to ALLOW them to relocate?????
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