By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Some Americans only realize how great living in the U.S. is until after they leave it
If you’re like me, I’m guessing you’ve noticed whenever liberals and leftists endure something unpleasant – like an election loss – they’re agitated and angry to the point they vow that it’s now time to get the heck out of Dodge, so to speak, and head someplace outside the confines of the United States and attempt to set up a new life in their newly adopted pseudo-paradise(s).
You know the refrain – “[Celebrity X] says he/she can’t tolerate living in America any longer because Donald Trump was elected president – twice – and the line’s been crossed and the movers are knocking at the door this very moment.”
The only problem being, in 2026, some conservatives might be ready to try someplace new themselves after ruminating on what the newly elected Democrats in Congress will do to their precious liberty now that the leftists/America bashers are no longer restrained by common sense and narrow Republican majorities on Capitol Hill at current.
After 2016 and 2024, a small but identifiable gaggle of Donald Trump haters made good on their vows to leave the Land of the Free behind, only to discover that their newly adopted domiciles weren’t what they thought they were.
Some have made plans to return to the United States. And this was before the results of the 2026 elections became widely known.
Will liberals ever learn? In an article titled, “‘Europe is not a left-wing paradise’: Americans who left over Trump are having regrets”, Sean Salai reported at The Washington Times recently:
“Five expatriates said they relocated to Spain, Poland, Germany and Britain before and after Mr. Trump returned to the White House last year, making the moves based on internet-fueled expectations of a liberal paradise with friendly people, free healthcare and ample work opportunities. They said that few of these things proved true as they joined thousands of disgruntled Americans in an exodus to countries with fewer jobs, lower standards of living, and citizens angered by their failure to assimilate into local cultures.
“’Something I had taken for granted is the American outgoingness and default to action, where the question is ’how can we collaborate?’’ said Sarah Wood Gonzalez, a journalist and consultant who recently returned to New York from three years in Spain and Edinburgh, Scotland. ‘Generally speaking, I also found that the American work style, for better or for worse, moves much faster and can get to a yes or no in less time.’
“… Kate Glavan, a twentysomething online influencer who writes about leftist politics, moved from New York City to London in late 2024. She announced in a June 17 video on YouTube … that she and her boyfriend, Henry, would be returning to New York after struggling to find work. ‘Transparently, here in London, I probably have made like a fourth of the income that I could make in New York,’ Ms. Glavan said in the video.”
Wow, like the poor, disgruntled whiner-class suddenly discovered that the grass [currency?] isn’t always greener when they rise and sleep under a different flag? And they had lived all this time in a country – the United States – that provided them with the best combination of rights and laws to realize their individual dreams and ambitions?
None of this is surprising. From time to time, there’s a news report of a repatriated celebrity who finally saw the light and returned to native soil no matter how distasteful they found living in a country whose citizens voted for Donald Trump two (three?) times and took their grievances to the doors of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Besides, the government let the protesters/rioters inside the building that day. It’s on the video. Check it out.
I may be in the minority on this one, but here’s believing we should welcome these poor now-enlightened souls back with open arms and extend to them the opportunity to make good as though they’d never left. Everyone makes mistakes. These poor people have years of experience and perspective to guide them going forward. I doubt they’ll ever support limited government, but maybe they won’t be as destructive to the American Way as they would have been before they understood what they did wrong.
Conservatives know President Trump isn’t perfect, and neither is the United States, or its people. If the U.S. were likened to a wormy apple, its core would be slightly less infested than a lot of places. Opportunity abounds here for those willing to acknowledge it and work their tails off to get ahead, but there are lots of Americans (the left side of the spectrum) that use our freedoms and economic generosity to exploit others.
Examples? The Somali population has only recently been exposed for their penchant for fraud and working the system. But the Somalis aren’t the only ones, for sure. And in case you think I’m singling out or picking on immigrants – illegal, refugee or otherwise — I’m confident there are millions of Yankee-born tax evaders and all variety of law-shirkers, from wealthy and famous people down to the poorest of inner city dwellers.
One college quarter interning at the Department of Justice Fraud Division taught me just how widespread the fraud problem really is/was, and this was over three and a half decades ago.
But an aversion to fraud isn’t what drove the attitudinally misguided semi-Americans to turn on their country. They no doubt gained their hatred of Donald Trump and his supporters through unrelenting media bashing of both the MAGA-promoter and his voters.
Attend a Trump rally and chances are you’ll see more American flags and love of the nation than just about anywhere else, but the media talkers would have normal people believing they’re much more threatened by purported racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. (Hillary Clinton’s Basket of Deplorables) than by street criminals or illegal alien invaders.
For years, liberals claimed non-white Americans are so despised by “white supremacists” that only the long arm of federal law enforcement could protect them from cross burnings and white hooded marauders.
This belief, like the others, will persist as long as facts and logic aren’t universally culturally recognized as deciders in arguments and disputes. Democrats cling to their own notions of reality, don’t they? We’ll hear a lot about this with the new Democrat throngs in Congress.
Somewhat surprisingly, on a recent trip overseas, I discovered that European citizens – at least some of them – see major systemic crises in their own countries.
Before last month’s violence in France, I spoke with a British couple who asked, rather timidly, if I liked President Trump or not. When I responded that I believed in Trump’s policies, it was as though the floodgates opened and confessions started pouring out of the strangers as though a figurative spigot handle had been loosened.
The couple testified to the huge immigrant hordes that had arrived in their country only to suck their lands dry of resources and to burden the healthcare system to its maximum capability. “Yeah, they were told the healthcare is free. It’s not,” the gentleman said. I wondered if his views were common among his fellow Brits?
This is the type of societal poison that infects a number of European countries. A cab driver in Athens, Greece, admitted that the Greeks have an immigration issue, too, and that the newcomers come to his country…. “to steal.”
My exposure to European nations was somewhat limited to the touristy areas of a few countries, but the deterioration brought on by an increasingly secular population and socialistic governments is evident even to the untrained eye. If the economic statistics are to be believed, Europe’s problems have only begun.
Shrinking native populations and declining birthrates will only worsen the symptoms. Large influxes of unassimilable immigrants have caused backlashes in many countries. Europeans fear Russian aggression from the east and, as France, Italy and others have recently confirmed – from within.
Established cultures are vanishing before their eyes. The problems are real.
Muslim countries, with their Sharia Law, are even more restrictive on our western impressions of freedom of speech and religion.
It’s no wonder Americans who’d chosen to turn their back on America because of ill-conceived fright of a populist like Donald Trump learned the hard way that the United States isn’t such a bad spot after all. The quality of life in America is darn hard to beat.
The most obvious evidence for why America is the best place to live is found in the fact so much of the world tries desperately to come here for a chance at a better life. American leaders have to build walls and empower police forces to keep people from breaking in. I’m not sure if it’s like this in Europe, but I’d bet it’s not.
Will liberals soak in the results from this year’s election? Will they beat the door down to return now?
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .