There is no escape, only movement

Hello fellow American. You may be distraught right now and considering drastic measures. You, sitting somewhere in America, with an eye on the looming tsunami of shit stew triggered by U.S. electoral system that empowers a minority of low-functioning fuckwits in just seven swing states to treat political decision making that will affect millions of lives like it was little more than crafting their WWE fantasy tag team. I don't blame you; I've been there. Is jumping ship the thing to do, though?

Anecdotally, I'm seeing more people in my feeds and social channels considering this. It's not the first time. Apparently the data supports that observation, a lot of Americans are pinging visa requirement pages on other countries' websites.

I did it... long ago, now, not for these reasons. There can be a lot involved with packing up shop with the intent on fleeing a country, either permanently or at least for an extended time abroad. Fortunately, I don't need to list it out in this post because that good work has already been done by someone on Mastodon, in an incredibly detailed 50-post tooted thread. If you're serious, then head over there and go through that list of to-dos and to-don'ts that Carina C. Zona has put together. Spoiler: I won't be dropping much technical or tactical advice here so much as dishing up provocations and mental preparedness.

Aside: While you're thinking of leaving the U.S., maybe start with baby steps, like getting off of Elon's 𝕏 and using neat, open and decentralised social channels that aren't feeding people a steady diet of misogyny, racism, crypto scammers and Russian troll farms. Mastodon platforms come in many flavours and are easy to join and start using. I'm here. Follow me, there you know someone!

Back in the '00, when George W Bush won his first election, some people threatened to leave the country, but more in a jokey way. There were a few grumblings online, in the forums and chat rooms (I wasn't on SixDegree or Habbo). You'd hear a few people mull it over at the bar. Then he won a second term and there were posts about it from your Myspace friends, more serious this time. And again, from those same people at the bar, of course. Not to diminish the present dire situation, but these things are cyclical.

Without resorting to academic research or just searching it up, I think it wasn't since the Vietnam War era that so many people had thought about getting out of the country before Bush. A few in the military had mulled or attempted going AWOL in Canada during his dad's one-term and the first Iraq war, but it was very low level. The Dubya years brought with it a prototype of the sort of low-meanness, 'let's break everything' agenda that rekindled more people's interest in hastily departing. Fast forward, some other stuff happened, and here we are again. This post isn't about the devolution of the Republican party from New World Order carpet baggers into navel-gazing, hateful little hermit kingdom aspirants. It's about whether you should pack your bags and head for the border.

Europe must build resilience against Trump’s America – and welcome those desperate to flee it | Alexander Hurst

From capitalising on a transatlantic brain drain to regulating US social media giants, the continent needs to stand up for itself, says Guardian Europe columnist Alexander Hurst

The GuardianAlexander Hurst

Following the November Fifth results, I've seen all kinds of skeets and toots (social posts that aren't tweets when you're on funky, better platforms that aren't Twitter) by people cooing about potential life on distant shores. I get messages from some friends suggesting they want out. I don't hear anything from those people at the bar, though. Because I'm the one who moved abroad. I hope they moved on as well, either physically or mentally. No one should stay in a rut.

At a basic level, moving abroad isn't all that hard. That is, so long as you just realise and accept that you'll have an unstable situation for a number of years. After that it's a money issue because you aren't escaping capitalism. The more cash you have, the easier it is to live nearly anywhere. Without much dough, you can still do it, but expect to stay poor for quite a while, have fewer rights and — depending on various conditions – less security or stability than many of those around you. That aside, it has a lot going for it.

I have friends who have not been back to their countries of origin for ages. Some jumped through the years of hoops to get settled status or naturalise one way or another. A few are bouncing around still, years on; living in a place until their visa extension options run out and then flying somewhere else. If you work from a computer, this is survivable. I jumped around for a short time on a couple of continents DIYing my own gig economy and then landed where I am now, did all the things to stick it out, and then 18 years slipped by like a ride down a greased slide (I'm glossing over the details, mind your business). We all end up somewhere.

In the context of Americans horrified at the return of MAGA, my heart goes out to the many people who will be hardest hit by a regime that assembles its cabinet out of a hateful potpourri of religious zealots, racists and misogynists. Aside from that, as we saw last time, there will be the hate groups feeling a renewed sense of impunity. For many people, already difficult situations are going to get worse. It will also be harder for those that the establishment already doesn't offer much: the homeless and the barely scraping by. These aren't the people we hear about checking visa requirements around Europe. I see a lot more people that fit my demographic (age not withstanding). And to them I say: Do what works for you, life is short. But you're not who will be most at risk in the next round of Team Trump.

I went to ChatGPT for an image to knock into the top of this post, don't hate me, there's a point. I asked for a melancholy image of a person at an airport terminal waiting to leave. Not surprisingly, it chose to make that person a white, blondish and very norm-core guy with vaguely Gap attire tendencies. We have no idea what backstory ChatGPT has for him, but all the biases that feed the algorithm are there, and the Guardian post I linked to just four short yet scintillating paragraphs ago would also be illustrative of the data points that feed it. The author argues that "there is a unique chance for Europe to roll out a red carpet of special visas and ease the path for highly educated Americans who want to flee Trumpmerica." We see that his main focus earlier on is saving the civil servants, the journalists and scientists and the university professors and their students. Take advantage of the brain drain! he demands. Whenever there's a desperate situation brewing somewhere in the world, you'll inevitably find those who see it like some kind of Saturday car boot sale to go and look for discount yet economically beneficial humans amid the bric-à-brac.

That article comes with a photo and caption that reads, "Democrat supporters listen to Kamala Harris speaking at Howard University, Washington, DC, on 6 November." A very concerned blonde woman is centred in the image, and in sharp focus. She is surrounded by either semi-cropped or blurry-in-the-background black faces. We know who this article is aimed at even if this isn't stated anywhere. I have no idea if she wanted to be the poster child for all of this, probably not. I don't think I came across a "migrants welcome" article like this during the Syrian war, in the aftermath of Biden's calamitous Afghanistan withdrawal, or during this ongoing Sudan civil war which millions are still fleering. Europe wants Erdoğan to keep them in Turkey, UK just focuses its messaging on "stopping the boats," to avoid discussing the humans in them. If you're having an easier time with border control, that's privilege. Remember that.

Through travel and work I've been able to meet a number of people who can't or just really shouldn't go back to their home countries. Either due to their gender or sexuality, political activism or ethnic identity, they had to move, and fast. They had a more pressing need to be here and far more hurdles to arrive. If many go home there are high probabilities of arrest, life in a prison or possibly just a much shorter life. As bad as the U.S. is going to get, I feel like the discourse on fleeing it isn't really aimed at the people who are going to be the most effected, and for whom the viable better alternatives in the world are not as many. Where are the places to go for people who have no places to go?

But for those who both feel the need to move fast and have some ability to put that into action, my advice is to start working on it. There is already a lot of good advice out there, Go find it. I'm going to finish on the cautions...

1. There is no escape, only movement. To appropriate the name of a 2014 horror film I never saw, "It Follows." You will not escape U.S. influence or policy. They say Americans by in large don't vote on foreign policy issues. You'll be living somewhere to some extent on the receiving end of that. Perhaps less so if you think you can ride things out comfortably in Europe, but maybe not as less as you think. Right wing movements are on the uptick globally.
2. It's a problem multiplier. Landing in a new country with the intent of staying there a while isn't easy. Sure, there's all the legal structures, hoops to jump, a job to find, learning how all the things work, navigating a new language maybe, and other cultural and societal norms. You might need re-certification to practice some kind of profession, your foreign drivers' license will only be valid for a while if you get settled status. And then there's taxes, banks, utilities, etc. You've got to reboot all of these things. And then the longer you stay in a place the more you start to notice it's got its own problems. As a person abroad you're likely still in touch with your friends and family back home and paying attention to the news there, voting via absentee vote, etc. If you settle in this new country, you may get local voting rights there. Now you've got two political systems to be involved in and start noticing where they are cracking around the edges. We don't notice these things when we're tourists. The locals aren't talking to you about the burgeoning far right movement, or that some new bill that's going to restrict political speech when you're visiting on a jolly for a few days. If you're there long enough, eventually drastic change happens, and the place may become something you didn't expect it to be. Then what?
3. It's better to run towards a thing instead of away from one. I didn't leave the U.S. to get away from it. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, it's unmatched by most anywhere else on the planet as the best mix of all things. A lot of people stay right where they are their whole lives and it's just fine. I could have done that, but figured if I didn't get out in the world when I did it just wasn't going to happen, and that sounded more interesting. That was during America's paleo MAGA period, though we didn't know it at the time. The apparatus that now is being exploited by Trump Co. was being built by the Bush administration. Leaving over that, though? Nah. If you're really considering shifting to somewhere else on this blue ball, think about what you want instead of what you don't want. You may not have to go as far as you think you do depending on what you prioritise.
4. Do not compare your situation with actual exiles, refugees or forced migrants. Americans tend to centre their experience wherever they go in the world. Leftist and liberal Americans are some of the worst offenders of American exceptionalism. If you find yourself in some major cosmopolitan hub in Europe, that's grand. Your chances of meeting people who are refugees, exiles ore migrants are likely going to be greater. Some have fled a war, a Taliban, an Assad, or some other awfulness. It depends on your social circles, really. But if/when you do, that's not the time to refer to yourself some kind of political exile or refugee. Even if that interaction never happens, just don't do this. Unless there are serious attempts to extradite you for political persecution and a show trial back home, or if you have to be careful through which jurisdictions your plane travels, you're just living abroad and riding out the unpleasantness. You still have some options, and this was a choice. As bad as the U.S. may get in the immediate future (get back to me in a couple of years), you can spin a globe, close your eyes and drop your finger randomly and there's not an insignificant chance it will land on some place with worse things going on. That's not meant to make light of the situation in the U.S., just to suggest the world offers a spectrum or realities out there.
5. Move in. You don't need to go native but be a good neighbour. Be useful in the community and nice to people around you. Be interested in what's happening. You may be there awhile. It's better if it's a place you want to be instead of a place that just isn't the place where you don't want to be.

And remember... It Follows.