Once again - there are things you can learn about the United States only by being outside the United States. This is one of them.
Replies
Back in February, my daughter ended up in the hospital in Quebec. Her doctor was canceling their trip to Maine that summer which had been an annual visit for years. This last week, we returned from Europe. On numerous occasions our American identity was received with smirks and laughter.
aug 22, 2025, 9:44 am • 0 0 • view
Anecdotal…yes. Perhaps we were being over sensitive, but I couldn’t help but feel some shame. And I couldn’t blame them for their reactions.
aug 22, 2025, 9:44 am • 0 0 • view
"Americans have no idea..." is becoming an evergreen observation.
aug 22, 2025, 7:35 pm • 0 0 • view
So true. Sadly.
aug 22, 2025, 1:27 am • 2 0 • view
Everywhere. They think Trump is a clown.
aug 22, 2025, 2:20 am • 3 0 • view
MAGA stupid - it’s a willful stupidity!
aug 22, 2025, 1:58 am • 2 0 • view
Absolutely this. How is greatest nation on earth defined? Absence of universal health care and a meaningful social safety net? Maternal and infant mortality rates? Per capita rates of child deaths by gun violence? To visit a socialist country is to feel the difference.
aug 22, 2025, 9:18 pm • 0 0 • view
Those abroad don't watch Fox News. They see the reality of the madness that has enthralled our nation.
aug 22, 2025, 1:32 am • 3 0 • view
Or by having friends, family, or business associates outside of the US.
aug 22, 2025, 2:13 am • 0 0 • view
How will we know when this is fascism? George Orwell told us. When the government uses its vast power to compel people to believe things that are patently false. Trump is a fascist. And he’s doing everything he can to turn America into a fascist state.
aug 25, 2025, 3:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Just went to Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Can confirm—even in Budapest.
aug 22, 2025, 1:33 am • 3 0 • view
We moved to Europe when this country re-elected (😬) GWB. Luxembourgers completely understood our concerns and choices. Houses on fire about Trump. Warnings galore. Here we are in our young country.
aug 22, 2025, 2:15 am • 3 0 • view
This expat can testify
aug 22, 2025, 1:28 am • 3 0 • view
I just moved back to the states after living in Middle East. America is a laughing stock.
aug 22, 2025, 1:37 am • 3 0 • view
Forget abroad - it's doubtless they have ever crossed the border into Canada. We don't say Elbows Up" for nothing
aug 22, 2025, 1:56 am • 5 0 • view
Oh hell, many of them have never even crossed their county lines.
aug 22, 2025, 3:21 am • 4 0 • view
They don’t consume muck news from overseas either
aug 22, 2025, 1:55 am • 1 0 • view
*much*
aug 22, 2025, 6:57 am • 0 0 • view
I’ve been to Austria, Greece, England, Brazil and Canada this year and in each place I’ve been asked some version of “wtf is up with the US”.
aug 22, 2025, 1:48 am • 3 1 • view
Equating respect with fear is a pretty good tell that someone keeps a cauldron of resentments brewing
aug 22, 2025, 4:37 am • 0 0 • view
I see/hear this nearly everyday in New Zealand.
aug 22, 2025, 1:38 am • 1 0 • view
We had some friends visiting from Germany a few weeks ago. They were terrified and nearly canceled their trip. They deleted their social media before traveling. They were warned by their government about the hazards of traveling to the U.S. No, we’re not respected right now.
aug 22, 2025, 1:30 am • 20 1 • view
My friends in Europe are appalled and laughing at us all in one breath.
aug 22, 2025, 1:28 am • 19 1 • view
You don't need to travel to know this. But it's safe to say the people who don't know this are the same people who will never leave their own county.
aug 22, 2025, 3:00 am • 2 0 • view
Hell, they only leave the trailer park for a trump rally. Worldly wise doesn't describe them.
aug 22, 2025, 2:00 am • 3 0 • view
The weirdest part is my immigrant family (from the Netherlands) are some of those people. Zealotry of the convert I suppose…
aug 22, 2025, 1:37 am • 1 0 • view
The scary thing is how many people you meet outside the United States that will never visit the place that think Trump is good. I keep meeting this one dude here in Malaysia who swears Trump has the right immigration policy and more. I cannot understand where he gets his facts from.
aug 22, 2025, 10:21 am • 1 0 • view
Your week in London was incredible! I haven’t been able to get away this year (family needs) so it was a faux vacation for me. Just talking to others is what I miss most. You see a lot of commonality in people when you take the time to talk with them about their own lives.
aug 22, 2025, 4:07 am • 0 0 • view
Everywhere. They think Trump is a clown.
aug 22, 2025, 3:10 pm • 0 0 • view
Or by listening to someone other than DJT
aug 22, 2025, 1:30 am • 0 0 • view
I can attest that in 2017, “No voté por él,” came in at least as handy as “¿Dónde está el baño?” and “Gin tonic, por favor” in Spain.
aug 22, 2025, 2:24 am • 2 0 • view
I am in Canada and confirm that were are reviled and not particularly respected by our neighbors at this current moment.
aug 22, 2025, 2:50 pm • 0 0 • view
I was in Portugal in April, and our taxi driver was bashing dear leader. A taxi driver!
aug 22, 2025, 12:24 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes, or playing online chess, where you see foreign players regularly decline to play you.
aug 22, 2025, 12:45 pm • 0 0 • view
Show me someone who thinks we are more respected now than before, and I’ll tell you where they get their news from
aug 22, 2025, 1:27 am • 19 0 • view
That’s the problem. They don’t believe anything, because the majority of the time, Fox and OANN doesn’t tell them anything.
aug 22, 2025, 1:39 am • 5 0 • view
Anyone who wants to can see that Trump and Fox News are completely dishonest. It isn’t as though the rest of us have some super power to see through the bullshit. People choose not to believe the truth, and Fox News and OANN show them what they want to see.
aug 22, 2025, 4:36 am • 2 0 • view
It's clearly cognitive dissonance. They know now that the MAGA movement is wrong and conflicts with their values but they also are finally on what they think is a "winning" team and don't want to give that up. So, they look to popular propaganda outlets to reinforce their misguided support.
aug 22, 2025, 12:26 pm • 2 0 • view
I don’t think the MAGA movement conflicts with their values. I think the only internal value conflict they had was between what they value and what they used to think society thought they should value. Now with MAGA in full force, they don’t have to pretend anymore.
aug 22, 2025, 1:57 pm • 3 0 • view
Yes, fair point. Not sure about you, but I think the MAGAts are split (not sure what ratio) between the people who know there's a conflict and don't care and the people who are happy that the rest of the morally bankrupt, racist and misogynistic, cretins like them are now able to fly their flag.
aug 22, 2025, 2:06 pm • 1 0 • view
Well, yes. It’s easy to ignore what you don’t see. I never said their ignorance wasn’t by design. Do they genuinely believe all the other news outlets are lying 24/7 & ignoring it all keeps their belief in the Administration pure & safe from the evils of doubt? Only they know.
aug 22, 2025, 5:35 am • 1 0 • view
A friend came back from France-Italy trip. His anecdotal analysis: “Man, they REALLY don’t like us over there.”
aug 22, 2025, 1:37 am • 1 0 • view
Actually not true.
aug 22, 2025, 11:01 am • 0 0 • view
Can attest to this after having spent 2 weeks in London and Paris. The Brits and French think we are a joke.
aug 22, 2025, 2:57 am • 1 0 • view
I traveled during trump 1.0 and ppl were generally cool if you told them you were from California and hadn't voted for him. but yeah they definitely didn't respect him
aug 22, 2025, 1:32 am • 4 0 • view
Absolutely. Headed on my third out of country trip on Tuesday. The US is an appalling joke everywhere I have traveled.
aug 22, 2025, 3:20 am • 1 0 • view
Sure. You just have to understand respect means they don't want to provide mutual aid, don't want to buy our stuff or sell us their cool stuff, don't want us visiting, and don't want to visit us. Out of respect.
aug 22, 2025, 8:12 am • 0 0 • view
I'm in the US, and have been made well aware. I feel like it's more like selective ignorance for the sake of playing pretend, as a particular group of treason-adjacent folks are fond of. Canada was betrayed; who has delusions that anyone would respect us after that?
aug 22, 2025, 2:04 am • 3 0 • view
As an English as a foreign language teacher in Chile, I can say that we have plenty of Trump fans but everyone is still changing their vacation and study abroad plans.
aug 22, 2025, 2:16 am • 3 0 • view
aug 22, 2025, 1:27 am • 0 0 • view
Same experience after traveling in Scandinavia. They call Trump "The Clown." But hopefully, the steep decline in foreign tourism will eventually take a toll and be noticed. Our plane back from Copenhagen was only half full.
aug 22, 2025, 2:01 am • 3 0 • view