Should we really travel to the U.S. and support authoritarian drift?

I’ve visited the U.S. four times myself, including two long road trips. The last one was just this past August...

I won’t be going back. I already felt guilty last August, but recent policies have finally convinced me: the humiliation of Zelensky, authoritarian excesses, Gestapo-like methods for detaining people of foreign origin, the murder of innocent people (a mother shot dead), corruption, insane "tariffs," skyrocketing healthcare costs for Americans, the abduction of foreign figures to secure oil, the requirement to disclose social media accounts, and now... threats and blackmail to forcibly take Greenland—a region that belongs to Denmark and thus the European Union!

The reality is that simply posting this could get me denied entry to the U.S.!

In this context, I just can’t keep spending money there. I loved my trips, but there are so many other countries with stunning landscapes to explore.

So I get why you’d want to travel there. I did, and I loved it. But once a country no longer respects any of the values that made us love it, why go?

How can we even consider traveling to a country that threatens to take one of our territories by force?

Hi Gaetano,

I’ve never been drawn to or fascinated by the United States, so I don’t even ask myself whether I’ll go there or not. But during my trip to Guatemala last summer, I met Guatemalans who live in the U.S., and what’s happening to them is truly terrible.

One of them, who has a construction work contract, told me that one day he was walking quietly down the street when a "good" American citizen called the police to report seeing a Latino. The police arrived immediately to check his ID.

Another told me the same story about his sister, who was with her 12-year-old son. The mother barely speaks English, so it was the 12-year-old who had to answer the police’s questions.

Latinos are terrified because there’s a real witch hunt against them.

I told them that without Latinos, the American economy would collapse—who would harvest fruits and vegetables? Who would build houses? Who would cook in restaurants? Who would clean hotels?

I also met a young American priest (his mother is American and his father is French) from a Florida parish mostly attended by Latinos, and he confirmed how difficult things are for them.

A Quebecois tourist once said to me: "Latinos should all leave the U.S., then Americans would finally understand..."

If this topic interests you, here are links to two very interesting articles from today’s Spanish newspaper *El País*. You can get the translation using Google. Spain has been much more critical of Trump than the rest of Europe—and for much longer.

https://elpais.com/us/migracion/2026-01-18/un-ano-de-terror-del-ice-el-brazo-ejecutor-antiinmigrante-de-trump.html

https://elpais.com/internacional/2026-01-18/trump-2026-quien-puede-plantar-cara-al-presidente-de-estados-unidos.html

Hey, anyway, the person you know—basically the one running the United States—is doing everything to sabotage the country’s economy. There’s the issue with Latino labor, sure. But even worse is pressuring the Fed to lower interest rates. What’s likely to happen is that public accounts will be skewed or even outright falsified. At the slightest stock market rally (it already happened with the Silicon Valley Bank mess), it could hit millions of Americans hard. And the central bank will have handed out checks—it won’t solve the problem. Which means the U.S. can’t afford to acquire Greenland. To be continued 😉

Spain has been much more critical of Trump than the rest of Europe and for much longer.

I can believe that, yeah. Anyway, people will probably tell me I believe in conspiracy theories, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that major French media—both print and TV—are controlled by financiers. So, of course, those financiers have every interest in spreading their liberal dogma...

Hi Mathews,

The worst part is that this madman is still in power for another three years.

Thank goodness France has neither oil nor rare metals....

good evening Sinforosa, I agree with you, but luckily there are the midterms in November 🙂

What a magnificent summary of shortcuts and other inaccuracies...

Hi Gérard

and other inaccuracies...

Could you clarify? (And correct them, of course 😉.)

fortunately, the midterms are in November :)

It’s worth mentioning that Latinos also voted for Trump—they’re pretty conservative on some issues and align with Republican ideas.

In El Salvador, back in 2024, I met an American-Salvadoran on a bus who owned a garage in the U.S. He told me he was voting for Trump because it was better for the country’s economy.

And Venezuelans in Miami *love* Trump! I’m not sure they realize that what Trump’s really after isn’t so much getting rid of a nasty dictator as it is seizing Venezuela’s oil... just like he wants to grab Greenland’s rare earth metals.

I'm not sure your post is a good idea. If you no longer want to go, that’s your choice and it’s nobody’s business but yours.

I'm not sure your post is a good idea. If you don’t want to go anymore, that’s your choice and it’s nobody’s business but yours.

I agree with you.😉

This is purely a political post that has no place on a travel site.

Those who don’t like blondes won’t go to the States anymore and that’s that!

The United States is a country you can both love and hate—a land full of contradictions, stunning in places but also appalling or even terrifying in others. The population is often warm and friendly, but sometimes not very curious or well-informed. That said, these are general traits you’ll find absolutely everywhere, just maybe not on the same scale!

It’s often said that the US is a couple of years ahead of Europe. Let’s hope that isn’t the case when it comes to the current political situation, but some signs suggest it might not be impossible.

Personally, I’d rather hold off for now, hoping it’s not indefinitely, because it’s truly an extraordinary country… to be continued.

I’m not sure your post is a good idea. If you no longer want to go, that’s your choice and it’s nobody’s business but yours

Hi, I actually think it’s important to question the relevance of our actions when this country—once our "big brother"—has decided to literally humiliate us. We share a strong common history with the U.S., and they’re slowly drifting toward values we no longer recognize.

I’m not lecturing anyone. I took a road trip in the U.S. last August myself—with a sense of guilt.

"Consuming" is an economic and political act. It seems reductive to separate our choices from their context.

This is purely a political post that has no place on a travel forum where the goal is to help others plan their trips... If you feel guilty, then don’t go anymore. But this isn’t X (Twitter). I think you’ve posted in the wrong forum. However, I strongly encourage you to worry about the state of Belgium before worrying about the U.S. 😉