Ireland becomes refuge for anti-Trump Americans • FRANCE 24 English

FAKE NEWS. According to the Central Statistics Office Census, fewer than 14,000 US citizens live in the R. of Ireland. In turn, a much smaller Irish population (5.4 million versus well over 300 million) boasts over 100,000 immigrants to the USA. F24: You are REALLY FAKE NEWS. SHAME ON YOU.

​As an Irish American holding both an Irish and an American passport, having left the United States over ten years ago and built a life abroad—living across Europe, the UK, and growing up and spending significant time in the Middle East—watching this young woman’s perspective feels like listening to someone from an entirely different planet.<br>​Fleeing the US and laying all of its systemic flaws purely at the feet of Donald Trump shows a total lack of understanding of how the world actually works. Whether it’s Trump, Biden, Obama, or Clinton in office, the underlying machinery of the United States has been set up for decades—certainly escalating from the 1980s onward—to operate as a hyper-transactional extraction engine designed to pull as much money out of the average individual as humanly possible. To frame systemic corporate influence and economic pressure as a single-president issue completely misses the forest for the trees.<br>​The choice of Ireland as an economic or social refuge while acting blindsided by cost-of-living issues is equally ironic. As an Irish citizen, I can tell you that Dublin is currently in the grips of one of the most severe housing and cost-of-living crises in Western Europe. Moving from one hyper-expensive hub to another while claiming you’re escaping corporate or political exhaustion shows zero research—especially considering Ireland’s economic model is built directly on the exact same US tech and pharma multinationals people claim to be running from.<br>​It’s just as frustrating to hear lazy, sweeping accusations thrown around without any factual context. If you actually look at the facts instead of repeating soundbites, the narrative that Trump is inherently homophobic falls apart under basic historical scrutiny. Throughout his life in business and media, he maintained long-standing personal and professional relationships with prominent, openly gay figures—from his attorney Roy Cohn to Malcolm Forbes, Merv Griffin, and Steve Rubell. You don&#39;t have to endorse his politics to recognize that lazy slogans aren&#39;t a substitute for actual research.<br>​Ultimately, wearing self-pity on your sleeve, apologizing for your passport, and claiming to be &quot;embarrassed&quot; to be American abroad isn&#39;t enlightened; it’s just sad. I don&#39;t wave a flag everywhere I go, but I got a great education growing up in Greenwich, Connecticut, I’ve traveled the world, and I certainly don&#39;t apologize for being American. Individual citizens don&#39;t run federal policy. If you’re going to move abroad, do it with clear eyes, cultural awareness, and a grounded grasp of global economics. Running away while whining on camera about your nationality isn&#39;t a political statement—it’s just cluelessness on full display.