ALERT Breaking Alert
Breaking · Europe / United States · Oct. 20, 2026
We summarize. You read the outlet. Source: WIRED on X · short original summary · full reporting at the source
A WIRED feature published Oct. 20 profiles Americans who moved to Europe in recent years, some seeking political refuge after Trump’s 2024 win, and who now say life abroad fell short (WIRED). Fox News Digital and the New York Post amplified the story on Oct. 20 and 21, and the Fox News Facebook page shared it under the line that liberals who “fled” now regret it.
In the WIRED piece, a woman using the pseudonym Annie says she moved near London in 2024 and found lower disposable income, NHS maternity care that disappointed her, and an immigration health surcharge on top of taxes: “so no, the health care is not free here.” She and her husband plan to return next summer. A man called Josh says he left Berlin after struggling with work and bureaucracy and now wonders if he “overreacted.” Journalist Sarah Wood González, back in New York after Spain and Edinburgh, told WIRED she missed the faster American work style.
The other side: WIRED also reports that Americans who post about moving back often face heavy backlash online, and that Europe is no left-wing haven, citing right-leaning governments in Italy, Greece, Germany and Portugal. Expatsi Go cofounder Jen Barnett told WIRED her clients “don’t expect a political utopia anywhere.” Manhattan Institute economist Daniel Di Martino told Fox News that Europe has lower crime and better food, but that on earnings “Americans would be worse off moving to Europe.”
What’s known vs. alleged
Known: WIRED published the feature “They Fled Trump’s America. Now They Regret It” by Sarah Manavis on Oct. 20, 2026. It quotes a small number of Americans, most under pseudonyms (“Annie” in the UK, “Josh” formerly in Berlin, “Nick” in Krakow), plus journalist Sarah Wood González, who is named. Fox News Digital and the New York Post followed on Oct. 20 and 21, and Fox added comments from Manhattan Institute economist Daniel Di Martino.
Reported, attributed to others: Migration figures in the piece come from cited sources, not WIRED’s own count: Spain’s National Statistics Institute (a record number of American residents in 2026), the Financial Times (a 63 percent rise in U.S. applications to Ireland’s Foreign Births Register from 2024 to 2025) and the UK Home Office (the most U.S. residency applications since records began in 2004).
Not established: No outlet has shown how many Americans who moved abroad actually regret it or have returned. The stories are individual accounts and Reddit posts, not a survey. Headlines saying “liberals” regret the move broadly go further than the reporting. Several people in the WIRED piece moved partly for jobs or family, not only politics, and one relocation company, Expatsi Go, told WIRED its clients with realistic expectations are “more likely” to stay.
