While the majority of U.S. citizens moving to Spain say that they are searching for a new life politics is an issue with Donald Trump´s election victory being partly blamed. American super-star Richard Gere, who recently set-up home in Madrid told a Spanish audience that these were "dark days" in the U.S. and labelled the U.S. President as a "bully and a thug."
The Golden Visa programme in Spain has proved hugely successful allowing hundreds of Britons and Americans to settle here with few problems. The purchase of a home is enough to secure the visa but the Spanish government decided to scrap the scheme because of the pressures on the housing market.
Since the announcement demand for Golden visas in Portugal and Greece has risen dramatically with some saying that Spain had effectively scored an own goal and was closing a loop hole which allowed rich non European Union citizens to move to Spain with few paperwork problems in return for a sizeable home investment.
They very public spat between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday night may further add to the desire of some U.S. citizens to move elsewhere. The Democrats, who lost the election to Trump´s Republican Party, said that they understood why some Americans were moving elsewhere.
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Credit to Nate White for the best description of Donald Trump - now more relevant than ever. Apologies it is rather long but I truly think this hits the nail on the head.. “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: * Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. * You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.” John Little
I personally know two American couples that are in that very process (one is going to the peninsula the other to Portugal), and they both say they're leaving because of the increasing risk of instability and violence in the US. I suspect they're not alone in that fear. There is another American family in the neighbourhood that bought and moved permanently into a finca here last year, but I've only had a brief introduction, so I don't know their exact motivation for leaving the US. But one would have to suspect it was an influence. Still, if Trump hands Ukraine over to Russia, it may not be any safer here. We'll see if Europe can sufficiently strengthen its military capabilities to fend off an overconfident Putin. The US is likely to descend into chaos eventually, and unlikely to be able to help even if it wanted to. Probably wise to start putting money away. You're probably be going to need it later.
Zoltan TeglasWho on earth can think giving a thumbs down to that makes sense? Or are there some Russian readers of the MB?
Unfortunately after MrTrump and MrVance latest rant in front of the world sure there will be many,many more sane Americans wanting to leave. Is it America,Russia and China going for world domination.
Who can blame them. The fact that anyone thinks that Trump is fit to run a country is shocking. He has serious mental health problems and is turning the US into a fascist country. He's a total embarrassment.